Changes For Kirsten

Changes For Kirsten

By Janet Shaw

Scholastic

Copyright 1988

pp.65

Changes For Kirsten

Historical Fiction

     Changes For Kirsten is a book from The American Girls Collection. Kirsten, a ten-year old girl, and her family have moved from Sweden to America and are starting a new life on the American frontier. This story follows Kirsten and her family during a long winter in the year 1854.

     Kirsten’s papa is away trying to earn money for the family by working in a logging camp. Kirsten, her mother, two brothers, and baby sister are left at home, but close by are her Aunt Inger and her children. Kirsten, her brother, and his friend are setting traps for animals such as beaver and mink to help earn money for their families. One day, Kirsten finds a sickly, baby raccoon and decides to nurse it back to health at her home. The raccoon gets loose inside Kirsten’s home and starts a fire that burns down the small cabin her family lives in. The family is devastated and must move in with Aunt Inger and her daughters.

     As I was reading the book it reminded me of the television show Little House on the Prairie because of the time period. I believe there are many lessons students can learn from books set in this time period. For example, when the house was burning Kirsten tried to beat the flames with a rug and throw snow on the blaze. Students might think why didn’t she just turn on the sink and get some water, but on the frontier there was no running water. Students today have numerous technological advances, and I think they might not realize how difficult and challenging life was on the frontier. I feel The American Girl stories are a great way to present a thematic unit on frontier life, because the books allow the students feel as they are actually on the frontier with Kristen and her family. There are even a few moral dilemmas within the book that would be great discussions starter for a classroom.