Changes for Kirsten: A winter story (The American girls collection)

This is another in the American Girls Short Stories series about Kirsten Larson, a nine-year-old girl from Sweden, whose family has moved to frontier Minnesota of 1854. In this book, Kirsten's father is spending the winter as a lumberjack, to earn extra money for the family. Kirsten helps too, by helping her brother Lars trap animals to sell their pelts. However, when Kirsten's heart overrules her head she brings home a raccoon. Disaster follows that ruins the family's fortune, but Kirsten learns that even through adversity things can turn out well.This is another wonderful story, that captured my nine-year-old daughter's heart, and my own. With each review I heap praise on Renee Graef's illustrations, and this one is no exception; the illustrations are fantastic. If you have a young daughter, then you must consider buying the Kirsten books.[For those adults interested in reading a scholarly book on the Swedish immigrants, please consider reading Swedish Exodus by Lars Ljungmark.]

I was six years old when I first got hooked on the American Girls, and "Changes for Kirsten" was the first book I read from the series. Maybe I'm biased by that, but now that I've read them all I think it is one of the best. In books this short it is hard to develop a character very well, but Shaw does an excellent job, and Kirsten's character comes through here more than in the first five books. Kirsten's well-meaning disobedience causes a terrible fire that destroys almost everything the Larsons own. We see the trials they endure as a result, but also the love that helps them through. Things seem to get worse when close family friends announce that they are moving away. Then Kirsten and her brother make a remarkable discovery in the woods and their luck changes. The Larson family has to start over, but a message of hope shines through, as the end of the book (and the series) brings a world of new beginnings to these brave pioneers.

Struggles with money, a wild raccoon, fire, and more! Discover what happens to Kirsten and her family in the wilderness of America!