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A review by piburnjones
Changes for Josefina: A Winter Story by Jean-Paul Tibbles, Valerie Tripp
4.0
The great AG marathon continues.
Reading this as an adult, there are clear hints that Papá and Tía Dolores are falling in love all through the second half of the series - and now it's out in the open.
This is another book that gets drawn out by the sisters feeling they can't talk to the adults - so they talk themselves in circles and scheme up as many indirect ways of influencing Papá and Tía Dolores as they can. It's only when Josefina gives up hope and starts moping that Papá confides in her: YES, in fact, he would like to marry Dolores - but he feels that because he loves her, he has to let her go if she wants to go. Good thing Josefina is high in emotional intelligence and spotted immediately that Tía Dolores does NOT want to go; she wants to get out of the way so she doesn't have to watch the man she loves court someone else.
If only he had proposed sooner, this all could have been avoided. The saints cry over lost time, Papá!
Mostly, I can't help thinking that this book really just wants to be written from Tía Dolores' point of view. All of these plotlines about convincing the adults of something but not feeling able to talk openly make it feel like Josefina is a supporting character in her own life.
So let's talk about the series as a whole.
Arc-wise, the first half is very concerned with grief and the sisters' memory of Mamá. That fades in the second half of the series, which looks more toward the future: Josefina's possible future as a healer, New Mexico's new trading relationship with the United States, and the family's future as Papá marries Tía Dolores. The split feels not unlike Kirsten's, where the first half is very concerned with adjusting to her new home, and the second half is more concerned with a new baby, a new house, and the family's finances. Overall, we can trace Josefina's increased confidence and development of new skills, and Tía Dolores ties that up with a bow for us in this book. But it doesn't have the power of Addy's arc, or Kit's, or Caroline's.
Here's my hot take: Tripp doesn't really know what to do with Josefina. She's really good with bold, active protagonists like Molly, Samantha, Felicity and Kit. Just think about her half of the Samantha series: first, she sidelines Nellie in favor of the chaos twins, then when the O'Malley sisters do reappear, Samantha practically jailbreaks them out of the orphanage. Bold. Active. That works for these girls, but that's not who Josefina is. Her nature is more reserved and shy, and she's quick to blame herself when things go wrong.
Combined with a setting that feels researched not lived (after Connie Porter's wonderful Addy series, why did AG not make it a priority to find a Hispanic author for Josefina??), Tripp seems to struggle for plots. Meet, Changes, and to a degree Lesson and Saves, all spend a lot of time with the sisters talking themselves around in circles because they feel they can't just talk to the adults about it. For me, Saves moves into a different category because Josefina and Francisca take action on their own - however forced the plotting, it isn't boring.
But the other three books feel slight and easily forgettable. (I offer myself as an example: I first read this series in 2013 and here's what I remembered: lots of sisters, the doll plot in Surprise, the snake in Birthday, drama with the Anglos in Santa Fe (Saves), and Tía Dolores marrying Papá at the very end of Changes.)
Especially on the heels of reading Kit's series, which feels SO lived and SO real, where you really feel that Tripp understands the character, this series pales in comparison. I don't dislike the series, and I love Josefina herself, but it's just not AG's best work.
I said in my review for Meet that I dislike American Girl Podcast's "Tía Dolores did it" schtick, but in one sense, they're onto something - she's one of the most dynamic characters in the series. In fact, the weak spots in the series - Meet, Lesson, Changes - would suddenly become the most exciting parts if Dolores were the main character. And frankly, Dolores' personality is much more like Tripp's usual protagonist. I bet she could have written the heck out of a Dolores series.
Reading this as an adult, there are clear hints that Papá and Tía Dolores are falling in love all through the second half of the series - and now it's out in the open.
This is another book that gets drawn out by the sisters feeling they can't talk to the adults - so they talk themselves in circles and scheme up as many indirect ways of influencing Papá and Tía Dolores as they can. It's only when Josefina gives up hope and starts moping that Papá confides in her: YES, in fact, he would like to marry Dolores - but he feels that because he loves her, he has to let her go if she wants to go. Good thing Josefina is high in emotional intelligence and spotted immediately that Tía Dolores does NOT want to go; she wants to get out of the way so she doesn't have to watch the man she loves court someone else.
If only he had proposed sooner, this all could have been avoided. The saints cry over lost time, Papá!
Mostly, I can't help thinking that this book really just wants to be written from Tía Dolores' point of view. All of these plotlines about convincing the adults of something but not feeling able to talk openly make it feel like Josefina is a supporting character in her own life.
So let's talk about the series as a whole.
Arc-wise, the first half is very concerned with grief and the sisters' memory of Mamá. That fades in the second half of the series, which looks more toward the future: Josefina's possible future as a healer, New Mexico's new trading relationship with the United States, and the family's future as Papá marries Tía Dolores. The split feels not unlike Kirsten's, where the first half is very concerned with adjusting to her new home, and the second half is more concerned with a new baby, a new house, and the family's finances. Overall, we can trace Josefina's increased confidence and development of new skills, and Tía Dolores ties that up with a bow for us in this book. But it doesn't have the power of Addy's arc, or Kit's, or Caroline's.
Here's my hot take: Tripp doesn't really know what to do with Josefina. She's really good with bold, active protagonists like Molly, Samantha, Felicity and Kit. Just think about her half of the Samantha series: first, she sidelines Nellie in favor of the chaos twins, then when the O'Malley sisters do reappear, Samantha practically jailbreaks them out of the orphanage. Bold. Active. That works for these girls, but that's not who Josefina is. Her nature is more reserved and shy, and she's quick to blame herself when things go wrong.
Combined with a setting that feels researched not lived (after Connie Porter's wonderful Addy series, why did AG not make it a priority to find a Hispanic author for Josefina??), Tripp seems to struggle for plots. Meet, Changes, and to a degree Lesson and Saves, all spend a lot of time with the sisters talking themselves around in circles because they feel they can't just talk to the adults about it. For me, Saves moves into a different category because Josefina and Francisca take action on their own - however forced the plotting, it isn't boring.
But the other three books feel slight and easily forgettable. (I offer myself as an example: I first read this series in 2013 and here's what I remembered: lots of sisters, the doll plot in Surprise, the snake in Birthday, drama with the Anglos in Santa Fe (Saves), and Tía Dolores marrying Papá at the very end of Changes.)
Especially on the heels of reading Kit's series, which feels SO lived and SO real, where you really feel that Tripp understands the character, this series pales in comparison. I don't dislike the series, and I love Josefina herself, but it's just not AG's best work.
I said in my review for Meet that I dislike American Girl Podcast's "Tía Dolores did it" schtick, but in one sense, they're onto something - she's one of the most dynamic characters in the series. In fact, the weak spots in the series - Meet, Lesson, Changes - would suddenly become the most exciting parts if Dolores were the main character. And frankly, Dolores' personality is much more like Tripp's usual protagonist. I bet she could have written the heck out of a Dolores series.