This book teaches you that you can be friends with people even if they speak another language. I've read every Kirsten book and this is one of the best!

This is another in the American Girls Short Stories series about Kirsten Larson, a nine-year-old girl from Sweden, whose family has moved to frontier Minnesota of 1854. In this episode, Kirsten begins school. As she struggles to learn her lessons in a new language, she makes a new friend, Singing Bird, an Indian girl of about Kirsten's age.

This is another lesson in friendship and hard work, one masterfully told. Again, Renee Graef's illustrations are plentiful, and of a perfect style for the story. My nine-year-old daughter loves this wonderful book, and so do I.

This is a sweet tale about a little pioneer girl named Kirsten who is a Swedish immigrant and has a little difficulty speaking English- which gets trouble from her tough teacher. Things worsen as the teacher moves in with her aunt and uncle who Kirsten's family lives near and eats supper with every night. Kirsten finds her solace by running into the woods to play with her secret friend, a young Indian girl named Singing Bird. Everything in this book is great- from the stern but kindly teacher, to the friendship with the Indian girl.

If you or your child has already read the American Girls book "Kirsten Learns a Lesson", you know that Kirsten has befriended an Indian girl named Singing Bird. In that story, Kirsten was ordered not to play with Singing bird any longer. Singing Bird leaves. In this new short story, which forst appeared in American Girl magazine, Singing Bird is back. Kirsten wants to see her, but cannot break her rules. Can she and Singing Bird meet again and keep their friendship a secret or will everything fall apart? Kirsten learns another lesson in this great book for little girls.

This is another in the American Girls Short Stories series about Kirsten Larson, a nine-year-old girl from Sweden, whose family has moved to frontier Minnesota of 1854. In this book, Kirsten's American Indian friend, Singing Bird, returns. Almost immediately disaster strikes, when Kirsten's secret friendship is discovered, and her mother orders Kirsten to never see Singing Bird again. However, when Kirsten's brother Peter gets lost in the woods, Kirsten turns to a friend who can help when others can't. It proves a chance for the whole family to learn a lesson.

As an added bonus, this book contains a chapter on the Sioux Indians, and instructions on making a charm bag. I never ceased to be amazed at the quality of the American Girls books. With wonderful illustration, the book tells a great story that teaches a valuable lesson. I strongly recommend this book to anyone with a young daughter. My daughter and I both love these books!

[For those parents interested in reading historical fiction about Swedish immigrants, please consider reading The Emigrants series by Vilhelm Moberg.]

Kirsten on the Trail is a good story for early readers and children who can hold their attention to a twenty minute story.

This is the tale of frontier life and the interaction of a pioneer girl and her indian friend of the same age. Theirs is a secrete relationship -- history has told their parents to be wary of each other and they are forbidden to play together.

The disappearance of Kirsten's younger brother and his rescue by Kirsten's indian friend allows the parents of the pioneer girl to accept the the innate goodness of a child from a different culture. This book introduces pioneer life, the clash of indian and pioneer cultures and the acceptance of difference to young readers. Its a story my kids like.

I just finished reading "Meet Kirsten" I loved it a lot. This book is about a Swedish girl named Kirsten. Kirsten has to leave Sweden, the land she knew, to go live with her cousins. To get there she has to go on to a boat that goes to NY, a train that goes to Chicago and the rest of the way they walk to Minnesota! Sound hard? No kidding. Pioneers who made journeys like that were called immigrants. I thought "Meet Kirsten's "A Peek Into the Past was awesome! It even had a map of Kirsten's travels! Not only are they good stories but they are also history lessons. I would very highly recommend this book to a friend .

I read a book that was an American girls book. I liked the book because it was full of excitement. It's about a girl named Kristen. She came from Sweden to live in American with another family.In the family was Kirsten's friend. I liked these books. Do you think all of them well make it? I recomend this to girls who love sad stories.

This is another in the American Girls Short Stories series about Kirsten Larson, a nine-year-old girl from Sweden. This is the first book in this series. In it, we meet Kirsten on the Eagle, a sailing ship bringing her and her family from Sweden to America in 1854. Leaving behind the life she knew, Kirsten sails across the wide Atlantic, takes her first ever train ride, sees several big cities, and begins her new life in frontier Minnesota. It is a journey mixing joy and grief, and fear and happiness.

This book is quite fascinating, showing the joys and dangers in the life of an immigrant to the United States in the Nineteenth Century. Kirsten is adorable, and yet teaches the young reader. As an added bonus, the book contains a final chapter that provides a great deal of information on the experiences of immigrants in that time. As always, Renee Graef's illustrations are plentiful and beautifully done, adding greatly to the story. My nine-year-old daughter loves these books, and I must admit that reading them with her has kindled my own interest in my Swedish ancestors. This is a great book!

