Samantha Learns a Lesson: A School Story

American Girl: Samantha #2

by Susan S. Adler

Samantha attends Miss Crampton's Academy, a private school for proper young ladies. Samantha wants to win the gold medal in the speaking contest, but she's worried about Nellie, the poor servant girl who has become her friend. If she can teach Nellie to read, maybe the boys and girls at school will stop calling Nellie "dummy" and "ragbag." Samantha sets up a school in Grandmary's tower room and becomes Nellie's teacher. But Nellie teaches Samantha some very important lessons, too.

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

61 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[Miranda Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nellie O'Malley, Samantha Parkington's best friend, is so excited to finally attend school after having to drop out for a few years to help support her family.

They won't be attending the same school (Samantha Parkington goes to a fancy private school while Nellie attends the public school), but they are eager to walk home together and have a little time to play before work and chores.

However, the first day of school goes horribly.

"I can't do it, Samantha," Nellie sobbed. "I'm too old to start school."

Nellie is so very far behind the rest of the kids in her year and she's utterly devastated by their horrible words.

Samantha is determined to help by setting up a school room in Grandmary's tower room. She begins to teach Nellie her letters and while Grandmary is proud of Samantha, not everyone seems to like their friendship.

"Samantha Parkington, does your grandmother know you are walking home with servant girls?"

Meanwhile, there's an important essay contest at Samantha's school. She's bound and determined do her best to win but while she spends time trying to find out what the best invention of the 1900s is, she soon learns several uncomfortable truths about the bright and shiny world.

Whew. This one was even better than the first. I feel like I'm constantly surprised by how much depth there is to these books.

For example, this one actually delved into the implications of child labor and the related dangers. Nellie candidly talks of her coworkers becoming gravely injured from the dangerous machines and the impact that factory life has on her health.

Additionally, Samantha comes from an extremely privileged background and I feel like it can be hard to create sympathy or empathy for extremely wealthy characters...and yet the authors manage to make her so relatable. I think a lot of that relatability comes from Samantha's strong sense of morals and her determination to do what's right - even if other people make fun of her for it.

But also, her outlook on life is so disarmingly sweet that I find myself charmed by her constantly.

"Samantha looked up quickly, squashed the note, and shoved it in her pocket....She couldn't imagine what would happen if she were caught with a note that said the dickens."

I was also impressed by her growth in this book - the way she is confronted with several very uncomfortable truths and has to process and deal with them...whew. It was well-written.

And Grandmary? She's incredible.

I don't know why the American Girl Company decided that the little books made to promote their dolls so freaking good...but they did and I'm utterly enamored with them.

A Peek into the Past

Like all of the main and mini Samantha Parkington books, this one has a mini historical section at the back called a Peek into the Past.

In this Peek into the Past, we learn about what the education system was like in 1904. There's information about private schools - how they were set up, what lessons were learned and how children were taught. Additionally, we see how public schools were very different - where obedience was emphasized and many children had to leave early to work.

More reviews in the Samantha-verse

Main Series:
Meet Samantha - ★★★★☆
Samantha Learns a Lesson - ★★★★★
Samantha's Surprise - ★★★★☆
Happy Birthday, Samantha - ★★★★☆
Samantha Saves the Day - ★★★★★
Changes for Samantha - ★★★★☆
Samantha's Boxed Set - ★★★★☆

Adult Book:
Samantha: The Next Chapter - ★★★★★

Best Friend Book:
Nellie's Promise - ★★★★★

Short Stories:
Samantha's Winter Party - ★★★★★
Samantha Saves the Wedding - ★★★★☆
Samantha and the Missing Pearls - ★★★★☆
Samantha's Blue Bicycle - ★★★★★
Samantha's Special Talent - ★★★☆☆
Samantha's Short Story Collection - ★★★★☆

Mystery Books (My Order):
The Curse of Ravenscourt - ★★★★★
The Stolen Sapphire - ★★★★☆
Clue in the Castle Tower - ★★★★☆
Danger in Paris - ★★★☆☆
The Cry of the Loon - ★★★★☆

