Addy Learns a Lesson

This book is about a girl named Addy. She and her mom had just made it to Philadelphia. Everything is strange and frigtening. She and her mom can't read, but Addy gets a chance to go to school for the very first time. In this book, Addy learns the meaning of friendship.

For the first time in her life, Addy Walker attends school. Her mother (unable to read or write herself)gave her daughter a special dress to wear so she can successfully represent the family's rapidly rising expectations in Philadelphia. In addition to formal educational instruction, Addy learns that not every person is friendly and bigotry is not confined to white southerners whom she had escaped from in the first book (Meet Addy). For whatever reason, some other African Americans look down upon people trying to escape slavery and obtain their freedom. A classmate named Harriet openly pretends she is better than other classmates because her family has enjoyed freedom longer. The teacher's quick intervention reminds students in 19th century America that all African Americans are subordinated and freedom depends on each student working together inside their community. In this high pressure environment intra-communty attacks are not appropriate because all African Americans (including the attack initator) will be rendered vulnerable to discrimination. Thus, Addy practices her lessons by teaching her mother how to read using dough in their boarding house room. Possessing maturity beyond her physical years, Addy understands her mom also needs to read. In addition to increasing her employability this will enable the mother/daughter relationship to remain as the two live and work in Philadelphia. If only Addy knew how to read, the mother would become disproportionately dependent upon her own daughter for basic survival needs. The segregated northern schooling where Addy recieves the coveted education might be difficult to explain to some young people who had grown up believing the South only had the practice, but this title is another prize addition to the American Girls series. Examining American history through the eyes of a young girl, Porter reassures her pre-adolescent target audience things are not always supposed to be easily understood upon first encounter. The most endearing lessons have several moral and ethical angles.

This is another in the American Girls series about Addy Walker, a nine-year-old African-American girl living in the America of 1864. In this story, Addy and her mother arrive in Philadelphia and freedom. Unfortunately, Addy begins to learn that freedom in the North is not what she expected it to be. Racism pervades this new world, and even the African-American girls of her own school are not all friendly. Along the way, though, Addy learns about friendship and perseverance.The final chapter is a look at education for African-American children in the America of 1864. This book is another great Addy book, teaching some great lessons, against the backdrop of real hardships. My eleven-year-old daughter loved this book, and so do I.

I Liked this book because a girl in my class did the same thing to me as Harriet did to Addy. Addy learned not to trust her fake friends but her real ones. I really liked this book and I can't wait to read Book 3 Addy's Surprise.

This is a wonderful story that brings a part of the past back to life. It is told from a view point that is not often heard from, a young black girl who was a slave and has escaped, but doesn't know how to read or write. It also tells a story of the hardship of a black family during this time and the story of friendship that applies to all races. I think the character Addy is one girls will enjoy reading about, I don't think boys will like it very much. The story is told in a way that children can easily read and understand. At the end of the book is a short description with actual pictures of life at that time for a young black girl and what school was like back then for black children.