This book was ok, but since they have dolls and everything of Kirsten you want to make up your own plot on her life. You think what Shaw has said is 'wrong'.

My 8-year-old absolutely loves these stories. She can't wait to get to the next one and they help her to see what life was like in Kirsten's time (late 1800's). Your little girl will love them, and I love that there is absolutely NO questionable material in these books. I don't have to worry about questionable material or boy crazy stuff that my daughter is too young to deal with yet!

This is another in the American Girls Short Stories series about Kirsten Larson, a nine-year-old girl from Sweden, whose family has moved to frontier Minnesota of 1854. Kirsten's first Fourth of July is coming up, and her family will be going into town. There are many things they need, and everyone hopes that they can raise enough money to buy them. A miracle seems to beacon to Kirsten when she discovers a bee tree brimming with sweet (and valuable) honey. When she decides that she need not inform her parents, that she and her little brother can collect the honey, she learns a valuable and potentially fatal lesson.

Once again, Janet Shaw produces a wonderfully entertaining story, with a valuable lesson. Such wonderful stories, with such excellent illustrations! This is an excellent book, and a worthwhile addition to your library.

[For those parents interested in reading historical fiction about Swedish immigrants, please consider reading The Emigrants series by Vilhelm Moberg.]

This book does not maintain the strength of character that we have come to expect from each of the american girls characters. It depicts Kirsten as being petty and mean. Although the moral of the story is a good one to learn, I think the way it was carried out was not as strong as Ms. Shaw's previous Kirsten endeavours.

"Kirsten and the New Girl" is part of the "American Girls Short Stories" series of books for younger readers. This volume, which is written by Janet Shaw and illustrated by Renee Graf, focuses on Kirsten, a ten-year-old girl whose family had emigrated from Sweden to Minnesota about a year before this story takes place. In this book, Kirsten becomes jealous of Nora, a new girl at school; Nora's family is from Norway.

"Kirsten and the New Girl" ultimately teaches some worthwhile lessons as Kirsten comes to know more about Nora. The story includes a number of supplemental features, such as a "Meet the Author" page. A supplement entitled "A Peek into the Past" takes a look at girls' friendships in 1854, the time frame of Kirsten's story. This supplement includes reproductions of homemade dolls, historic photographs, and other items from that time. The book ends with an instructional article on how to make a friendship pillow. Overall, an enjoyable and educational book which, at about 50 pages, will be ideal for readers at a certain skill level.

This is another in the American Girls Short Stories series about Kirsten Larson, a nine-year-old girl from Sweden, whose family has moved to frontier Minnesota. In this episode, Kirsten recovers from the measles, and can't wait to return to school and her friends. Disaster strikes when Kirsten finds out that there is a new girl in school, Nora, whose family has just arrived from Norway. Bitterly jealous of Nora, feeling displaced, Kirsten learns a new lesson in friendship.

Besides the charming short story, this book a chapter on friendship in 1854, and the kind of gifts that young girls would give each other. Then, there are instructions on how to make a "friendship pillow", reminiscent of those gifts from so long ago. The illustrations by Renee Graef are wonderfully done, and relatively plentiful, they add greatly to the story. This is a great book, and a worthwhile addition to you library (my nine-year-old daughter loves this book).

In general, we love the American Girl series of books but two books in the Kirsten series disturbed me. In the book "Kirsten Saves the Day" she discovers a bee tree and decides to gather the honey by herself to suprise her family. This is understandable but she acts very foolishly when she goes back to the tree despite having seen a bear the previous day. To make matters worse, she manipulates her little brother into helping her, risking his life with her own. She nearly gets both of them killed when the bear returns to the bee tree

In the book "Changes for Kirsten" she finds a baby racoon in the woods and brings it home. Her mother specifically tells her to leave the racoon in the barn and never to bring it near the house. Despite this, the minute her mother leaves the house Kirsten defies her and brings the baby racoon in. He gets loose and knocks over an oil lamp, burning down their cabin.

All in all I don't find the character of Kirsten to be the sort of person I want my girls to emulate.