Beforever (Re-Release of Main Series in mid 2010s):
Manners & Mischief - ★★☆☆☆
Lost and Found - ★★★☆☆

Abridged Version (Re-Release of Main Series in 2020s):
Samantha: The Gift - ★★☆☆☆
Samantha: Lost and Found - ★★★★☆

Samantha's Historical and Activity Books:
Samantha's Cookbook - ★★★★★
Samantha's Cooking Studio - ★★★★★
Samantha's Craft Book - ★★★★★
Samantha's Friendship Fun - ★★★☆☆
Samantha's Ocean Liner Adventure - ★★★★★
Samantha's Theater Kit - ★★★★☆
Samantha's Valentine Crafts - ★★☆☆☆
Samantha's Wedding Memories - ★★☆☆☆
Samantha's World: A Girl's-eye View of the Turn of the Century - ★★★★★
The Titanic (American Girl: Real Stories From My Time) - ★★★☆☆
Welcome to Samantha's World · 1904 - ★★★★★

Additional Historical and Activity Books featuring Samantha:
American Girl Cross-stitch - ★★☆☆☆
The American Girls Cookbook - ★★★★★
The American Girls Party Book - ★★★★★
An American Girl: How a Billion-Dollar Doll and It's Unlikely Founder Changed Girlhood Forever - ★★★★☆
Everything I Need to Know I Learned From American Girl - ★★★☆☆
The Making of American Girl - ★★★★★
Minute Mysteries - ★★★★☆
Minute Mysteries 2 - ★★★★☆
The Official American Girl Cookbook - ★★★★☆

Beginner Reader & Picture Books:
Happy Birthday! (Little Golden Book) - ★★★★☆
Happy Holidays! (Little Golden Book) - ★★★★★
Making a Difference (Little Golden Book) - ★★★☆☆
My First American Girl Boxed Set - ★★★★☆
Samantha Helps a Friend (Step Into Reading) - ★★★☆☆
Time for School! (Little Golden Book) - ★★★★☆

[Olivia]

if Samantha Parkington understood the concept of using your privilege to help others at the age of NINE, then what excuse do the rest of us have? answer me that

[E · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my favorite of the Samantha books because of the strong social message and the effortless way in which it is executed. In the other books, Nellie is often portrayed as a helpless, lower class child in desperate need of whatever aid super-rich Samantha is generous enough to offer her. In this tale, however, she turns from Samantha's grateful student into her much-needed teacher with that unforgettable line brimming with conviction: "It's just not true."

It's not easy to write a children's story about classism, child labor, and being critical of America's "progress" at the turn of the century, but it's a very important story to tell.

[Olde American Spirit (Shannon) · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Actions speak louder than words “

This is what is standing out to be the theme of this series so far. Not only is Samantha brave and compassionate, she puts action to her concerns!

[Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this one Samantha learns about Marxism I’m not even kidding

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

I loved reading these books when I was a girl, and now I am enjoying revisiting these stories and remembering the little details. Samantha is a wonderful main character, and the stories are simple and heartfelt.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-reading for the first time in decades, here's what jumps out:

- There are a lot of Samantha qualities I don't necessarily share. She's braver than I was at her age, more outgoing, and more popular. But the bit at the beginning where she tries to coach Helen through a French word she doesn't recognize? That I felt.

- I love that Samantha never once questions whether her life would be easier without having to stick up for Nellie to the likes of Edith, Clarisse and Eddie.

- How does Nellie feel about Samantha interrupting her work all the time? On the one hand, I could see how that would make you feel special and would be an almost magical escape. On the other, sometimes you just gotta get stuff done. It makes an interesting parallel to Addy's friend Sarah, especially in Changes for Addy where she needs to spend more and more time helping her mother work. Sarah's mother steps in to gently shoo Addy away at one point - where is Nellie's mother? Does the family feel obligated to let Nellie spend time with Samantha because, ultimately, they have these jobs because Samantha decided to make friends with Nellie?

- Clarisse Van Sicklen sounds almost as awful as Eddie Ryland.

