Kit Saves the Day: A Summer Story

American Girl: Kit #5

by Valerie Tripp, Walter Rane (Illustrator)

Tired of doing chores and longing for adventure, Kit decides to ride the rails.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Childrens, Historical, Fiction, Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction, Chapter Books

70 pages, Paperback

First published August 21, 2001

About the author

Valerie Tripp is a children's book author, best known for her work with the American Girl series.

She grew up in Mount Kisco, New York with three sisters and one brother. A member of the first co-educated class at Yale University, Tripp also has a M.Ed. from Harvard. Since 1985 she has lived in Silver Spring, Maryland. Her husband teaches history at Montgomery College.

Right out of college, Tripp started writing songs, stories, and nonfiction for The Superkids Reading Program, working with Pleasant Rowland, the founder of American Girl. For that series, Tripp wrote all the books about Felicity, Josefina, Kit, Molly, and Maryellen and many of the books about Samantha. She also wrote the "Best Friends" character stories to date, plays, mysteries, and short stories about all her characters.. Film dramatizations of the lives of Samantha, Felicity, Molly, and Kit have been based on her stories. Currently, Tripp is writing a STEM series for National Geographic and adapting Greek Myths for Starry Forest Publishing. A frequent speaker at schools and libraries, Tripp has also spoken at the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, The New York Historical Society, and Williamsburg.

Reviews

[Abigail McKenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will Shepherd and Ben from the Felicity books were my first book crushes, and I've just come to realize that, lol

[Hannah Showalter · Rating 5 out of 5]

kit said “acab” in this one

[Jessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was bonkers.

[Bree · Rating 1 out of 5]

While the writing style continues to be engaging, as a parent, I have to say that the ludicrousness of the plot, combined with the fact that Kit doesn't get punished for endangering herself, her friends, lying to her parents and coming home late without any parental lecture or punishment is highly annoying and not true to period, either.

[Marissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

[Rereading the American Girl books in quarantine to feel something 5/7]
Um, how did I forget that Kit literally goes to JAIL???!

[Olde American Spirit · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is book #5 in the series and it was my least favorite. I adore how it begins about her brother [such a wonderful familial relationship, by the way, so nice to see] and I love the cameos by Grace, the beloved doggie.

Kit tries to help a group of people that are looked down upon on by others. She thinks she knows that they deserve respect and help. What I didn't like is how she went about it. Although the "authority figures" she disobeyed were not the kindest, I still didn't like the vibe. Nor the fact that she was seen as a type of hero when she kind of brought on all the trouble. haha



Stay tuned for more in-depth monthly book reviews on my cozy YT channel. 💙☕📚

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

The historical things were interesting!

I didn't like Kit. Her choices or her attitude.
I also didn't like some of the things I felt the story claimed were alright, if not outright correct.

[Ciara · Rating 4 out of 5]

it's summertime, which means that the kittredges & their boarders have a lot of work to do harvesting their garden & making preserves. plus all the usual housecleaning chores, which are many, with eleven people living in the house. kit & stirling are out in the garden picking tomatoes one morning when a young hobo comes strolling up. he asks if he can pitch in with the harvest in exchange for a meal & aunt millie agrees. he's a hard worker & the kittredges are all too happy to give him generous portions. he makes to leave, but they offer to let him stay the night & work for food the next day too if he'll tell them about his hobo adventures.

his name is texas will & he's 15 years old. he ran away from home & started riding the rails looking for work after his family became destitute. they had had a farm, but it was destroyed in the dust storms or something. he could have stayed put, but he thought it was better to leave & fend for himself than be another mouth to feed & back to clothe. mr. kittredge gets out an atlas & will shows him all the different areas of the country he's visited, following the seasonal agricultural work. kit feels a little envious. will's hobo life sounds like one of non-stop freedom & adventure, while she's cooped up in her crowded house with neverending chores. will tells kit that all kinds of people are hoboes--even young girls like her. he also tells the family that sometimes hoboes take food back to their camps & everyone contributes what they have to make a big stew to feed all the hoboes in the jungle.

the next evening after will leaves, kit realizes that the family didn't give him anything to take back for hobo stew. she & stirling convince mrs. kittredge & aunt millie to give them some extra tomatoes & canned milk & they get permission to go to the hobo jungle to give the food to will. the jungle isn't far from the kittredges house. the adults are nervous, but they let kit & stirling go.

