Josefina's Story Collection

by Valerie Tripp

Book Overview

Nine-year-old Josefina, the youngest of four sisters living in New Mexico in 1824, tries to help run the household after her mother dies. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1584854421
• ISBN13: 9781584854425
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: American Girl Publishing Inc
• Length: 397 Pages
• Weight: 2.13 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.3" x 8.7"
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

Wonderful Book for Young Readers

My 5-year-old daughter is an early reader and it is sometimes challenging to find stories with content for a 5-year-old that can read at the 8/9-year-old level. Josephina is the best of the American Girl books that we have read (I read them before I give them to my daughter to read). Josephina has to overcome the loss of her mother and shows great character, intelligence, and personal growth throughout the 6 books. Some of the other American Girls make bad decisions without consequences, or are sassy or disobedient to their parents, but there is non of that in Josephina (she is kind, a peace maker among her older sisters, a hard worker, intelligent, yet very realistically portrayed in her fears and trials). Highly recommended reading for impressionable young girls. Love! this hard back collection although it does not include all of the historical inserts at the end of the individual books (only one main historical section at the end of all 5 books). The small American Girl dolls are beautifully made and are a nice "reward" for reading the stories (after my daughter has read and become "friends" with the American Girl, she gets the little doll to play with, a great motivator for continued reading). 5 stars! A summary of other American Girl books that we have read that you might be considering buying: Kaya - Very good story. Kaya does make bad choices but always with clear consequences and ultimately shows understanding and growth in the end. 5 stars. Felicity - Did not like 1st book much at all. Felicity is disobedient and dishonest with almost no consequence for her actions. However, the rest of the books are quite good and give a good picture of the historical period. In the last book Felicity shows better character and it is more clear why the author went in the direction she did with the 1st book (her friend Elizabeth shows even better character and is a good example of how good friends help us grow and give us perspective). Still, it would be best for a parent to discuss Felicity's good and bad behavior with their child. Then go to Williamsburg with your child for a real history lesson! 4 stars. Kirstin - Liked the historical aspect of the story (images, basic storyline), but Kirstin definitely has some character issues. She is disobedient and headstrong, and clearly makes some very bad choices which have pretty serious consequences (although the book shows the consequences, I do not think Kirsten really is held accountable for her actions -- this child almost gets her brother killed and then burns down her house, both through being headstrong or disobedience to direct instructions by her parents; she also considers running away from her family because she doesn't like school). A good story overall, but you will definitely want to read the book and discuss Kirstin's behavior with your child. 3.5 stars. We bought Samantha and Kit, from cursory review of library copies they appear to be good stories. I will review them in de

Great book for young girls

My daughter has almost all of these Americal Girls collection hardcover books and she LOVES them. She reads them over and over again and learns some history with each one.

Excellent and Culturally Sensitive Book Series

These books are about a 9/10-year-old girl and her family in New Mexico. The story begains about a year after her mother's death. Their mother's sister moves into their rancho and helps them run the rancho and mend their hearts. Through the next two years, Josefina is able to get beyond her grief over her mother's passing, learn to love her aunt, and develop new interests (reading, weaving, a baby goat, healing, and piano-playing). The stories are sweet and demonstrate a close-knit and loving family. My least favorite story was the one in which Josefina decides that she wants to be a healer; it frightened my daughter (who is only 4 and therefore on the young side for these books). My favorite part of the story is how their faith plays a daily role in their lives and comforts them. The stories contain much factual information about the time-period and culture; each book has about 5 to 10 pages in the back devoted to a specific aspect of the culture. The author is very respectful of the culture, but also accurate. At several points, the children in the story do not speak because, in that culture, it would not have been appropriate for them to do so. These differences in culture were acknowledged, but not in a negative way. It is very clear that the children were well-loved by all of the adults in their family.

These are great books

I've read all the Josefina books! They are great! If you have a daugter who is 6 and up and interested in different cultures Buy her Josefina books. They are a little over priced.

Great!

I have been an American Girl fan since I was 6, and the Josefina books make me an even bigger fan. The stories are engaging and the characters very likeable. The Josefina series is a great way to introduce a child to the way Hispanic people in the early nineteenth century lived. I think that the 2-star rating from the reviewer from Japan was inappropriate, because as she mentioned, the books are written for younger girls, and so are not meant to be long, involved books that cater to more grown-up tastes. They are perfectly written for the targeted age group, and I think girls of that age group would love them.