Samantha's Short Story Collection

American Girl: Short Stories

by Valerie Tripp, Sarah Masters Buckey

This keepsake anthology contains all five of Samantha's short stories, including: Samantha's Winter Party, Samantha and the Missing Pearls, Samantha Saves the Wedding, Samantha's Blue Bicycle, and Samantha's Special Talent.

Samantha Parkington's wealthy grandmother is raising her to be a proper young lady. But as America begins a new century, Samantha encounters new ideas that don't always match Grandmary's old-fashioned ways. What should Samantha believe? Her adventures strengthen her generous, kind spirit as she dares to make a difference.

The collection includes "Looking Back" essays and a ribbon bookmark.

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

204 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2002

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

[Miranda Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lovely collection of the short stories from the Samantha series. It has full-color illustrations throughout and sections that provide historical context for the various events, activities, or customs of the time. Highly recommended!

Samantha's Winter Party - ★★★★★

"I think it's pathetic the way Nellie is always trying to keep up with her betters!"

In an effort to cheer her best friend up, Samantha decides to host a winter party but that quickly spirals out of control and she becomes worried that Nellie would feel even worse. But luckily for Samantha, Nellie has a few plans of her own. Quite a good one - the friendship between Samantha and Nellie really shined in this one!

Samantha Saves the Wedding - ★★★★☆

"For a moment, no one moved or said a word. Then Grandmary groaned. Mrs. Pitt collapsed into a chair."

Samantha is so excited for her Uncle Gard to be marrying Cornelia but a simple game goes awry and the wedding might not happen after all! What can she do to save the wedding? I rather liked this peek into the wedding - I felt a bit cheated that we didn't get to see the wedding in the main series.

Samantha and the Missing Pearls - ★★★★☆

Mrs Van Sicklen's voice was shakey. 'Those pearls are priceless!'

Mrs. Van Sicklen, Samantha's neighbor and Nellie's employer, hosts a tea party and discovers her precious new pearl necklace has gone missing. As fingers begin to point towards Nellie and her family, Samantha knows she has to find the real culprit. This was a very quick mini-mystery but honestly, very successful. Great pacing and lots of action packed into a few short pages!

Samantha's Blue Bicycle - ★★★★★

"With a dramatic woosh, Gard pulled the canvas tarp off the back of the auto. Samantha gasped when she saw what was there: three shiny new bicycles."

At first, Samantha is in awe! Brand new bicycles! But a rough tumble scares Samantha and she begins to avoid the bike...and she starts to worry. What if Uncle Gard and Aunt Cornelia no longer want to spend time with her because she can't ride with them? I felt this one was very humanizing for Samantha - her worries felt so realistic to her age and my heart ached for her.

Samantha's Special Talent - ★★★☆☆

"Maybe if we have a talent show and the Opera House, people would come to the library meeting."

Samantha's local library is in rough shape - the roof is leaking and there's not much interest in fixing it from library supporters - so she decides to create an event to entice people. She's able to secure a wide variety of performers and wants to do something herself...but soon realizes that she cannot think of any talents of her own. I like the message, and it was fun to spotlight a few of the side characters from the series - but overall this one was just okay to me.

A Final Note:

I was rather torn on whether to buy the individual short stories or purchase the 5-in-1 collection version, but ultimately went with the collection of short stories because it was easier for me to obtain all of the books and it would look neater on my shelves.

And for the most part, these do match really well with the individual books for the short stories - they both have full color illustrations and the Peek Into the Past sections.