will is grateful for the food, but kit is blown away by the scene in the jungle. she sees a woman with three little children, including a baby. rather than a bunch of free spirits choosing a life of adventure, she realizes that some hoboes are riding trains because they have no other options, & that it's a difficult life. still, when another hobo named lex starts bragging & offers to teach kit & stirling how to hop a boxcar, kit wants to try it. will insists on tagging along to make sure stirling & kit stay safe. lex tells them he's going to have them hop a train going north back toward kit's house, so they'll be able to hop off at the next stop & walk home. but instead the train they catch is going south, across the river & into kentucky. they start to panic, but once the train clears the bridge, it stops. lex jumps off & runs away into the woods. will makes kit hide her hair under his hat & tries to shield kit & stirling from view, but the railroad bulls make them all get off the train & marches them off to jail. will makes kit wear the hat so they won't realize she's a girl & separate her from him & stirling in jail.

kit gets all mouthy & tells the cops she's not a bum. she asks for permission to call her uncle hendrick in cincinnati, who can pass word of her arrest along to her parents, who will come get her. the cop scoffs at her & refuses to loan her the coin to make the call. then the cop realizes she's a girl & starts to march her off to the women's cell. stirling holds up a piece of paper with the hobo symbol meaning "pretend to be sick". kit fakes a stomachache & asks to go to the bathroom. once she's in the bathroom, she shimmies out the window & runs away.

she retraces the route taken by the train, but when she gets to the bridge, she realizes it's just railroad ties set over the river. there's a small catwalk on either side of the railroad & she can walk on that, but there's no railing & the catwalk is covered in train oil, so it's slick. but she has no other choice. she has to get back to cincinnati & alert her parents to spring will & stirling from the pokey. she makes it halfway across the trestle bridge before a train comes. she lays down flat on the catwalk & hangs on for dear life. once the train has gone, she stands up & finishes the trek across the bridge, back into the city, to her house.

mr. kittredge borrows a car belonging to some of the borders & books it back to kentucky jail. the cops release will & stirling into his custody. kit did indeed save the day...& realized in the process that being a hobo is no joke. mr. kittredge offers to bring will back to cincinnati for a good night's sleep, but will refuses. he has to get weat for the apple harvests. kit realizes she has it pretty good, with a bed to sleep in & food to eat, even if she does have a lot of chores.

basically, this book was awesome. a ten-year-old girl hops a train, gets thrown in jail, breaks out of jail, & frees her fellow hoboes. holy crap. i never did anything remotely that badass when i was ten years old.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The great AG marathon continues. Reading this for the first time as an adult in advance (much in advance, in this case) of the American Girls Dolls of Our Lives podcast.

Kit, that was dumb. Yes, good job getting your friends out of the trouble you got them into, but honey. That was way dumb.

It is, at least, an in-character kind of dumb, but the traditional "Saves the Day" title is really getting pushed to its limits here. Kit is hankering for adventure, gets in over her head, wriggles out of it, and at least is able to get her friends out, too.

I'm not sure I have much more to say about this one. Will is sweet, a model hobo to teach us all the hobo things. Lex is clearly Bad News, right down to having a name that evokes a DC Comics villain. And clearly, being the right age to work for the CCC was part of Charlie's original character design; great job everyone.

Should we start a list of how many Saves the Day adventures depend on the main character making a terrible choice somewhere along the way? This one is up there, right next to Kirsten's literal bad idea bear. Samantha and the twins almost get stranded on the island because they don't beach their canoe properly. Felicity kept Ben's secret and probably shouldn't have. Molly miscalculates re: poison ivy. Julie does a little trespassing (her book 5 has a different title, but the Saves the Day energy is there). On the other end of the spectrum: Caroline's saving is legit, though her book doesn't use that title, either. And sweet Addy does everything asked of her and beyond: a true Saves the Day.


More Kit babble

Meet Kit | Kit Learns a Lesson | Kit’s Surprise | Happy Birthday, Kit | Kit Saves the Day | Changes for Kit

Really, Truly Ruthie

Kit’s Home Run | Kit’s Tree House | Kit’s Short Story Collection

Danger at the Zoo | Midnight in Lonesome Hollow | A Thief at the Theater | Missing Grace | Intruders at Rivermead Manor | The Jazzman’s Trumpet | Menace at Mammoth Cave

[Panda Incognito · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have now reread this book for the first time in fourteen years. Because it was my least favorite, I skipped it when I last reread the series, and it was surreal to return to it after so long. I definitely stand by my initial assessment of the book, because it is wildly unrealistic for Kit to behave the way that she did without any consequences, and for Mrs. Howard to accept the fact that Stirling ended up IN JAIL because of Kit, when she isn't even able to handle him overexerting himself at home because of Kit's influence.

