Felicity's Short Story Collection

American Girl: Short Stories

by Valerie Tripp, Philip Hood (Illustrator), Dan Andreasen (Illustrator)

Felicity is growing up in Virginia just before the Revolutionary War. As the colonies struggle to break free from England's rule, Felicity has her own struggles for independence. She's learning what it means to be a proper gentlewoman, and she's beginning to form her own beliefs. Through her adventures, Felicity discovers that with independence comes responsibility.

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

213 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

[Panda Incognito · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was excited to snag an affordable used copy of this book, and enjoyed it very much, especially since I am now old enough to feel less acute vicarious embarrassment over Felicity's scrapes. These short stories are all fun and educational, and the collection also includes one about Valentine's Day that was never published as a stand-alone. I had no idea that this collection would include something new, and enjoyed that story tremendously. It is so sweet and creative, and I'm glad that I got to read it.

My only complaint about this book is that the story and historical notes never differentiate very clearly between servants and slaves, and don't share enough information to condemn the institution of slavery. I didn't notice this very much as a child, since I already knew plenty about slavery and could read between the lines, but if a young reader isn't well-educated in that area, some aspects of these stories could romanticize Colonial life without clearly explaining the moral issues entrenched in that culture.

[Karol · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore Felicity. Her short story collection is a gem. I most enjoyed Felicity’s Dancing Shoes, Felicity’s Valentine and Felicity Discovers a Secret. The “Looking Back” sections at the end of each story provide great information from Felicity’s time.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The American Girl marathon continues. I remember most of the stories from reading American Girl magazine as a kid, but this edition is new to me as an adult.

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:
Felicity Takes a Dare
Felicity’s Dancing Shoes
Felicity’s New Sister
Felicity Discovers a Secret

“Felicity’s Valentine” which is original to this collection is fun, even if it gets hard to follow – which paper went where?? Which FM and EC? It’s a little contrived, but it’s clever and I like the way it turns out. It’s set shortly after Changes, around Valentine’s Day of course.


More Felicity babble

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

Very Funny, Elizabeth

Felicity’s New Sister | Felicity’s Dancing Shoes | Felicity Takes a Dare | Felicity Discovers a Secret | Felicity’s Short Story Collection

Peril at King’s Creek | Traitor in Williamsburg | Lady Margaret’s Ghost

[Joey Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Felicity’s dancing shoes 4*

This was cute, Felicity struggles to learn the dances and as Annabelle picks on her again due to her clumsy shoes so she starts hurting herself by using Nan’s small shoes which was honestly funny.

With Nan being so excited to learn the dances of a gentlewoman it was so sweet that she and Felicity got some time alone together and it was really helping Felicity learn what she was doing by teaching her sister.

I really enjoyed this story it was so cute and so funny too a 10 year old wearing a 6 years old shoes that would really be painful. But it was a cute idea and it made a great little story.

Felicity takes a dare 3*

This wasn’t the most exciting with the fair in town Felicity starts showing off to her siblings that she can walk the fence like a tightrope walker but her mother gives her a harsh warning of how dangerous it can be. Then at the fair whilst admiring the horses a group of rude young boys dare her to go in and feed one which results in her getting injured.

Felicity wasn’t really thinking much in this story at all, she took weeks getting Penny to trust her but then forced these strange horses to approach her instantly all to prove a point to these mean boys. It didn’t really seem like Felicity’s logic to me within this one.

Felicity’s new sister 3*

Felicity is feeling very restless at having to be indoors all winter due to her mother’s pregnancy, so jumps at the opportunity to go to the plantation for some fresh air and freedom.

This was interesting, I wasn’t expecting such a dramatic event to happen on the journey to the plantation, but Felicity stepped up and took such great care of her siblings and was helpful to Rose whilst her mom had the new baby.

This wasn’t really what I was thinking it would be like at all but it wasn’t too bad a read. It was nice seeing how her sister came to be and the events that entailed during her delivery. It was much harder back then with no real knowledge or way of knowledge of when the baby was coming or going to come, and the space condition’s that woman ended up having them in. This book showcased all of that which I appreciated that it actually depicted the era so well.

Felicity’s valentine 3*

It’s Valentine’s Day and Felicity and Elizabeth think they are playing Cupid for Mr. Chelton and Miss. Manderly. This was so funny, Elizabeth during handwriting class sent Felicity a valentines poem but Felicity drops it on the floor. The two girls think Miss. Manderly found their Valentine and asks them to send her reply to Mr. Chelton.