- I do love that Samantha really listens to what Nellie has to say and not only changes her mind, but also changes her speech - after what we're told was a lot of work on the original version. Nellie's presence goes a long way to temper the extreme privilege of Samantha's world.

- However, the idea that Samantha is cheered and awarded first place for (a) speaking uncomfortable truths and (b) veering off the stated prompt feels more unlikely than it did as a kid.

- Would Nellie really have been moved up a grade that quickly?


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

[Hannah Showalter · Rating 5 out of 5]

samantha parkington said workers rights in this one!!

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

"Oh, Nellie, I wish girls were allowed to fight. I most surely do."

Then she finds a way to fight with her words! Samantha is Queen!!!!

[Jaci Millette Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Starting to collect these for my niece— read this one I just thrifted and it brought me back!

[Nickie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, the series is already getting better! My girl Samantha has the biggest heart, teaching her best friend and making sure people know the truth about factories.

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nellie returns after Grandmary secures Nellie's family employment at a neighboring home. This means Nellie gets to go to school! She is sad because people laughed at her, but Sam promises to teach her what she needs to know in order to move up. Nellie reveals her anti-capitalistic leanings and Sam teaches everyone about child labor practices.

For years after I first read this as a kid, I thought watercress sandwiches were ultra luxurious since that's what Sam eats for lunch. And Nellie's story about a girl losing half her scalp and nearly dying in a factory traumatized me as a child.

[Laurel! · Rating 4 out of 5]

very very good I think. lots of good stuff about progress and innovation, and what that meant for different people! I seem to continuously find that the best friend characters are more interesting than the main ones.

[Kaitlyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Samantha uses her newfound knowledge of exploitative child labor to write a speech against factories and stand up for a friend. 4/5

[Maya Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Samantha dropping a truth bomb on the Mount Bedford Opera House! Workers rights fr!! Absolutely ate little snot-nosed Edith Eddleton up. Get her, Sam!

[Panda Incognito · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book further develops the story of Nellie. Samantha learns more about her background as a child factory worker, and grows in her compassion and awareness for people outside of her privileged bubble. However, this book is still written in a clunky style. "Probably no one on earth was as smart as Edith Eddleton thought she was" is a good burn, but I'd rephrase it for more impact. Also, parts of the story are oddly paced as the author rushes through to each plot point.

My bigger issue with this book is its lack of historical realism in how people respond to Samantha's speech. Even though this series is well-researched and brings early 1900s America to vivid life, it is simply not possible that a room full of adults would applaud and cheer a speech about how "progress in America" cannot be attained until factories no longer abuse child workers. Samantha changed her originally positive speech at the last minute to reflect her new understanding from Nellie, and in the real world, her teacher and other administrators would have been upset that she presented a different speech at the public event than the one she had won a prize for in school. Also, many adults in the audience would likely have financial investments in factories, and they all benefited from the cheap goods available.

It is unreasonable and unhistorical to expect the adults to respond to Samantha's short, sparsely worded speech with enthusiasm, when it is neither profoundly stirring and eloquent nor something that most of them would like to hear. It's easy to look back into the past and think, "Ah, yes, a speech about child worker's rights will bring down the house," but in a world where this was a major social problem, that simply isn't so. My younger sister and I were discussing this recently related to the scene in the movie, and when she shuddered over how cheesy it was, I pointed out this larger difficulty, saying that it would be as unrealistic as if she got a rousing ovation from a crowd for publicly opposing abortion. People don't like to face up to the brutal, immoral aspects of how children are treated in their societies, and when something is as socially accepted as employing child factory workers in the early 1900s or terminating life in the womb right now, people would simply rather not hear dissenting voices.

This book's ultimate failure isn't in its writing, or its poor pacing, but in the overly rosy view of how adults would respond to a speech that criticizes American progress and provides moral judgment on the social conditions that provided convenience and financial enrichment to people in Samantha's social class. It was brave and right for Samantha to take the stand that she did, and to risk disappointing and angering the powerful adults in her life, but because she does not have to deal with any cost or reckoning for her actions, the book is unrealistic and much less powerful than it could have been.

[Eekind · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why is this book for seven year olds making me cry?