However, even though I am still critical of this over-the-top adventure, I am upping my original two-star rating to three stars. This book is extremely educational, and even though the entire plot hinges on Kit's impulsive foolishness and refusal to listen to Will, this frustrating set-up leads to a vivid, suspenseful story that teaches children about the hobo experience, police brutality, and aspects of the Great Depression that couldn't have come into this series if Kit had behaved.

Also, Will is an excellent character. He is kind, hardworking, likable, and resourceful, and even though he only appears in this one book, the characterization is very memorable. He's also very cute. Another reviewer noted that he and Ben from the Felicity books were her first fictional crushes, and I definitely had the same experience. What was different this time was that I was no longer reading about Will as a much-older boy. Instead, when he assured Aunt Millie that he was fifteen and definitely old enough to be out on his own, I gasped and clutched at my heart. The sad irony of that line was completely lost on me when I was small, because fifteen seemed old to me back then, but fifteen is a CHILD.

I'm glad that I read this again. Even though I respect my childhood self's horror over Kit's disobedience and bad choices, they did serve a purpose for this story and my education, and I'm glad that I learned so much about the hobo experience and had this early introduction to the reality that people had completely different experiences with police officers based on their social and economic status. I also enjoyed reading about Will again from a totally different age perspective, and loved the gorgeous, historically detailed illustrations. The Kit series has some of the best illustrations that I have ever seen in chapter books, and now that I have artistic training, instead of liking them less, I'm even more blown away by the gorgeous art and amazing use of light. I will never forgive American Girl for axing all of the illustrations in their 2015 rebranding, but I'm very glad to have these books from my childhood in the right editions.

[Iwi · Rating 3 out of 5]

So funny that Kit's "save the day" adventure is a predicament entirely of her own making that people warned her against. My obsession with a hobo life came from this orz

[Carolynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

During the Depression the number of homeless people increased and some of them became hoboes, who traveled around looking for work to get by. One such, a young boy named Will, comes by Kit's house and does some chores in exchange for a meal and a chance to wash. Kit finds the hobo life exciting and when she and her friend Stirling take some canned goods to the "jungle" where hoboes camp, they are persuaded to hop a train with an older hobo. I found this the least compelling of the Kit series. I didn't like that it was Kit's own impulsive act which provides the opportunity for her to "save the day." The best part of the book is the historical note at the end, which gives details about hobo life and the CCC which was created by FDR during the Depression. But generally the Kit books are among the more interesting American Girl stories. In most of the series the problems she faces are real, and may seem close to home because many children may have older relatives who remember the Depression, and can remember such things as bread lines and wearing clothes made from flour sacks. When I learned about the Depression in elementary history classes, the lessons were filled with economics and political information: I would have welcomed this series which show how the Depression affected families and children. The lexile measure is 640.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kit meets a hobo, and thinks that a life on the rails would be great fun and full of adventure. But she soon realizes that that life isn't exactly as fun as she had thought.

[Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

kit did not, in fact, save the day.

should be titled "kit goes to jail"

[Sadie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Does she actually save the day, or just endanger herself and her friends?

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE WILL. As a kid, I had a huge crush on him. I was sad to see him leave, like Kit, but oh boy the ending of this book sure keeps you on your toes! I loved this book. I love Aunt Millie, the chickens, the garden, Will, and the hobo codes are so clever and cool. Loved this book.

[Nickie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hate that Kit’s thoughts at the end reminded me of America Singer and the caste system. And where the heck was Ruthie?

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kit gets a reality check after riding the rails and realizing that the life of a hobo isn't fun - it has more going on than her life, but she has a lot to be thankful for stability-wise.

[RaspberryRoses · Rating 3 out of 5]

only my love of kit is making me rank this one 3 stars. because what the hell is up with the plotline in this one. girl. come on.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lex is the most sympathetic American Girl villain because if I was homeless and some kids showed up to gawk at me and thought my life was a fun little adventure I’d want to mess with them too.

