Happy Birthday, Josefina!: A Springtime Story

This is an excelent book about a nine year old girl who is turning ten in the season of birth (Spring). She faces a hard situation that may take someone's life. A sad but also happy book about life then in 1824 on a New Mexican ranch.

I think other people should read it because it's nice how her father gives her something valuable to her. Also because it's kind of fun how they repair the church. I think Josefina took good care of the goat, Sombrita. [Karla Cortez]

This is another one of the American Girls series about Josefina Montoya, a nine-year-old girl (almost ten!) living in the New Mexico of 1824. In this book, Josefina finds joy in the work around her father's rancho, particularly nursing a newborn baby goat that has lost its mother. When she spends the day with her aunt Magdalena, the town's healer, she begins to think that she would also like to become a healer. But, there are big responsibilities that come with such a career. Tia Magdalena says that if she is to become a healer she will know...and Josefina may be about to find out!The final chapter of this wonderful book is a highly informative look at growing up in New Mexico in 1824. And, as always, Jean-Paul Tibbles' beautiful illustrations make a wonderful addition to the text.This book certainly goes a long way towards maintaining the tradition of excellence that one associates with the American Girls books. My daughter loves the stories, while I like the lessons that the author gently weaves throughout the book. My daughter and I both highly recommend this book to you.

Josefina is glad that her birthday is coming up. 9 going on to 10 was a great age to be! She could go on top of the church to replaster the church and help Tia Magandla, the healer, also her god-mother! She saved a life and got a kid named Somberetia, little shadow. To find out more, read this book!

Josefina Montoya is a young girl living on a New Mexican ranch. She wants to be a healer like her godmother, Tia Magdalena. Tia Magdalena says she will have to wait though, to know if she is a healer. In the mean time, Josefina takes care of an orphaned baby goat, and has fun with her Puebloe Indian friend, Mariana. But one day when the girls are playing, Mariana gets a snakebite that could prove fatal, and this will be Josefina's test - can she be a healer? The next day, Josefina's tenth birthday is a celebration of bravery and second chances.