Changes for Samantha: A Winter Story

American Girl: Samantha #6

by Valerie Tripp

Times change for Samantha when she moves to New York City to live with Uncle Gard and Aunt Cornelia. They change for Nellie, Samantha's servant friend in Mount Bedford, too. But Nellie's changes aren't as happy as Samantha's and Nellie has to find work again. When her friend disappears, Samantha thinks Nellie has been lost forever, But after a long and scary search, Samantha finds Nellie in a New York orphanage. The orphanage is not a good place for Nellie, so the girls plan a daring escape.

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

66 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

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]

"The wintry afternoon sky was pink, darkening to purple as she ran up the steps to Uncle Gard and Aunt Cornelia's house...'I'm home!' "

Samantha moved to New York to live with her aunt and uncle - it's a bittersweet change.

She will miss Grandmary and her best friend, Nellie, but she's excited for the next adventure...until she received a very distressing letter.

" 'Oh poor Nellie!' Samantha whispered. 'Poor Bridget and Jenny.' "

Nellie's parents both passed from the flu, leaving orphaned Nellie to take care of her two younger sisters. She writes to tell Samantha that they will be moving to New York to be under the care of a long-lost uncle.

But as time passes, Samantha begins to worry about Nellie. She should be in New York by now but there's no word . How can Samantha find her friend in a city as big as New York?

"Samantha couldn't sleep that night. She pulled the blankets up to her nose, but above them her eyes were wide open...she worried about Nellie."

Well...this one was a bit dark. I know I keep saying this - but these books went so much harder than they needed to to sell a few dolls. The amount of heart and soul put into these books is truly wild.

I do feel a bit confused about why Samantha was suddenly moved to Uncle Gard and Aunt Cornelia's home - she seemed happy with Grandmary but given Grandmary's marriage to Admiral Beemis, maybe they wanted the kid out of the home...?

At any rate, Samantha seems rather happy with the move.

I really like how we circle back to Nellie - I've missed her in the previous few books and I feel that her return was definitely needed.

Her plight was so heart wrenching - a little girl trying her best to take care of her younger siblings - against the threat of homelessness and being broken apart.

Also, I appreciate that whenever Samantha realizes that she has privilege compared to her friend, she does her best to find a way to use it to help others.

Overall, I think this series is incredibly well written and honestly, one of the best examples of historicalFoxconn for young readers. I would highly recommend it.

[Abigail McKenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

gardner and cornelia edwards are the ultimate power couple, okay, I love them so much

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is it just me, or does this series go a little bit off the rails?

Let's back up.

Compared to some of the other early AG series, the original Samantha books feel unfocused:

- Felicity's arc is that she is growing more responsible while the revolution is brewing. Her progress isn't always linear - big step forward in Surprise as she nurses her mother, big step backward in Happy Birthday with "there was one rule about the guitar, Felicity." But overall each book charts her personal progress and the developing political situation. Oh, and Penny comes back, which only works through ten-year-old Horse Girl Logic, but okay, whatever.

- Kirsten's arc is about assimilating, and it effectively ends at the close of Happy Birthday - which I think is why the last two books are weaker than the first four. In those four books, Kirsten: travels to her new home, begins to learn English, finds ways to update old traditions, and finds that she has been embraced by her new community. After that, Saves the Day and Changes are both driven by concerns about money - legitimate for the family's situation, but they could just as easily be "further adventures of Kirsten Larson" rather than part of the main narrative. Janet Shaw makes "Changes" feel like a big ending because they get the house, but it comes out of nowhere.

- Addy's arc is also about mastering a new environment, coming to terms with what freedom does and doesn't do for her, while helping to reunite her family. By the end of Changes, everyone's accounted for and Addy has a home and a community in Philadelphia. It's beautifully constructed, and as an adult it might be my favorite series of the first five.

- I haven't finished re-reading Molly, so TBD, but I remember her books being pretty consistent in terms of characters, setting and themes. Saves the Day is at summer camp, but I think the best friends are still there. World War II is always there in the background. (I finished Molly; here are my thoughts on her.)

And then there's Samantha. Who I will always adore - that's the doll I got for Christmas, age 7, and she was the beloved toy that was basically a member of the family. But setting that aside, the books - considered together as a series - are kind of a mess.

Samantha's theme is... ??? Happy Birthday leans in to "sometimes change is good," a message that was deliberately undercut in Learns a Lesson. Saves the Day and "Happy Birthday" both require keeping your head in a (self-manufactured) crisis. The three with Nellie (Meet, "Learns a Lesson," and "Changes") are about using your privilege to help those who have less. Surprise is a cinnamon-flavored Christmas story about wishes coming true and Samantha finding a kindred spirit in Cornelia. "Saves the Day" memorializes Samantha's parents.