In the Kirsten boxed set, you will read six books about Kirsten Larson, a pioneer girl growing up in 1854. In "Meet Kirsten" Kirsten and her family are coming to America. Kirsten is one of the few characters in the American Girls Collection that stays the same. All the other characters change in some way, but I did not see this in the Kirsten books. The next five books in the boxed set show how Kirsten and her family try to combine Swedish and American traditions. In "Kirsten Learns A Lesson" Kirsten has difficulty with school and meets an Indian girl named Singing Bird. In "Kirsten's Surprise" Kirsten tries to keep some of the Larsons' Swedish traditions alive by planning a secret Saint Lucia celebration with her cousins. In "Happy Birthday, Kirsten!" Kirsten does extra chores after her mom has a baby, and then gets a special birthday party. In "Kirsten Saves the Day" Kirsten finds treasure in the woods and nearly gets herself and her brother killed when she tries to bring the treasure home. In "Changes for Kirsten" Kirsten's family loses thier home to a fire and must find a way to get a new one. The Kirsten books are good. When I was younger, "Changes for Kirsten" was my favorite of Kirsten's stories. When I went back and read it again later on, as a teen, I discovered something. In the story, the Larsons lose their house--but that is because Kirsten disobeys her mother and brings an injured raccoon in the Larson's cabin, knowing full well the mischeif they are capable of. To date, I can't pinpoint which of the Kirsten books is a favorite, but I know that "Changes for Kirsten" is not one of them.

Joining Kirsten in her travel from Sweden to the United States and then on to the forests of Minnesota has been an enjoyable and interseting experience for both my daughter and I. The pioneer time of our country's history has always been of an interest to me as I have read of my own family's journeys from Hingham England to Massachusetts and then on to Montana during the time of the late 1600's through the early 1800's. What a rich heritage they passed on. And now, my daughter can enjoy learning about the pioneer era with a girl her own age. We have had a great deal of enjoyment reading these books together and discussing what happened to Kirsten in each one. Especially interesting and enlightening are the "Peek Into the Past" sections found at the end of each book. We have had some interesting and lively discussions about what it would be like to live during Kirsten's time. It has been very refreshing to see my daughter and her friends develop a deep interset in these books, role playing the characters, playing with the dolls, and learning about another time rather than pursuing the mindless, empty fluff of many things vying for a young girl's attention. Although some of Kirsten's experiences are a bit far-fetched (I.e. - not fearing a bear, having a pet racoon) the books' intrinsic value is not in the experiences, but rather in the history given in a light, fun way - what better way to learn than by having fun doing it.

This is the first book in the American Girls series about Kaya'aton'my', a nine-year-old Native-American girl growing up among the Nez Perce people in 1764. In this book, we meet Kaya, who is so proud of her horse. However, when Kaya leaves her little brothers (whom she is supposed to be watching) to race, she lands all of the children in trouble. And now, having earned the nickname of Magpie (a thoughtless bird), she finds that she has a lot to learn. But, seeking to help those around her, Kaya sets out to be a better person.

My daughter loves Kaya, and really enjoyed this book. The story was good (if a little unfocused), and the illustrations excellent. Unlike most other American Girls, Kaya's religion is alive for her and part of her life, which makes me wonder why they didn't do this for the others. Anyway, my daughter and I bother liked this book, and highly recommend it to you.

My daughter has read all of the American Girl books and immerses herself in the realities of the girls. Kaya is no exception.

Kaya's life, although very different than ours, is easy to imagine for children. There is enough detail for them to understand the community and community feeling of Kaya's group of Nez Perce. The characters are firmly developed, and unlike a teen reader, my daughter has no difficulty figuring out the roles each person plays, even though they don't necessarily use familiar terms like "mother" and "grandfather".

Kaya teaches my child that the Native Americans had dignity, a wonderful lifestyle, respect for nature, love for their families, as well as rights to live the lives they saw fit. Too bad that adults who destroyed the culture believed otherwise. Eventually, through the series, these issues are explored in the "Looking Back" section.

I read Meet Kaya, an American girl.
I thought it was a really good book because I think Kaya is a cool character. Kaya is an Indian girl who loves to racehorses. Kaya races a boy named Raven because he makes fun of her horse. Kaya races Raven but her horse tries to buck her off. After the race is over Kaya has to find her brothers because she asked her blind friend Speaking Rain to watch her two brothers Wing feather and Sparrow while she races and then she lost them. Kaya is mad when all the kids call her Magpie. But she gets used to it because her grandmother Aalah tells her that her brother called her finger cakes and her friends still call her that for a joke.I recomend this book to anyone at any age level.

This is another in the American Girls Short Stories series about Kirsten Larson, a nine-year-old girl from Sweden, whose family has moved to frontier Minnesota of 1854. It is winter, and the men of the Larson household are off earning extra money logging. When a group of Chippewa (Ojibwa) warriors arrive, wearing war paint, Kirsten is deeply afraid. However, working with these new strangers, Kirsten learns that they are not as fierce as they look.

