Kit's Railway Adventure

American Girl: Kit

by Harriet Brown, Jodi Evert

All aboard with Kit Kittredge for a memorable railroad adventure to Montana's majestic Glacier National Park! Order anything you like in the train's dining car, and sleep on the cozy upper bunk in a fancy drawing room compartment.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Childrens, Picture Books, Travel, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Historical

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2003

Reviews

[Miranda Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

My gosh. American Girl did not have to do this, but they did. And I love it.

"Have a great time on your trip!"

Kit Kittredge WON a contest by writing an essay about the best part of the New Year. Unsurprisingly, she wrote about Charlie and the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) and as part of her prize, she was given an all-expenses paid trip for herself and one companion to visit Charlie.

Of course, Kit takes Aunt Millie because she wants to thank her for rescuing their house and teaching them how to be thrifty.

And off to the races they go! Or should I say tracks? Cause they are going on a cross country railway adventure!!

Overall, this book is just so flipping cool - if you can get ahold of a copy, I would HIGHLY recommend it.

Throughout the book, we get Kit's narrative as she visits different states and cool locations (like the Chicago World's Fair, Devil's Lake (North Dakota), and a Montana ranch).

We can see real life photographs and post cards included as well as ticket stubs, fold out maps, letters you can pull out and read, and more.

The attention to detail is amazing and the sheer amount of effort it would take to fully research and create this work of art is stunning.

I loved learning so much about America during Kit's era and sincerely wish that the company would start doing books like this again!

[RaspberryRoses · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is my favorite of the three travel books - I wasn't sure how they'd make it work, given the setting, but I liked the conceit of her winning the contest. And I loved how she interviewed other people along the way... the way Kit always wants to share other people's stories...

also, this book does a very meager effort to rectify how overwhelmingly White Kit's series is - which while a little too late, is something I'm glad they did.

[Sesana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly, I liked this better than Samantha's scrapbook style book. There's kind of a plot here, which helps, and it actually furthers Kit's development as a future journalist. I still miss the absence of a Peek into the Past section at the end, though. I really wish that American Girl had made more of these scrapbooks. Scrapbooking has been a really popular leisure time activity for a very long time, after all.

[Panda Incognito · Rating 4 out of 5]

This obscure, extra Kit book was a fun discovery. The book is written like a travel journal, and even though it is light on story, it is very entertaining and educational, addressing common travel experiences from the era and introducing the reader to different locations throughout America. In this story, Kit is traveling with Aunt Millie to visit Charlie in Glacier Park, where he is doing CCC work, because she won the trip as a prize for an essay contest.

The book has some interactive elements, and souvenirs that you can pull out. Amazingly, the used copy that I bought online still has all of them, and I had a lot of fun looking through this and seeing everything. Until this came up recently in a ThriftBooks search, I never knew that this book existed, but I'm glad to add it to my collection, and hope to get the Samantha and Molly ones as well. There are only three in this series, but fortunately for me, two out of the three are my favorite American Girls.

[Liberty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was pleased and excited to find this one second hand. Ever since reading about Molly's Route 66 Adventure I was anxious to find the other two books. Even though most of the pull-out surprises for missing in my copy due to being second-hand I still enjoyed the story and we'll definitely be reading it more times than anyone should ever read a book LOL

[Sadie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought the interactive elements of the book were fun. I think the whole premise and most of the components of her adventure are improbable. But, it makes sense that the author chose to include so that she could use real photos from the 1930s to make Kit’s scrapbook come alive.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed it very much. All of the little details are well done; it's very fun to pull out the inserts!

[Gil-or (readingbooksinisrael) · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.8/5

[Mattie Mortensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a fun addition to the Kit world. I love the pullouts and interactive pieces in the story.

[Stasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think out of all the 'trip' American Girl books, this is the best. Very colorful and well written!

[KT · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cute! I didn't get the full experience since I read it online, but I found it to be a nice addition to Kit's world!

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another in the series of books where the various girls go somewhere and take along a scrapbook to write in. As with most of the other books in the series it consists of a lot of information, drawings, and 8 "pull-out souvenirs" which make the book really interesting and fun to read.

As with some of the other books in the series, you might end up needing to order this one on-line as bookstores don't always carry the books in the American Girls series other than the "regular" six-story sets about the girls. There are also sets of stationary, paper dolls and various other materials that can be found in the American Girls Collection series, not counting the dolls.

[Katt Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! I've been on train trips and honestly so little has changed in the world of train travel since the 1920's it all feels very comforting and familiar to me. While we don't have mail cars anymore, the porter still puts down your berth in the evening and the experience of the dining car is much the same. This makes me want to travel again!

[Marian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kit's Railway Adventure is a little light on story, but it's one of those books that's got things for you to pull out, explore, keep, and use. It's a fun book to flip through and there's just enough story to keep it interesting aside from all the fun bits to explore.

[Amanda Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

The three books in this set are some of the best AG has produced. Educational and fun, a quick read with so much to look at.

[Kristin Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much to look at in this book! You'll want to read the Kit stories first though. Now I will check the library for Molly and Samantha's travel scrapbooks too!