jamietherebelliousreader's review against another edition
5.0
5 stars. Loved this one. Was super cute but emotional as well. Addy is a lovely character and these books are so well written and engaging. I’m sad I only have one more left to read.
panda_incognito's review
4.0
In this book, Addy writes a letter to the Quaker's society to try to find where Auntie Lula, Uncle Solomon, and her sister Esther went after the war, and she works out her prickly relationship with Harriet, whose class difference from her was a significant driving force of the plot in book two. I'm glad that this book resolves their dislike of each other, and Addy does, indeed, save the day. Also, the scene at the end where made me get teary.
Spoiler
she is reunited with her brother, Sam,lemonysnicket's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
The only reason Harriet is like that is because of bad parenting. Imagine being a house slave coon yikes!
piburnjones's review
5.0
Rereading as an adult, here's what stands out:
Addy's family does not fight, at least not within these stories. In all of her books, the conflict is external and the family group is safety and comfort. Which, given everything they're up against: uh, yeah, that's plenty. If anything, Addy seems to be a classic example of the kid for whom "I'm disappointed in you," is all the dressing down she needs. (Me too, Addy.) The conversation she has with her parents about the poison of hatred is inspiring - and must be unbelievably hard for Ben and Ruth to live.
One other note on Addy's father: I'm mad on his behalf that an employer who's willing to rehire him "if there's work" is the closest he can get to actual time off work to put his family back together. The Walkers are happy about this, and as a kid I definitely just followed along, but I hate that this is their best case scenario. All of Addy's stories have so much bittersweetness: whatever she achieves, whatever good things come her way, in many ways, her world is a hard, unkind place.
But back to the book at hand. In some ways, this one acts as a sequel to Addy Learns a Lesson in that it picks up Addy's fraught relationship with Harriet.
Addy's default setting seems to be to treat people politely, and she generally seems to get along with everyone, so when she struggles to be nice to Harriet, you know some stuff has gone down. (And we do know, from the previous book.)
This time around, Harriet gets to be sympathetic in the end - more than Valerie Tripp ever gives Annabelle Cole, who serves a similar role in the Felicity books. It's a quick moment. From there on, the girls are friendly and Harriet doesn't have much more to say, but it is lovely to see that Addy is able to summon enough patience and compassion to treat Harriet kindly when she's down.
So the girls are able to work together and run their booth at the fair after all - and continue to work together when another girl tries to steal their cashbox. Uncharitably, I find myself wondering: we know Addy and Sarah were putting on a puppet show when the money went missing - so what was Harriet doing? Didn't that box get snatched from right under her nose? But Addy's done fighting with Harriet by this point in the story, so we'll move on.
One last note, unrelated to the text: The illustrations show Addy wearing a lovely pair of two-tone boots with her dress for the fair. Meta-textually, she has those shoes because they're part of her summer outfit in the American Girl catalog: each of the first five dolls had different shoes to go with her summer outfit, so here are Addy's. But DON'T they seem like an extravagance Addy's family wouldn't have splurged on? These are the folks growing vegetables to finance the journey back to find Esther. Hold that thought for the next book.
Addy's family does not fight, at least not within these stories. In all of her books, the conflict is external and the family group is safety and comfort. Which, given everything they're up against: uh, yeah, that's plenty. If anything, Addy seems to be a classic example of the kid for whom "I'm disappointed in you," is all the dressing down she needs. (Me too, Addy.) The conversation she has with her parents about the poison of hatred is inspiring - and must be unbelievably hard for Ben and Ruth to live.
One other note on Addy's father: I'm mad on his behalf that an employer who's willing to rehire him "if there's work" is the closest he can get to actual time off work to put his family back together. The Walkers are happy about this, and as a kid I definitely just followed along, but I hate that this is their best case scenario. All of Addy's stories have so much bittersweetness: whatever she achieves, whatever good things come her way, in many ways, her world is a hard, unkind place.
But back to the book at hand. In some ways, this one acts as a sequel to Addy Learns a Lesson in that it picks up Addy's fraught relationship with Harriet.
Addy's default setting seems to be to treat people politely, and she generally seems to get along with everyone, so when she struggles to be nice to Harriet, you know some stuff has gone down. (And we do know, from the previous book.)
This time around, Harriet gets to be sympathetic in the end - more than Valerie Tripp ever gives Annabelle Cole, who serves a similar role in the Felicity books. It's a quick moment. From there on, the girls are friendly and Harriet doesn't have much more to say, but it is lovely to see that Addy is able to summon enough patience and compassion to treat Harriet kindly when she's down.
So the girls are able to work together and run their booth at the fair after all - and continue to work together when another girl tries to steal their cashbox. Uncharitably, I find myself wondering: we know Addy and Sarah were putting on a puppet show when the money went missing - so what was Harriet doing? Didn't that box get snatched from right under her nose? But Addy's done fighting with Harriet by this point in the story, so we'll move on.
One last note, unrelated to the text: The illustrations show Addy wearing a lovely pair of two-tone boots with her dress for the fair. Meta-textually, she has those shoes because they're part of her summer outfit in the American Girl catalog: each of the first five dolls had different shoes to go with her summer outfit, so here are Addy's. But DON'T they seem like an extravagance Addy's family wouldn't have splurged on? These are the folks growing vegetables to finance the journey back to find Esther. Hold that thought for the next book.
emlickliter's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
5.0
Addy Saves the Day: A Summer Story by Connie Rose Porter – A powerful story about kindness and courage! Happy Reading!
aliterarylion's review
4.0
This was a short story that follows the life of Addy Walker who has escaped slavery and now lives in Philadelphia in 1865. It was a straightforward sweet summer novella where her church has a carnival to raise funds for Northern soldiers coming back from war. It wasn't anything too eventful until Addy's brother makes a surprise appearance, but he's missing an arm. It was a tender moment and I was caught up in the emotions. Addy Walker is the best American Girl doll and no one can tell me otherwise.
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