Manners and Mischief: A Samantha Classic

American Girl: Samantha #1-3

by Susan S. Adler, Maxine Rose Schur, Juliana Kolesova (Illustrator)

Living with her rich grandmother, Samantha has the best of everything. But when she becomes friends with Nellie, she learns that life isn�t so easy for everyone. Samantha is determined to help her new friend--but Nellie ends up helping her, too! Then Samantha tries to help decorate for Christmas, but is disappointed when her plans are being changed. Discover what happens to help make this Christmas even better than Samantha planned.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, Historical, Childrens, Fiction, Juvenile

139 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[Bailey Marissa · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's just Meet Samantha: An American Girl, Samantha Learns a Lesson: A School Story, and Samantha's Surprise: A Christmas Story mixed into one weird edition. Don't bother with it.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I loved the Samantha books as a kid. They're still entertaining. My favorite part was always the "Peek Into the Past" section, which included interesting photos, facts and illustrations from the time period. And the illustrations throughout the books were beautiful! I loved seeing Samantha wearing her various outfits from the doll collection. I would spend hours reading these books!

Well, this new edition is a travesty. They've poorly spliced together three of the books, and have removed ALL ILLUSTRATIONS. Basically the books have been gutted with the price remaining the same. Why are they cheating girls out of the bulk of the stories and illustrations? Shame!

I'm so disappointed, but I'm happy that I still have my old books. Don't bother buying these. Look for the older copies instead.

[Celina Weersinghe]

This book is really good. I love her story and loved most of the characters!! My favorite part is when Samantha and her family exchange gifts and Samantha gets the nutcraker doll she always wanted. I would highly recomend this book!!

[Bryn Salamon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet and lovely of course!

[Tammy Landgren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Samantha was my very first AG doll that I got circa 1990. I had read her stories back in the day, but I recently unpacked my old dolls and wanted to revisit their stories. I love Samantha as a character. She has a sassy streak but such a good heart. And the way she stands up for her friends is admirable in any kid her age.

I will say that I don't like the Beforever versions of the books. I don't like how they took out the pictures and greatly reduced the nonfiction section at the back of the books. This really takes away from the educational aspect of the books. I know they have corrected this in the books they have published more recently, but I wish they would remake the older books to put those aspects back in.

[Rachel · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is garbage. I didn't realize how much I learned from the original books until I read this whitewashed version. The original story is telling of compassion, activism, and real American struggles. We can all use those lessons today. What I got from these stories was white saviors, a resentment for Cornelia, and seeing how two-faced Grandmary could be. But then again, I couldn't understand much of the story because there were NO PICTURES.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with other books in this collection, I enjoyed the story and feel it has some valuable lessons for young girls. My critique of this book as it's companion, however, is that there are plot holes. Samantha makes a Christmas gift for Nellie, but we never see what Nellie thinks of that gift or if Nellie is able to give Samantha anything.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book it all began when a girl named Samantha was climbing a tree. Her naughty and annoying next door neighbor Eddie Ryland, started teasing her and she fell off the tree. She wasn’t hurt much only her knee was a little bloody. However, her stocking was ripped. Her grandmother would definitely not approve of that. Her rich grandmother wants Samantha to be a lady. She is very loving but stern. She would very stern if she saw that Samantha had ripped her stockings. Samantha knee what to do. She went over to Jessie, the seamstress. Jessie is very kind and Samantha likes her a lot. She gave Samantha a little scolding about her stocking but fixed it and smoothed her hair. They talked about Samantha’s parents. They died when she was five. Samantha misses them terribly. She also told Samantha a story in New Orleans. Soon, it was time for Samantha to have some time with her grandmother. She entered the room and curtsied. Her grandmother was always looking very elegant. Her back was always straight and she looks like a queen. Then, Samantha sat down and began her sewing. She was sewing a pretty sampler. Samantha asked her grandmother about a doll in a shop she wanted. Her grandmother didn’t really want to buy it. She thought it was too expensive. Samantha then said she would name it Lydia because it looked like her mother. Samantha’s mom was named Lydia. That seemed to change her grandmother’s mind. She said if Samantha worked hard, she could have it. Suddenly, a black car arrived. Samantha realized it was her funny and brave Uncle Gard and his friend Cornelia. Cornelia is fighting for the right for women to vote. Samantha’s grandmother highly disagrees with her decisions. Samantha greeted them happily. Soon, Uncle Gard and Samantha went driving in his black car. It was super fun. Eddie called after them and said that a new girl named Nellie was coming to his house. However, Samantha assumed he was lying. However, Eddie was telling the truth. Connecting Samantha and Eddie’s was a tunnel. Through the tunnel, Samantha caught sight of Nellie working. She decided Nellie could be her new friend. She then walked over to Nellie. When Nellie finished working, she gave her some food. Then, they talked about Nellie’s life. Samantha was stunned. Life was easy for her but not for Nellie. She couldn’t even go to school and she had to work everyday! She told Nellie she would teach her. On Tuesday, Jessie came into the room while Samantha and her grandmother were sewing. She said she was leaving. With that, she left. LEAVING! Samantha couldn’t believe it. Jessie couldn’t leave! Soon, her grandmother decided to reward Samantha. She found the doll she always wanted on her bed! What a delight! Soon, she told Nellie about Jessie’s departure while Nellie played with the doll. One day, she said Jessie is probably going to have a baby and I know where she lives. Samantha was stunned. She needed to see Jessie! Perfect! She and Nellie planned a night trip to Jessie’s house. On that night trip, they went to Jessie’s house and indeed she was there with a baby! They even got to see the baby boy! Soon, they went home and fell asleep. The next day, Samantha figured out Nellie was leaving because she was getting sick! Nellie was her friend though! Samantha was very sad about Nellie’s departure. What would she do without her best friend?

