Published 2018. Author: Rebecca Paley (with excerpts from Valerie Tripp's Felicity stories). Illustrator: Kelley McMorris
Summary
It's autumn in 1773. Felicity and her father have traveled to Boston, where her father's brother and his family live. Like Felicity's family will be later in her books, the Boston Merrimans are Patriots, drinking "tea" made from herbs grown in their garden rather than proper tea from England--they feel the high tax levied on it by the king of England is unfair. The Crown's view is that the colonists needed English soldiers during the French and Indian War, which only ended a decade ago, so the colonists should pay higher taxes to ease England's war debt. The Patriots among the colonists figure that since they did far more than England, they can do without its rule. Felicity knows her grandfather would consider talk of leaving British rule treason, but her cousin makes some compelling points about colonial freedom. As her sixteen-year-old cousin Charles tells her about the Boston Massacre, the Stamp Act and its repeal, the idea of taxation without representation, and other things imposed on the colonies, Felicity finds herself agreeing with him more and more.
In fact, she agrees so much with Charles that she joins him in sneaking out into the night of December 16 (there were several teenagers in the real group, and the vast majority of the Tea Party protesters were under 40, but there are no records of eight-year-old girls). The protesters work quickly and quietly, dumping the tea overboard into Boston Harbor. They've tried to get to the governor to send the tea back, but to no avail, and the tax is due tomorrow. They're having none of it: the tea has to go.
Just two days later, Felicity and her father are heading home. Felicity is concerned for the safety of her family in Boston. Boston was indeed soon forced to quarter British soldiers, and it wasn't long before the American Revolution was in full force. Felicity's last entry is dated July 28, 1776, and talks about the results of trade being cut off--and hearing the Declaration of Independence being read aloud.
Misc
There is no dedication.
These five books have short chapters, starting with the historical facts then having the perspective of the American Girl from the same setting, set up as a journal or excerpts from one of her books.
The pages written from Felicity's point of view are styled to look like diary or journal entries, but aren't handwritten, just in a non-professional typeface. She mentions being on a boat, the Dove, and italicizes it in her "journal." But whatever font this is is already slanted so it's hard to tell. When handwriting, a person should underline boat titles (and book titles, movie titles, et. al.) and that definitely would have worked better for this font.
To put the Boston Tea Party in its proper historical context, the book gives a lot of background information starting with European settlers arriving in the New World in the 1500s. Despite the couple centuries of history, it's accessible to the intended demographic (source: my elementary-school-aged kids read it, too).
Felicity's cousin Charles has a horse named Mercury.
Felicity's aunt Charlotte spun yarn with the Daughters of Liberty, a group that organized "spinning bees" to help with fabric shortages brought on protests over taxes.
Like the main Felicity books do with the friendship between Patriot Felicity and Loyalist Elizabeth, this book seeks to make the point that people can be different sides of very important issues and still find common ground and ways to get along with each other.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
