Molly+Saves+the+Day

Stephanie Farrell



ISBN: 0-93725-93-0
** Summary: ** Molly McIntire is a girl who attended Camp Gowonagian with her best friends Linda and Susan. Molly absolutely loves everything about camp but the only thing she fears doing is swimming underwater. One day Miss Butternut, the camp counselor, explains to the girls at camp that they have a special tradition they practice at camp called the Color War. There are two teams, the Red and Blue Team, and the goal is for the Blue Team to capture the flag from the Red Team. The Red Team is allowed to put members of The Blue Team in prison if they get caught by the prison guard. The only way for them to escape from prison is if a member of their team is able to tag them without being caught by the prison guard. Molly and Susan are placed on the Blue Team but their best friend Linda is on the Red Team. Soon enough, everyone from the Blue Team is put in prison except for Molly and Susan because the canoes tipped over and the Red Team caught everyone else. Molly’s plan to get all her teammates back is to collect a bunch of worms and dirt from the ground and pour them on the prison guard, which happens to be her friend Linda. While Linda is distracted is when they will go through with their plan to get their team out of prison. This is her way to get back at Linda for blowing the whistle on her and capturing her teammates. Molly is soon faced with many challenges including going against her best friend, and having to swim underwater to make it to her teammates in prison. She felt as if she was going against her best friend which is what she did when she poured the worms on her. Molly was then assigned Captain of her team, and she finally thinks of a brilliant plan to get across the island to capture the flag. With the help from all her teammates, they tied all of the canoes together and climbed over them to capture the flag and win the Color War. Linda and Molly finally realized that in the end, even though they both did things to hurt each other, all that matters is their friendship and that they were able to look past the Color War and have fun being best friends again.

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Valerie Tripp is best known for her work writing a variety of the American Girl Doll books. She was born in 1951 and spent her childhood in Mt. Kisco, NY. She got her undergraduate degree from Yale University in 1973 and a Masters of Education degree from Harvard in 1981, where she then decided she wanted to focus on reading and writing children’s books. While she was an author, she has spoken at many historical places including the Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Old Sturbridge Village, and the New York Historical Society. Her husband is currently a History professor and they live in Maryland. =====

I think this was an excellent book that I would read to my future classroom when I am introducing some kind of lesson in History to my students. Because this book took place in the 1940’s there were many important History lessons tied into the story, with an excerpt at the end titled “A Peek into the Past” that talks about how life was for American families during that time period. Also, when Molly is participating in the Color War, Molly makes an important connection between D-Day and the Nazis invading France and her team trying to invade the Red Team’s territory. This book made many important connections to real life situations and at the same time, focused on teaching the reader important messages about friendships. Many students are unaware of the important Historical events that have taken place in the past and this book is a good way to incorporate a timeline of those events outside of a History or Social Studies classroom.
 * Review of the book: **

The analysis of how the main character Molly developed throughout the story is an important literary element to analyze in the story. Molly is always faced with grueling decisions as to what she should do to make her team happy, or her best friend happy who is on the opposing team. She is also put in a position where she is forced to step up as leader and face her fears, such as trying to swim underwater. She is portrayed as a strong girl who learns to overcome the challenges she is faced with no matter what the circumstances are. The author developed this idea of Molly being a brave girl by putting her in situations she feared. Each time she was faced with a new problem she found a way to overcome the obstacles and in the end, it allowed her team to win the Color War. Even after that, her friend Linda offered her an ice cream cone at the dining hall even though Molly betrayed her by pouring worms and dirt on her. The author showed that even though at times best friends can face many challenging obstacles and may have differences in the end, it is important that they can get over the differences and still remain friends.
 * Analysis of Literary Element: **

This literary element can be useful for any student or child to understand. Many students, like Molly, can be faced with challenging decisions that makes them choose between their friends or their team. They can learn a valuable lesson that no matter what differences that they have to overcome, in the end nothing should ruin a close friendship. When I teach this book as a lesson, I will be sure to include many important elements and points from the story that I think are valuable lessons to live by, and this lesson about friendship is one of the many important elements to teach in this story.

** More Links to Explore: ** [|To find out more about the author and visit her website, click here!] [|To find out more about how to read or purchase books from the 'Molly' series, click here!]