The final chapter of this book really makes it something special, covering the Chippewa (Ojibwa) Indians, and then giving directions for making a delicious Birds' Nest Pudding. This is a good story, with Renee Graef's usual excellent illustrations. My favorite part, though, was when my daughter insisted on making the Birds' Nest Pudding.

Ordinarily I would give this book at least 2 stars, because it is somewhat well-written. However, these books of the American Girls Collection are supposed to offer young children a glimpse of life in their specific time period, and as such they fail miserably when they aren't historically accurate. This story deals with a young girl who wants to keep the Swedish tradition of St. Lucia alive in her family even after they move to America. Trouble is, this story takes place in 1854, and the St. Lucia celebration didn't start until the early 1900's. How can you give kids an accurate picture of the past when the entire plot centers around something that didn't yet exist?

Can you imagine moving from Sweden all the way to America? In this book, Kirsten's Surprise, Kirsten, Mama, Papa, Lars and Peter do! But on the trip to get their trunks from Sweden that they left in the general store, a storm hits! Guess what happens next?
Kirsten's Surprise is one of the thrill-seeking books in her series. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes books that have bravery, courage and excitement all wrapped into one book

This is another in the American Girls Short Stories series about Kirsten Larson, a nine-year-old girl from Sweden, whose family has moved to frontier Minnesota of 1854. With Christmas approaching, Kirsten is excited about introducing her cousins to the Saint Lucia celebration. She has a dress that is just right for it in the family's trunk that is in storage. The day before Saint Lucia Day, Kirsten's father decides to go get the trunks, and Kirsten is just dying to go with him. However, as the Minnesota skies open and a winter storm descends, she finds that her help is more needed then she could have imagined.

Once again, I must commend the author and illustrator on a job well done! This book is wonderful, with the added bonus of a chapter on Christmas on the frontier in 1854. I recommend this book wholeheartedly.

[For those parents interested in reading historical fiction about Swedish immigrants, please consider reading The Emigrants series by Vilhelm Moberg.]

I expected "Kaya Shows the Way" to be a good book. As Kaya's stories progressed, they seemed to get better...except for this one. The book mainly talks about Kaya having problems with the choices her two sisters have made. Speaking Rain has been found, but she's made a vow to the woman who saved her life. Brown Deer, Kaya's older sister, plans to marry Cut Cheek, but first she has to prove herself. Kaya meets up with Two Hawks again, but not much is said between them.
The most exciting thing that happens is when Tatlo, Kaya's dog, gets into trouble.
Summer and Adventure stories are not a European thing. Surely the Nez Perce would have some interesting stories to tell! But Pleasant Company decided not to give Kaya a "Summer Story." What a shame. This book is filler, and not much else. I bought it so there is no hole in my American Girls Collection books. I now have the whole set in hardcover...but this is my least favorite of the 48 existing books in the series.

Summer time has arrived for Kaya, and this means making the annual journey to Celilo Falls for salmon fishing and much much more. Kaya can't wait for the fun, but she also hopes that at Celilo Falls, some of the other tribes might have news about her lost sister, Speaking Rain. Her other sister, Brown Deer, is on her mind too. Brown Deer is soon to marry Cut Creek, and Cut Creek's aunt has come to see if Brown Deer will be a suitable wife. For Kaya it is a very bittersweet summer. She finally finds her sister Speaking Rain, only to find out that Speaking Rain has made a vow to the woman who saved her to never leave. And what about Brown Deer? Kaya knows that if Brown Deer marries Cut Creek, she will have to leave them. Will Kaya come up with some plans so she won't be losing both her sisters at once? I felt that this book could have been better. When they introduced this book they said there would be a lot of festivites for the Nez Perce during the summer. Unfortunately so much time was spent on Kaya trying to solve her family problems, that nothing really fun was mentioned. I was really hoping to see how Nez Perce celebrated the arrival of summer. There wasn't that much mention of Two Hawks either which disappointed me a bit. Still this is a good book to add to your collection.

This is another in the American Girls series about Kaya'aton'my', a nine-year-old Native-American girl growing up among the Nez Perce people in 1764. In this book, Kaya and her family journey to the Celilo Falls for the yearly salmon fishing. But, Kaya has more on her mind than usual; her friend Two Hawks has promised to bring her word of her lost sister Speaking Rain, and her sister Brown Deer is preparing for her own marriage. Soon, Kaya finds herself learning that losing isn't always completely losing, and finding is always completely possessing.

This is another excellent American Girl story. My eleven-year-old daughter is a great fan of Kaya, and I must admit that I like the stories as well. While the lessons that Kaya learns are not as hard as those learned by Kit, for example, they are quite profound. My daughter and I bother really liked this story, and we recommend it to you and the American girl in your life!