Molly Learns a Lesson: A School Story

American Girl: Molly #2

by Valerie Tripp, Nick Backes (Illustrator)

Molly is a lively, lovable schemer and dreamer growing up in 1944. Her stories describe her life on the home front during World War Two. Molly doesn't like many of the changes the war has brought, and she especially misses her father, who is away caring for wounded soldiers. But Molly learns the importance of getting along and pulling together -- just as her country has to do to win the war Molly plans a secret project to win her school's Lend-a-Hand Contest. But the project tums out to be harder than Molly had thought.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Childrens, Fiction, Historical, Middle Grade, Chapter Books, Young Adult

88 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

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 3 out of 5]

"School is your war duty. Being a good student is as important as being a good soldier."

Molly McIntire absolutely loves school and adores her teacher. Miss Campbell is the kind of teacher who walks into the room and the room is silent with anticipation and an eagerness to learn.

"Wake up! Sharpen your pencils! The day is beginning!"

So when Miss Campbell announces a school-wide contest called "Lend-a-hand", Molly cannot wait. Quickly the class divides into two groups (boys vs girls) and the two teams come up with weekend projects to help the war effort.

Allison Hargate, one of Molly's classmates, comes up with an idea to knit socks (which Molly thinks is stupid) but the rest of the girls are excited for. Molly agrees to join in but secretly plans to make her own, better (MUCH better) project.

Now, all she needs to do is rope in her two best friends and they can win the contest and Miss Campbell's approval (and then, maybe (just maybe) Molly will be asked to be in Miss Campbell's wedding) (that last one was a longshot but a girl can dream!).

As I said in my Meet Molly review, I struggled connecting with the first book in Molly's series, in part due to her mean girl tendencies, and this book did feel more of the same.

Molly is so annoyed at Allison Hargate for just...existing and being nice. I totally get that irrational hatred of that one kid in your class...but at the same time, it isn't very fun to read about and gosh dang did Allison seem like a good person.

Allison is sooooo sweet in this story and Molly is like 'absolutely not. b*tch' (my words, her vibes).

And then Molly pushes her friends to do HER project despite the horrible weather and absolute misery that the three of them go through.

I did like how Molly seemed to walk back her 'me-me-me' attitude at the end and find a way to help Allison's project work...but still...it didn't really feel like much character development to me, more like Molly was trying to correct what she saw as a dumb idea.

I will say, I did like how this book felt a bit more historical to me. The first book in the series almost felt like it could have been set in a number of decades and still had worked. This one felt more grounded in the 1940s, especially when we'd get conversations like this:

"There just isn't enough rubber left over to make red rubber boots for nine-year-old girls."

Overall, I am definitely going to continue the series but I'm struggling a bit. Maybe I shouldn't have gone from Addy's brilliant story to this one. It's too much whiplash.

[Kailey (Luminous Libro) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the character development that Molly goes through in this book. She sees a problem and wants to correct it, and believes that her idea is better and more practical. However, she doesn't have the courage to speak out. She tries to implement another idea on her own, but discovers that she needs the help of the group in order to make it a success. Finally, she gathers the courage to speak her mind in a kind way, and the results are that the group listens to her ideas and helps her with her other project too.

I love that Molly is a problem solver! Her personality is so strong and smart!

The writing style in this book is just perfect, and we can really follow Molly's journey and feel each scene with her.

I love the historical information at the back of the book that talks about how civilians would assist in the war effort during the 1940s. It's wonderful to see such a vivid glimpse of how people lived back then.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alison is literally just trying to be nice to Molly and Molly would probably shove her down a steep hill if given the chance

[Allie · Rating 3 out of 5]

i feel like i know more about Miss Campbell than any character who isn’t Molly. this feels queer

[Morgan's Endless Bookshelf · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one feels like, "Molly, you are technically correct, but you did everything wrong."

[Olde American Spirit · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title of the book is very accurate in that Molly goes about everything all wrong. It turns out in the end, thankfully. Hopefully, with lesson learned. :)

[Shelby · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVE I T

[Hannah Showalter · Rating 4 out of 5]

so cute and sweet!!