[Katie Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

As much as I love Kit, this is one of my least favorite AG books. Granted it's important to cover the itinerant workforce and extreme poverty that are so vital to the Depression, and yes, Kit has the curiosity and wrecklessness to want to hop a train. However, I don't think that she and Stirling would have been allowed to go to the jungle alone, and I'm sure any adult would have put a stop to that. Then we wouldn't have had the far fetched jailbreak and the farther fetched journey crawling across the railroad bridge. Again, I can appreciate the educational value and how these are risky things Kit would totally do, but I still think #ValerieBeTrippin'

TL:DR

Dear AG,

The answer to the question, "how do we get Kit to ride the rails?" is, please don't!

Love and Kisses,
Katie

[Rowan · Rating 5 out of 5]

the scene with kit having to lay down on the tracks while the train passed? edge of my seat holy shit. good book this one, although will say the fact that mrs howard didn't faint upon hearing stirling was in jail due to kit's actions surprised me.

[Elisheva · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remembered Kit hanging out at the Hooverville and riding the rails but I completely forgot that she goes to jail! And then it is never addressed again. I can’t believe that Kit is the only American Girl with a criminal record.

[Meagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

good book

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now I need to read all of these books! =0)

[My Hidden Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

I understand I am not the target audience for this book as I'm an adult, but I honestly thought this was a good book except for a few issues. When she's convinced to 'ride the rail,' she not only does it against Will's advice, she drags the other kid into with her (I think his name was Sinclair but can't remember), got them thrown in jail, and then tries to get home in the middle of the night (which was necessary because no one knew where they were and she needed help) and could have died. All of this could have been avoided if she had just been smart enough to say no, I'm not falling for this guy's trick, and I'm going home. Not to mention when they get home, NO ONE is punished or even really made aware of how dangerous the choices were. They basically quote Shakespeare and say, 'All's well that ends well.' That's the only thing that really bothers me about this book, but I loved how sweet the family was and the light that the book shed on the poverty that some people have to live in because it's such an important area for people to be aware of.

[Little Seal]

Note about Grace: She's so cute, I love her, and I'm just like her.

Now onto the real review: HOLY MOLEY, this is probably the most intense 'Saves the Day' story. I was honestly feeling anxious even though I know everything would be "okay" in the end. However, it really wasn't? The ending was honestly pretty bleak compared to other AG books.

But I think this story is relatable to so many folks. Reading this as someone living in 2022 would think that Kit admiring "a hobo" for his adventures might be silly or foolish, but if you think about it, it makes complete sense to always think "the grass is greener on the other side." I could relate to Kit wanting something NEW.

This is probably my favorite 'Saves the Day' book for the simple fact that Kit was extra brave, learned her lesson super quick, and it didn't end in a typical "fairy tale" style compared to the other 'Save the Day' stories.

[Joey Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kit is bored of her life, doing chores everyday isn’t fun and she feels like she’s stuck in the rut of her life. Longing for adventure that she fears will never come... until a hobo shows up at her house willing to help with the work in exchange for a meal. She is thrilled to learn all about his life and how he lives yearning to grasp her adventure she knows is now just around the corner. Her adventure though not what she expected was a rush and caused trouble but she finally got what she’d dreamt of.

This was really good, probably my favourite Kit book so far. It was interesting reading her adventure and learning the life that poor homeless people lived back in the 30’s.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the continuing story about Kit Kittredge, a 9 yr old girl living in Cinncinnati during the Great Depression, we find her during the warm summer months. She is busily picking vegetables from the garden, complaining how boring it was, when a 16 year old boy arrived at their garden. Will teaches Kit and Sterling about the life of a hobo while helping them in the garden. Thinking that Will was lucky for being able to come and go as he pleased, Kit decides to go to the hobo camp with some vegetables for the hobo stew. Things dont go as Kit planned.
I enjoyed this book. I think anyone who had begun this series would enjoy it as well.

[Sesana · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book didn't really work for me. The trauma tourism aspect of going to gawk at the hobo jungle is bad enough, but the rest of the story is wildly unrealistic. Kit behaves in an incredibly reckless, foolish, and dangerous way in this book, and experiences no real consequences for it. Sure, she gets arrested and spends a little time in jail, but she also escapes jail. As far as I can see, she's not in any trouble at all for hopping on a train and dragging Stirling along with her. Her escape across the railroad bridge is very exciting, but it's also very unrealistic. The Ohio is kind of scary to cross on the modern Roebling Bridge, much less walking across a train trestle in the dark!