However, the one disappointing factor is that the collection books are missing the fun 'extras'. Below are the crafts that are present in the individual books but not in this collection:

Samantha's Winter Party - instructions for how to snow candles
Samantha Saves the Wedding - instructions for making a 'tussie-mussie' (a small bouquet)
Samantha and the Missing Pearls - a guide for planning a mystery party (including 3 games)
Samantha's Blue Bicycle - a guide for how to start a bicycle club (including 4 games)
Samantha's Special Talent - instructions for how to juggle scarves

[Dolly Parton with a Gun · Rating 5 out of 5]

3 out of 6 stories in this collection made me cry in a Starbucks

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's really such a shame these short story collections were available for such a relatively short time, because this is just a lovely edition. The size and shape are just so satisfying to hold in your hand, the illustrations are lovely, there's even a little ribbon bookmark. Just, A+ production. Notes on the stories are linked below:

Samantha's Winter Party
Samantha and the Missing Pearls
Samantha Saves the Wedding
Samantha's Blue Bicycle
Samantha's Special Talent

More Samantha babble:
Meet Samantha | Samantha Learns a Lesson | Samantha's Surprise | Happy Birthday, Samantha | Samantha Saves the Day | Changes for Samantha

Nellie's Promise

The Curse of Ravenscourt | The Stolen Sapphire | Cry of the Loon | Clue in the Castle Tower

The Lilac Tunnel: My Journey with Samantha

[Karol · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved Samantha’s Short Story Collection. There are five beautiful stories. I most enjoyed Samantha’s Winter Party and Samantha Saves the Wedding and Samantha’s Blue Bicycle.
The “Looking Back” sections after each story gives great insight into the past.

[Panda Incognito · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely loved reading this. It was very nostalgic for me, and I enjoyed the stories even more than I did as a child, because I now have a much greater appreciation for the short story form. When I was younger, I thought that short stories always ended just as they were getting exciting, but I now admire how well the authors crafted their miniature character arcs. They also did an excellent job of incorporating historical and cultural elements, and the "peek into the past" notes in this book are excellent.

The historical note after the mystery-oriented story was all about Gertrude Chandler Warner, who grew up in the same era that Samantha did. I gasped when I saw this, because I had no memory of it whatsoever, but must have absolutely loved this as a child, since American Girl and the Boxcar Children were two of my greatest passions in life.

This book made me feel wonderfully nostalgic for my childhood, and for all of the other books that I grew up with that were set or written in the early 1900s. The Samantha short stories nail the culture of that time, and even though she was never my favorite American Girl character, her books capture one of my favorite time periods to perfection.

[Lyndsey Langston · Rating 4 out of 5]

I choose this book because I am an Elementary Education major and wanted to read a book that I would be able to put in my classroom library. This was a great collection of stories and is equally entertaining as educational.

I would not teach this in a public school setting. I would recomend this to students that want a historical read or a collection of short stories. This book goes through many different events in Samantha's life. Samantha is growing up during the industrial revolution and this is reflected in the story so not only does the reader learn different lessons about growing up but also learns what it was like to grow up during this time period.

Warnings:
Drugs: None
Sex: None
Rock and Roll: It is a very tame novel
Language: None
Violence: None

[Amanda Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm so glad they made this little sets of the short stories. I managed to acquire all of them this summer, and really enjoy them. Samantha's set builds on her relationship with Nellie, events with Gard and Cornelia's wedding, and the life of a 1904 society young lady. I also love that they kept the Looking Back in these sets - so wish they would have done that for the central series onion paper cover sets.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having read an "American Girl" book before, so I know that the full story is very interesting.This book is short stories, parts seeming to have been taken out of books about Samantha, so the short stories weren't chronological to me, but they still showed great examples of kindness and friendship. They would be great as individual bedtime stories for young girls.

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Re-read: I think my favorite story in this collection was about Gard and Cornelia's wedding. That really should have been in the Central Series to begin with! The stories are set throughout the Central Series, though the last story doesn't have a clear point in time.

[Michelle Fritz PA · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely delightful! Just what every Samantha enthusiast needs. These short stories brought a smile to my face. I will always adore Samantha. Her kind heart and sense of shelf always shines brightly.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good compilation of all the heartwarming Samantha short stories.

[Lizzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun extension to Samantha's "core six" stories. Worth rereading as an adult as well as reading as a child.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall enjoyed. My favorite story was Samantha’s Winter Party.

[Rubi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this collection SO much 😍
Reviewed each story individually, but glad they sell it as a collection because I literally loved every single story!