The girls got so invested in their teachers relationship and the fact the initials of their names were the same was so funny, the girls couldn’t help but think that it was their note that the teacher had found. I really enjoyed this story it was nice seeing the valentines celebrations during this era, you don’t really get story’s about it in historical books so it was really great to read it.

Felicity discovers a secret 4*

This was a sweet one, Felicity was finally being a kid and playing with her hoop but it ruins the white linens a lady was drying. In paying back her debt for destroying them Felicity goes round to help her fix the mess she made and the two become friends but Felicity figures out her secret whilst working with her.

This was really lovely Felicity and this woman were so different but Felicity was lovely and learnt so much from her and this woman finally had some company which it seems she never had. I really liked seeing how Felicity started to soften her up a bit and get her to be a bit nicer than she had been.

In discovering the secret Felicity found such a great way to help her and it made the woman’s life so much better which was really nice, it was really interesting seeing and learning the history of glasses within the era, something I didn’t know about from this early on in time.

[Rubi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this collection! The educational value, life lessons, and good plots *chef's kiss* haha
I wrote my reviews for each individual story in their own listings, so the following review is for the Valentine's story.

The Valentine's story was cute. Felicity got creative with a Valentine not for Elizabeth but they feared it got mixed up with two adults notes. Do they tell Mrs. Manderly that the Valentine was a joke and not meant for her? Or.....do they play cupid and try to get to people they respect together? That was the shenanigans the girls were up to 😂
It was a short and fun read and I learned new things about card making and our postal service 😃

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend this for lovers of the American Girl stories! I read Felicity's series as a child/tween and loved them, but never got around to reading these short stories until I revisited the series as an adult. I really enjoyed each story in this collection and loved that they had the same quality of illustrations as the core Felicity books. This Short Story Collection also includes the story Felicity's Valentine, which was never published individually and was one of my favorites out of all of Felicity's short stories.

[Danae · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5*

I'm writing this review too long after reading the book to remember details, but I do generally think the stories were cute.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the fact that they kept the "Looking Back" part when they put all the short stories together. I love history so I enjoy reading those as much as the stories.

[Lex · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know why, but I feel like the AG short stories are sometimes better than the main collection and this is no exception

[Bryn Salamon · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know I love my girl Felicity!!

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked these sweet and short stories. Felicity still felt like she was acting in character for these, which I liked.

I don’t know how I feel about Polly’s name origin though lol!

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has five separate short stories from the Felicity: An American Girl series that I’ve been reading for the “American Girls” podcast that I’ve been listening to by Allison Horrocks and Mary Mahoney. I will be reviewing all the stories individually, on their own book pages (because they are individual books... this was just a nice collection I got for cheap). As a collective whole, however, I did like the stories. Some of them were a little ridiculous (but it is Felicity, of course), but I did like them overall. The only negative thing I can say (as a whole) about this collection is that I did feel like, after having read one through six of the original book series, Felicity had taken a step back in developmental growth in this series. HOWEVER, I do believe some of these stories take place in the middle of some of the books in the main series... So, maybe that’s why some of her growth had become terrible again.

On another note, I sadly cannot rate separately my favorite story from the whole collection, which was “Felicity’s Valentine”, so I am going to do that here. This was my favorite story from the entirety of the collection. I would give it five stars (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) because it was a cute story of Felicity and Elizabeth being regular friends and although they did land themselves into the typical shenanigans that they always do, I felt like in this story it really was not there fault. Everything that had happened was purely accidental and nothing to where they should really be terribly held accountable (except for the fact that they should do their homework) and in the end, everything wasn’t really what it seemed. It actually made me gush with what happened between F.M. and E.C., which I loved. Probably one of my favorites out of the entirety of the series, to be honest.

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading for a second time in 2013, I think I liked this collection a bit more than I had originally. The stories are nice and fit neatly into Felicity's timeline. And giving each story its own historical context section meant that a lot of detailed information could be shared about relatively minor things, like Valentine's Day.

[Jenni Lithgow]

This was a gift from my friend Sarah, and it was a fun little read! I read all the regular Felicity stories when I was a kid, but had never read the short stories. It was a real treat to get to read new-to-me Felicity stories that I'd never read before! :)

[Amanda Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

These little editions are so great for the short stories. I acquired all of them this summer, and it's nice to have the stories that were added just to make complete sets. These build on the Felicity character, but are a bit lacking in depth.

[Ale · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book has 5 books in it and is really intrested!!

[Caitlin]

Met the author in NYC and got a signed copy at American Girl Place. She loved hearing how I was from Williamsburg! :)

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good collection of stories. Sweet and simple and make one feel warm and fuzzy inside.