I don't even think there's a through-line of character development like you see with Felicity. Occasionally there are suggestions that she's working to live up to Grandmary's expectations of a young lady, but it doesn't build through the series. If anything, that's half the plot of "Meet," and then it just pokes its head out again in "Lesson" and (less successfully) in "Happy Birthday."

It seems relevant that while the Felicity, Kirsten, Addy and Molly series were each written by a single author, the Samantha books have a total of three. I don't know how that happened, and I'd love to know how what guidance each writer received. How much was mapped out from the beginning, and to what extent were scribes 2 and 3 left to pick up the threads and do their best?

I'd go out on a limb and say "not much" and "extensively."

With that, let's go back to the book at hand.

If you had told me that "Changes" was by a different author than all the rest of the Samantha books, I would have believed you. It's not true - Valerie Tripp wrote the last three - but it's so different from the others. Samantha has moved in with Gard and Cornelia so Grandmary can honeymoon with Admiral "No really, why are you here?" Beemis from "Saves the Day." (In retrospect, perhaps his purpose in "Saves the Day" is really to set up a reason for Samantha to move to the city for "Changes.")

Like her life in New Bedford, Samantha's life in New York is pretty idyllic. She and Cornelia seem to get along beautifully. One grumpy maid is exchanged for another - who again is a minor antagonist, but I still kind of sympathize with her. We know Samantha goes skating and to school, though we don't hear much about that. Samantha is nearly a supporting role in this one, because the real focus is Nellie.

If anything, "Changes" feels like it's trying to make up for all the time we missed with Nellie - other than a quick cameo in "Surprise," we haven't seen her since "Learns a Lesson." We're still looking through Samantha's eyes, but Nellie and her sisters drive the plot. We have to find them (in a "dangerous," i.e., lower class neighborhood), we visit them at the orphanage, we sneak them out and try to protect and shelter them. And ultimately, Gard and Cornelia decide to adopt them. Of course they do: throughout the series, Gard and Cornelia are basically perfect. (Maybe THAT'S the theme!)

I'm okay with this plot up through the introduction of the orphan train (and wow, I had completely forgotten there was an orphan train in this book). Once this becomes a jailbreak/hide in the attic book, I had my eyebrows raised for about the last twenty pages. I think I sprained my credulity.

THAT SAID, is it a sweet story? Yes, absolutely. Is it charming that the girls all get a happy ending? Of course. Do I also wonder what the society matrons who frowned at Samantha just playing with Nellie will say about this? Oh hell yeah.


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

Samantha's Winter Party | Samantha and the Missing Pearls | Samantha Saves the Wedding | Samantha's Blue Bicycle | Samantha's Special Talent | Samantha's Short Story Collection

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

The Lilac Tunnel: My Journey with Samantha

[Readaholic Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Samantha's story. I hate how they're trying to faze out the original American girls.

[Olivia]

Samantha did not want to go in the dark doorway. Then she thought, Maybe Nellie has to go in this doorway every single day. Maybe Nellie is inside there right now. She climbed the steps and went inside.

*crying* I LOVE THIS CHILD

Gard and Cornelia are real ones. As is Tripp for giving the corrupt orphanage directress a name like "Tusnelda Frouchy".

[Panda Incognito · Rating 5 out of 5]

The great orphanage escape story! I cannot count the number of times that my sister and I acted out stories like this with various friends, and reading this is a quite a blast from the past. However, I experienced the book very differently as an adult, with a different focus and takeaway message. (Spoilers to follow.)

As a child, I was always focused on Samantha's adventure, and even though I thought it was unrealistic that an unaccompanied, wealthy ten-year-old child could roam around the seedy places of New York City looking for her friend, I appreciated the new plot about Nellie after she had disappeared from the past three books. Then, after Samantha finds Nellie and her sisters, my focus was always on the exciting escape, and on her efforts to hide them in the attic. At the end, when the maid discovers them and Uncle Gard and Aunt Cornelia agree to let the girls stay with them, this seemed like a convenient happy ending. I never stopped to fully appreciate what an incredible act of love this is.

WHAT GOOD PEOPLE. Uncle Gard and Aunt Cornelia are goals. As a young, fairly recently married couple, they not only take in Samantha so that her grandmother can travel with her new husband, but they also agree to take in three more orphans. What an incredible act of love and generosity. Reading this book as an adult gave me a whole different perspective, because instead of focusing on Samantha's feelings and choices, I focused on Uncle Gard and Cornelia as "real" people, with deep social concern, abiding love for their niece, and a willingness to create a home even for children that they had no biological tie to.