[Kara Kuehl · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Samantha series was my absolute favorite growing up. Samantha and I are a lot alike.

My only note for this book was that I would have loved more interaction with Nellie at the end of the book (which takes place during Christmastime).

Things to be aware of in “Manners and Mischief:”

Language:
-5 "dumb"
-1 "stupid"
-1 "dummy" (as an insult)

Additional Notes:
-A character lies
-There is a lot of discussion about factories and the harm that they do to children workers that sensitive readers may not appreciate. I wouldn't necessarily consider myself a sensitive reader, but I was still not completely comfortable with the details given. As someone who really hates when people get hurt, reading about it was emotionally difficult.
-Many mentions of servants and maids as well as wealthy families vs. poor families (might spark discussion)
-A character calls other characters ugly 3 times
-A character puts gum in another character's hair

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Samantha was the American Girl I wanted to be as a child and re reading the books now kind of makes me see why. She got to wear fancy clothes, and have fancy dolls and she was a sweet girl. Now as an adult I see a little more of the darkness of the time and feel pretty icky about how even Grandmary looks down on the servants/lower class. I will be interested to see how the girls at bookclub discuss this one.

[Courtney · Rating 2 out of 5]

Samantha is one of the American Girls I remember reading about when I was little. But after reading this, I clearly didn't remember anything other than that she lived in Victorian America with her Grandmother. This was fine but very simplistically written. The only indication that the lives of servants weren't amazing was a little note at the end. I think a little more nuance couldn't have hurt here.

[Jane Irish Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this book is supposed to be set in 1904, there is not a great deal of feel of the time. It felt to me more like modern characters in fancy dress. Obviously the target audience is young children, but they should never be written down to, instead they need to have their minds stretched and their curiosity piqued.

[Rawdha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember this being one of my favourite books when I was 10 lol I was obsessed. A few months ago I saw someone on tiktok say those stories were fake and my 10 year old selfs heart was shattered when I found out these are not real stories about actual people😭😭

[Amanda Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate the new look for her she looks so girly which she isn’t. I feel like she would dress more boyish but still wear things that girls her age would have wore. Her new look isn’t even historical correct.

[Jada · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is called

[Maribeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it because it's old fashioned and I bought Samantha in November in 2018, and I haven't read that book at all when I had the time to.

[Maggie]

Good for a very light read

[queen victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

i thought Grandmary would be pretty strict but she’s not really

[Emily Huff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this with my daughter and she loved it. We would read it with her Samantha doll together. 😍

[Addi · Rating 5 out of 5]

My childhood <33333

[Alia · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Jelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cutesy

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.3

[Charlie - disableddaydreamer | itsbarbieparis (looking for mutuals) · Rating 4 out of 5]

i fear i am becoming the most annoying samantha stan.

i just love samantha’s stories and settings, this was a fun read and i would like to get the rest.

[Opal Km · Rating 1 out of 5]

Why did i think it was a good idea

[Grace]

i read this 8 times!

[Priscilla Herrington · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is nothing wrong with this American Girl book. Beforever is billed as "A classic featuring Samantha." It takes place in 1904; Samantha is an orphan living with her rich grandmother who is raising her to be a lady. She befriends Nellie, a servant girl about her own age in the house next door.

The American Girl dolls are accompanied by books about them, introducing young readers to particular times in American history. Each of the first few dolls had a series of six books, covering similar aspects of her life; this made it possible to contrast life in different times and places. Each of these books also had a wealth of information following the story, to further add to readers' understanding.

The more recent books, such as this one, seem to be written for much younger or less curious children. While there is nothing offensive, there is nothing to challenge a young reader.

[Adam Giddings · Rating 5 out of 5]

First part Samantha fallen down from a tree

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a good book about you should be kind to people even if they are poor like how Samantha became friends with Nellie.

Even though, these books are different than the original series, I kind of like it. I like how they condense original into just couple of books - there only 2 or 3 books vs. 6 books. And there is a "Inside Samantha's World, which is similar to the "Looking Back" in the original series

[mallory · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very good. It is one of my favorite American Girl books because I like how adventurous and nice Samantha is. I like how Samantha befriends a lower class girl and it shows that you can be friends with anyone! My favorite part is when Samantha receives the nutcracker doll she has wanted for Christmas.