Again, Josefina!

American Girl: Short Stories #8

by Valerie Tripp

Nineyearold Josefina wants to give up learning to play the piano until she sees how much joy her music gives to her baby nephew, in a new American Girls title which discusses the importance of music on the New Mexican frontier and describes how to dance La Vaquerita.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Childrens, Fiction, Middle Grade, Historical, Short Stories, Chapter Books

39 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2000

About the author

Valerie Tripp is a children's book author, best known for her work with the American Girl series.

She grew up in Mount Kisco, New York with three sisters and one brother. A member of the first co-educated class at Yale University, Tripp also has a M.Ed. from Harvard. Since 1985 she has lived in Silver Spring, Maryland. Her husband teaches history at Montgomery College.

Right out of college, Tripp started writing songs, stories, and nonfiction for The Superkids Reading Program, working with Pleasant Rowland, the founder of American Girl. For that series, Tripp wrote all the books about Felicity, Josefina, Kit, Molly, and Maryellen and many of the books about Samantha. She also wrote the "Best Friends" character stories to date, plays, mysteries, and short stories about all her characters.. Film dramatizations of the lives of Samantha, Felicity, Molly, and Kit have been based on her stories. Currently, Tripp is writing a STEM series for National Geographic and adapting Greek Myths for Starry Forest Publishing. A frequent speaker at schools and libraries, Tripp has also spoken at the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, The New York Historical Society, and Williamsburg.

Reviews

[Adrianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a nice read. To be honest, this is not the book I would normally pick up. For starters, I am not too fond of short stories. My daughter is homeschooled and there is a group of homeschoolers who have come together to read the collection of American Girl books, as a fun way to learn about women's history. We meet a few times a month to discuss these sweet books. We also are to prepare a meal from that historical period. I am grateful for the opportunity to meet up and soak up some fun and knowledge together.

Now onto my book review...

There is a collection of Josefina books. All short stories. this one is particular was regarding Josefina's love of music. And of her great desire to learn to play the piano. I don't want to give much away, so let's just say she struggles, but in the end learns that perfection is not expected of her. She comes to the realization that her passion for music and her sincere effort to learn how to play, are enough. There is a heart warming part in the end of the book, which has you understand why the book is titled, "Again Josefina.". I do recommend this book. however, I felt my daughter was too advanced for it.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Likely to resonate with any new music student! Josefina is excited to start learning to play the piano, but being a beginner is rough, and it's hard to find time to practice. Fortunately, it turns out that the small nephew she's tasked with watching over loves to dance.


More Josefina babble

Meet Josefina | Josefina Learns a Lesson | Josefina’s Surprise | Happy Birthday, Josefina | Josefina Saves the Day | Changes for Josefina

A Reward for Josefina | Again, Josefina! | Josefina’s Song | Just Josefina | Thanks to Josefina | Josefina’s Short Story Collection

Secrets in the Hills | The Glowing Hearts

[Meghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The section at the end is outdated where it recommends to check out certain cassette tapes from the library. It would have been better to say something less specific to account for technology changing over time.

[Theresa F. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many books for children focus on the messages that "practice makes perfect" and that "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again". However, what set this book apart for me as an adult reader, was the additional message that if you really want something, you have to be willing to work for it, with the understanding that your progress may be slow. This book doesn't skip ahead in time to the point when the main character fully achieves her goal, the way other stories often do. Instead, the book ends with the character realizing that no one, including herself, should expect her to be perfect at something when she is only just starting to learn, and that it is okay to make mistakes.
The book also emphasizes that it is okay to do something simply for the fun of it, regardless of how good or bad one actually is at it. I feel that this is an important message in a world where people can be discouraged from or belittled for doing things that bring them joy simply because those hobbies are seen as 'a waste of time' if someone isn't 'good enough' at them.
Overall, this was one of the more satisfying books I've read in some time.
Did I like it? Yes.
Would I reread it? Highly possible.
Would I recommend it? Yes.

[Sarah Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this novel, Josefina asks her aunt to give her piano music but quickly realizes mastering the piano will be much harder than she anticipated. Because of all the household chores she must complete, she struggles to find time to practice and questions whether it is even worth her scant free time. This was such a great lesson in perseverance and not giving up on a hobby too quickly that is still exceedingly relevant to modern day readers.