In today's world, even though adoption outside of one's extended family is far more common, people tend to think of children as unwanted inconveniences or lifestyle accessories. Young couples often joke about wanting to postpone having children, and people often advise them not to take on the responsibilities of childcare, saying that it will ruin their independence and freedom. Meanwhile, here are Uncle Gard and Aunt Cornelia in the early 1900s, happily taking on the care of four orphans before they've even been married long enough to start establishing a family of their own.

It would be easy to scoff at this as an unrealistic happy ending, but these characters were the kind of people who would do this, and as I tried not to cry over the ending, I thought about all the real people I know who have adopted children from difficult, traumatic situations, and about all the families I know that don't match. I don't know if I will ever be in a situation to foster or adopt children, but I want to be that kind of person, and I want to have Uncle Gard and Aunt Cornelia's deep love for others. This is a beautiful story, and will always be one of my favorite books from childhood.

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

Such a lovely ending to the original Samantha series! I love the suspense and mystery as Samantha searches for her friend Nellie in the big city. This book always fascinated me when I was a girl, because of so many memorable details. I still enjoy it as an adult!

[Olde American Spirit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book number six was a wonderful book to tie this series up in a "Samantha-sized bow."

This series is amazing. I highly recommend it for all ages.


✨📚☕💙☕📚✨More in-depth reviews on my weekly Youtube videos.

[Alaina Lightfoot · Rating 4 out of 5]

I re- read this for some easy comfort food reading today and man why am I crying real tears 😂

[Hannah Showalter · Rating 5 out of 5]

uncle gard and aunt cornelia are so cool and ahead of their time

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute ending to the series. I’m surprised they didn’t talk at all about the orphan train they mentioned so many times in the peek into the past section though. I would’ve liked to have learned more about NYC in 1904 and orphanages like the story focused on.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is so incredibly tumble-jumble and disjointed. As a kid, I didn't pick up on this, but I remember I would pick and choose Samantha stories to reread as opposed to the other girls, where I would re-read their whole series from start to finish.

I felt as if the first two books were written to give Samantha an arc that would carry over the six books. This was derailed slightly in book 3, and it went entirely off the rails with book 4 and the appearance of the twins. In book 6, it seemed that there was a mad scramble to pick up with the arc from books 1 and 2. But, the difference between what was going on in books 4 and 5 was jarring.

Grandmary has since gotten married to Admiral Archibald Bemis, and we are robbed of the fun of that wedding and of most of Samantha's feelings about it. (Maybe this is covered in a side book or a short story, but we don't see it in the main series.) Samantha now lives with Uncle Gard and Aunt Cornelia. The twins, despite being in the character vignettes at the beginning, are nowhere to be seen in this book despite having been always underfoot in the last two. (Kind of glad about this, because they were just chaotic energy I didn't need.)

Fortunately, we return to her true BFF in this book, Nellie. Of course, we're touching on some very dark themes, because Val Tripp loves killing off parents. Nellie, who has had a pretty hard go at it right along, is now forced into an almost parental role for his younger sisters with the death of her parents. We're blind-sided with this in the beginning of the book, and the dark realities of what would happen to orphans during that time period is touched on. It reminded me a lot of Anne's past in "Anne with an E" (based on "Anne of Green Gables"). I am glad we get closure on what happens with Nellie and that the twins are sent to the sidelines. I was afraid that she'd be ignored for the flashy consumerism that the twins seem to be focused on.

Overall, of the three books written by Val Tripp in the series, this one seems to connect the most to what Samantha's original storyline was, and I appreciate that.

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another action-packed story. Sam is staying with Uncle Gard and Aunt Cornelia while Grandmary is honeymooning with the Admiral on his yacht. Nellie's parents die from the flu, leaving Nellie and her sisters orphaned and homeless. They end up back in NYC and in an orphanage, under the watchful and cruel eye of Miss Tusnelda Frouchy. When Frouchy wants Nellie to travel West on the Orphan Train, Sam convinces Nellie to run away with her sisters. She hides them in Uncle G and Aunt C's attic, but mean Gertrude catches Sam smuggling food to them.

Of course, Aunt Cornelia and Uncle Gard allow Nellie and her sisters to stay as their adopted daughters. Sam is thrilled to finally have a family and it is all very sad but also very happy for the orphans.