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Molly is kind of a brat in this book. She's rude to Alison for no reason and she spends most of the book in a sulk because she isn't going to be in the spotlight. She does eventually realize that things are smoother if she works with the other girls instead of against them, but that's a very late development in a very short book, and she ends up getting the spotlight anyways.

[Hermione · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very quick read. Would have been nice to see if the boys accomplished their project. The "looking back" section at the end of the book is a great way to teach girls how it was back then.

[Asho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Molly was my least-favorite American Girl when I was little, but after re-reading this book when S discovered American Girl books this summer, I don't know why. Molly is great!

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS BOOK WAS ALSO VERY GOOD!!!!!!!!!

[Amanda Blake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gosh these are fun to read… however, Molly is a bit insufferable. She just realllllly needs to be the main character.

It just makes me laugh a little because this silly little American Girl book really exposes our human bent toward selfishness. There’s a whole world war going on and Molly just NEEDS to be featured in the newspaper with her teacher, who she longs for recognition from.

Themes: friendship, teamwork, self-centeredness, longing for recognition

[RaspberryRoses · Rating 2 out of 5]

justice for alison who literally did nothing to deserve this scorn. this isn't even a kipperlilly situation she is literally just standing here.

[Holly]

Reread in August 2025: https://hollograms.blogspot.com/2025/...

[Katie Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 1980s clip art is the best thing about the Molly series. I also love how Val Tripp's understanding of child psychology is spot one already. I remembered a lot of both of these Molly books, which is fun but surprising because I am so not a Molly!

[Christina Erickson · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all, bring back bread days.
Second of all, I love her but Molly is a little bit of a brat that only loosens up after she usurps a group project from a very friendly popular girl. She does so by capitalizing on a vulnerable moment.

She goes uncorrected, in fact she is AFFIRMED.

But honestly, we all do what we can for the war effort. The end justifies the means.

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about what people were doing during World War II as far as trying to help the war effort from their schools. The various classes at Molly's schools are coming up with different methods to help, things like scrap metal drives and sewing things that soldiers can use.

When the decision is made on what Molly's class will do, Molly disagrees and ends up trying to come up with a project of her own that she and two of her friends can do. They end up involved in the original project, though, and end up changing that to something even better that all the girls end up having fun being involved in.

There's the usual historical section and in this one it talks about the various scrap metal and other drives that were done. If you look at any high school yearbooks from the war years you will probably see things that the high school students did for the war effort.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been rereading all of the American girl books, partially because escaping into nostalgia has helped me get through this pandemic, and partially because I'm trying to catch up on the American Girls podcast. (It's an excellent listen, would strongly recommend.)

Growing up, Molly had always been my favorite. (It's funny, because as an adult I tend to avoid WW2 based fiction since I feel like I've been inundated with it my whole life. Probably because it's a war where we've been able to clearly have the moral high ground in comparison to what was happening in Germany at the time. With other wars, it isn't always so clear cut.) I think rereading them, I can understand why I enjoyed Molly so much. Her experience was the easiest for me to relate to as a child. She goes to school. She has projects to do with her peers. She feels embarrassment during the multiplication bee. She has a friends she goes on adventures with - like a clear cut friend group, which the others girls don't always have. (This really stands out after reading Samantha's books, since she flip-flops her pals from book to book.) It was the closest one to my own childhood. Obviously, there were differences, but she was so relatable to me. Even now, I'm enjoying these the most out of all my rereads. I just remember a childhood version of myself curled up on a couch with these books, and I'm glad I get to revisit them again.

[Kristi Drillien · Rating 5 out of 5]

Molly's got a little bit of a manipulative streak, which I totally can relate with. I like the way this one works out in the end—it might be a bit easy, but it is a kid's book, after all.

I thought these books might be silly or feel too light, since these books were written to go along with actual dolls, thus they could have been very quick and simple. However, they don't smack of a marketing ploy; the author did a great job with them, and they're really just like any other book series written for kids this age. Also, the "Looking Back" section at the end of each book is really interesting! I love that it gives a little history of the time period, generally relating to the story, with pictures and even examples of ads/posters/propaganda from that time period. The focus is on children and even women, which is something that you really aren't going to see a lot of places. I think these books could be a great resource for teaching kids age 7+ about the time period, how kids lived in those days, and the hardships they had to deal with. If I'd gotten to these books when my daughter was younger, I would have had her read them and then discussed them with her afterward.