Definitely a step up from Book One in terms of adding stakes and world building. Would have loved more Gay Uncle Gard but you take what you get. Again I am here because of the Dolls of our Lives podcast so my expectations are muted given their ambivalence towards Samantha’s series

I did appreciate how much Grandmary stands up for Samantha and Nellie and how she is modeling not just tolerance for poor people but actually putting her credibility on the line and vouching for Mrs Van Sickle’s charitable treatment of Nellies family and pushing back on the bigotry their experiencing just for being poor and not trapping their children in perpetual servitude

I also like that Samantha gets to build her public speaking skills and has her worldview challenged in a productive way. And there’s an honesty to Samantha and Nellies discussion of factory life and how easy it is for propel of Samantha’s class or even household staff like Mr Hawkins to abstract all of the cruelty and dangers factories pose on the health of child workers. And how some of the cruelty is self fulfilling because of course if you aren’t wearing shoes in December so you can get on top of the machine to repair it, your going to get sick standing (not even sitting) in an unheated building with the minimal amount of loose clothing to keep warm so that you don’t get dragged into a machine.

I think it might be a little more accurate for Samantha to have workshopped her revised speech about Progress in America with Nellie or Grandmary but I get the kids novel appeal of skipping to the big emotional speech and letting the moral and message of the story take precedence over the value of slowly learning to increase your speaking skills

I thought the part where Samantha was going around asking people about what inventions were best was a bit “Wake up Suzanne it’s the 90’s” coded. It’s such a thin line between writing accurately to how adults see what they consider modern conveniences and just spouting incessantly about a characters new automobile completely detached from how that character interacted with the world before this invention and unbothered by new technologies lack of safety, comfort or efficiency features. Again this is a kids book but even the Gard section would have felt more grounded if he’s like “I love my card but once other people see how valuable these are vs horses there will be so much more investment in paved roads and gas stations that will benefit drivers like me”. I think it’s easy to look back at the past and assume people didn’t have reservations or gripes about new technologies lack, especially early adopters

[RaspberryRoses]

samantha invented activism.

[Asho · Rating 3 out of 5]

S has always been interested in history so was excited to find the American Girl books at my parents' house. I re-read this one with him and remembered it vividly. I especially remember the part where Nelly describes a child's hair getting caught in one of the factory machines. My 8-year-old was pretty horrified by that, too, but I think the book is an important look at class and social justice in an age-appropriate way. It has been a couple of decades since I first read this book, but I think it holds up well.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful installation in which Samantha learns about class snobbery, sticks up for her friends who are child workers, and learns that progress can come with issues of abuse - here, to factory-working children.
(Also, I've always wanted the outfit Samantha wears on the cover and wished the desks I had a school were that pretty.)

[Tea and Spite · Rating 4 out of 5]

If this series was set during Samantha's teen years it'd be "Samantha and the Night That Goldman Spoke at Union Square". The entire moral is that Samantha is a budding little activist and I love her for it. These books really do hold up far better than I expected them to given their age and how absurdly expensive the dolls have always been.

[Kaley Catron · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was cool to read because they talked about the factories that I had previously not known about when I first read these books but now since APUSH I've learned more about them and it was more interesting to read about now to see what I actually learned from that class 😂😂

[Dana ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

almost cried, this is so important for kids to read, and i love how all these books have the non-fiction "a peek into the past" at the end to teach us about history. really such wonderful stories. and once again, i love samantha so much.

[Jasmine Shadows · Rating 3 out of 5]

Character building stories. Samantha is a very delightful character.

[Ashlee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good choice for reading with my 4 y/o daughter.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember thinking Samantha was so brave when I was a kid and, man, Grandmary was too!

[halle · Rating 5 out of 5]

this might be the best samantha book i fear

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exposing the progress that we've made through child labor and human rights violations - American Girl never fails to keep it real.

[Liz Shirley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why is the writing lowkey good. Like i was giggling

[H.J. Swinford · Rating 4 out of 5]

In preparation for our first American girl adult novel....

"Samantha did not like the difference."

Heck yeah. Nine-year-old Samantha Parkington breaking down social barriers since 1904.