[Laura Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 6 was the saddest of all (except for the very end). Valerie Tripp does a good job of portraying how awful most orphanages were back in the old days. Far too many people working in these places did not have the best interest of the children at heart.

Why do so many people die in American Girls books? Poor Nellie can't seem to catch a break. I'm hoping "Nellie's Promise" will bring a little more happiness into her life (although I think the excerpt at the end of Book 6 says her Uncle Mike is going to make an appearance, so I doubt it).

The Samantha series is probably my least favorite in the American Girls canon (along with Marie-Grace) though I have yet to read Rebecca and Julie.

[Katelyn Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This ending made me so happy!!! Great way to end the series!!! I love Samantha!!!

[Jasmine Shadows · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the others in the series, this is a delightful read. I enjoyed reading them to my girls.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Samantha's life changes, as the title suggests, in many ways for the better - though of course it takes some drama to get there. It is a sweet end to the series.

[Eleanor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elk. It was scarey.thay haft to rush out and away.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally finished the series!!

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I forgottttttt the happy ending! Yay!

[RaspberryRoses]

its so funny how unceremoniously written off grandmery is. and how its like oh SHIT we forgot about nellie. a whole damn mess.

[Kaley Catron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now that's how you finish a series. I forgot how much I love these books and can't wait to read more of the girls' adventures!!

[Iwi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The orphan thing is wild. But sneaking the food upstairs is pretty funny. Love that the old lady got married and we don't have to hear from her anymore.

[Claire Nunes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A banger as always. But I honestly think the movie plot for this was better.

[Eva B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full series review for Samantha:
Ah, Samantha. Apparently a somewhat divisive one, but one whose stories I still deeply enjoy for their glimpse into such a well-to-do turn-of-the-century life. Samantha is endearing and sweet and I love how earnest she is to try and help others, even if she doesn’t quite know how. In a lot of ways she reminds me of Ruthie—in fact, her story is sort of like if Kit’s series was centered on Ruthie (and in turn, Kit’s is a bit like if Samantha’s story was centered on Nellie.) I have an original Pleasant Company Samantha and I treasure her, dog-chewed hand and all.

[Katt Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one quite a bit, though I wonder if I'm the only one jarred to such big changes in Samantha's life since the last book. I was very startled to find her in a new home, with new guardians. I'm wondering if reading the short stories might help to fill in the gap.

Is anyone else bothered by the way the years run in this book? In the first book, which takes place in the fall of 1904 when she's living with her grandmother, to this one where it is February in what (if you take the books in order) MUST be a full year and six months later - it's still shown as 1904. Um...hello? Can we get the years sorted?

I understand them wanting to represent a year, but I saw this with Kirsten too - a time period of about 18 months from first to last book (or Kirsten might have been closer to 2 years) but all the books being listed as being the same year.

I think I'm going to safely assume that this book is in 1906 and go from there. Just because.

I'd like to see what others think about the year issue though.

Still this was a good series to read, and a glimpse at what a well-to-do life was like at the turn of the century.

[Cammy]

iconic literature....

literally Samantha not being able to talk to Nellie at the orphanage and them secretly meeting? star crossed lovers. (they're like 12 so not really but you know what I mean.) I love how much Samantha loves Nellie and her sisters, but also how much Samantha really practices what she preaches, as does Aunt Cornelia.

i remember the scenes with her hiding the sisters so vividly because I read this so often and I even think I acted it out with dolls. It seemed much longer than just four days when I was little.

i get it's problematic to want this life but i would love to live in their NYC townhouse and make hot cocoa and eat cookies. like, damn. I love the family feels, how warm and cozy and soft the ending makes me feel.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now that Samantha's Grandmary has married, she moves to New York City and lives with her Uncle Gard and Aunt Cornelia. She misses her home her friend, Nellie. She learns that Nellie lost her parents due to the flu and Nellie, and her sisters are sent to New York to live with an uncle. Nellie promises to visit Samantha but never does. Samantha searches for her and discovers they are living in an orphanage. Samantha tries to find ways to help her friend.

I love the Samantha is always trying to help others, and she does not give up helping Nellie and her little sisters. It's so sad that what Nellie endured was quite common then. Good insight to the time period.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, so this last book in the Samantha series was actually fun to read. (Although when I started to read in an accent for some of the Irish characters, Abby told me to stop it.) It had a sweet ending that wrapped up what Samantha is all about and Abby and I both enjoyed it.

[Madison Aboud · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was not my favorite in the series but I still really enjoyed it. I had kind of guessed the ending but it was still nice to be right. I love how happy all the girls were and how brave Samantha was to help them escape the orphanage.