[Laura Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Molly is a little annoying because she tends to be jealous and always wants to go her own way. At least everything works out in the end and Molly realizes how well things can turn out and how fun it can be to work together. I hope she realizes Alison is not so bad by the end of the series. Alison's mother, however, is a different story. In the last book, Molly and her friends are sympathetic to Alison regarding her mother. It was a little creepy how she snuck up on the girls while they were looking in the window. Why not just call them over to the front door, especially since it was raining?

The book does a good job of describing the sacrifices people made on the home front during WWII. The illustrations were a little better in book two. Not all looked cartoonish.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Research matters

Yes, for the most part AG books are very well written and well researched. But the little things really do matter.
Portraying these 9 year old girls who do not know how to knit as suddenly going to be able to turn out a pair of socks each in a single weekend is ridiculous. Even an advanced knitter can't necessarily do that. Sock legs cannot be turned into blanket squares, 1, they are not square and 2, typical socks as they seem to be attempting to knit are done with very fine yarn. Can you make a blanket with it? Yes. But would it be good for a war hospital blanket? No,it would be much too thin and delicate.
Am I just being picky? Probably a bit. However, the little things do matter especially in a book that's meant to be historically accurate.

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This second installment in the Molly series proves to be a bit more interesting than the first. Though Molly still lacks an interesting or compelling personality, she at least grew as a character in this book. The history aspect of this book also improved from the past. Where the first book had a very shallow take on the time period and war, this book at least integrates the history a bit better, though it is not without it's shallow moments. Despite the improvement from the first book, this book still lacks noticable depth compared to other books in the American Girl series, which leaves me feeling very disappointed.

[Sadie · Rating 5 out of 5]

1. Golly Miss Molly is 🤔. She really likes her teacher… and Alison’s maid with strong hands?
2. She is also refreshingly motivated by self interest- as a kid should be! Really what I mean by this is she seems like a real kid who is a little impatient and a little selfish but is learning and growing. Her reach and impact are also accurate for a 9 year old.
3. This book was illustrated with metaphorical cartoony depictions of Molly and her friends’ emotions/scenarios as well as the typical scene illustrations. I liked them!

[Jacqueline M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this story as a child and I still like it now. I think Molly does learn a few lessons here that are applicable to girls even today. My grandmother is the exact "age" of Molly and she loved this one as well. She did hate knitting and told me about not having rubber boots and butter due to rationing. She also mentioned all the school drives that they did for the war effort. Overall, this one is relatable, the pacing isn't off (like many AG books), and does teach about the time period of the character. Good job, Molly.

[Kell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plowing through the original American Girl books, #14: Molly Learns a Lesson

This is definitely the Character Development book, if I had to pick one in the series that was. This is Molly thinking she can do things better but making the mature realization that her way isn't always the best way. It's also very encouraging to read a "what if we found a third, even better way to do things" scenario. I love that shit.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was growing up my parents bought me all of the Samantha books. The ones that I really wanted were the Molly books. I'd borrow them from my friends or the library so I could read them. I remember them more than the Samantha books, even though I owned those.

Anyways, I love them. And they really hold up better than I thought.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

My daughter and I read through this book in 2 nights. This was so much fun to read with her and I’m glad she’s enjoying them as much as I did when I was young. Molly always was my favorite but it’s been a long time since I’ve read these. I’ve forgotten them but they do stand the test of time and are very enjoyable as an adult. We will start the next one shortly.

[Rubi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love when schools give students ideas that help both their creativity and community! Molly was a bit petty and bossy with her friends, but in the end they learned that working together was the best thing to do! Which actually tied in to their teachers lesson about allies haha
Cute story. Makes me want to take up a project lol

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven’t read these books in decades so I kind of forgot how bratty Molly actually kind of is (at least in re-reading the first two books of the series thus far). But she definitely learns a valuable lesson in teamwork in this book so the end result redeems her bratty behavior earlier on. As I’ve re-read through all of these books in starting to think Tripp just likes writing about Mean Girls.