I love these American Girl short stories because they still manage to fill like a fully fleshed out story with a satisfying resolution, despite their short length. It also gave a chance for readers to get to know another of Josefina's young nephews that is rarely seen on page in the primary books. Finally, the looking back section talked about how important music would have been at the time to families like Josefina, in a world before television, radios, or even many books. Songs were a primary way families entertained themselves and passed down stories and lessons in verse form.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

In all honesty, I would rate this book out of the short story collection of Josefina with a 2.5 stars - not a three. I liked that Josefina had decided to dedicate herself to music by learning the piano and it also helped explain why Josefina need how to play in the original book series, like it fills in that gap of what the Montoyas are getting up to in between books. However, with that being said, I really did not like how mean Josefina’s sisters were to her in this book about her playing the piano. For some reason as the series goes on, Clara especially just becomes a bitch for no damn reason to Josefina? Why??? Why is Valerie Tripp making that decision? Anyways, that was the biggest problem with this book and it really turned me off after her sisters were so rude to her for trying to learn something new. The fuck is going on!

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Josefina has a great desire to play the piano, but doesn't realize how hard it is to learn. In the end Josefina understands that perfection is not expected and that her passion and effort are enough.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a great little book for children about being the best you can be at anything you do. I wish I had josefinas determination when I was her age.

[Electroclan17 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading it. It was a quick read. [Side Note: This is the tiniest book I own.]

[Katie Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the thing I needed tonight. It's amazing how often AG has come through for me this year.

[Rubi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Josefina waa getting frustrated with her piano lessons. But her sister's little baby taught her that its okay to make mistakes and to just get uo and try try try again 😊

[Faith Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

A simple, but short, sweet, and heartwarming book set in Hispanic culture and with themes of trying again and just having fun!

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was nice to finally see Ana’s kids have a role in a book.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Encouraging message for my 2nd grader
3.5 stars

[Ms. B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part of the American Girls Short Story collection. Josefina discovers that learning to play piano is much more challenging than she realized. What will it take for her to stick with her lessons?

[Bulk Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

I play the piano, so I am kind of partial to this one.

Josefina struggles to learn to play the piano, and gets annoyed when her sisters start teasing her about it. Baby Antonio somehow helps her to learn by dancing when she plays. She realizes that he is just learning how to walk, and nobody expects him to do it perfectly right away. Which I guess is an okay lesson, but I'm still not sure how this helps with her piano playing.

I'm a bit conflicted on the baby Antonio aspect. According to this book, it has always been one of Josefina's jobs to babysit him. To which I have to say...since when? But it is again nice to see more inclusion of a minor character, especially when it's a member of the family.

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this story Josefina is taking piano lessons but loses faith in her ability to play and is tempted to give up taking the lessons. She ends up playing and taking care of a toddler who absolutely loves her playing, dancing around and enjoying himself, constantly falling down but getting right back up again.

Josefina realizes that, like the toddler, she is still just learning and if she enjoys what she is doing she will end up managing to play the piano all right after all.

Again, a cultural/historical section is included to help flesh out the story.

[Hannah Guerra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This historical fiction book would be great for girls in 2nd-4th grades. It follows Josefina, a young Mexican girl as she tries to learn piano. She struggles at first and wants to give up, but her father encourages her to keep trying. She begins practicing while babysitting her little nephew and he loves her playing! He bounces and giggles with the music. Seeing this, Josefina decides to keep learning to play. This book has themes of determination and never giving up.

[Miri · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Tia Dolores came to the rancho she brought her beautiful piano and Josefina desperately wants to learn to play, when her father approves of Tia Dolores giving her lessons, he's firm that she not slack on her other chores, but Josefina is finding it hard to find time to practice at all and her fingers stumble across the keys in an ugly way, Josefina wants to give up altogether until her little Nephew shows her the encouragement she needs to keep trying.

[Kaetlyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Josefina wants to take piano lessons with her aunt.It starts to get boring.She just wants to make music.When it was time to watch Ana's youngest boy she wanted to play the piano he let her and he liked it.She was happy that he liked the music.

[Bailey Marissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of my favorites in the AG short stories series when I was a kid. It's so cute.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like these short shorties by American girl. They are nice to read when you are on a trip and don't want to bring a huge book along. I liked the plot of this story too!

[Ashley Bowen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book over and over.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was very simple. Not a fan.