Susan McAliley

In 1934 Kit finds that she has hard lessons to learn about the Depression both at home, where she is helping her mother run a boarding house while her father looks for a new job, and at school, where a fight spoils the preparations for the Thanksgiving pageant.

In 1934, during the Depression, Kit's cantankerous uncle comes to live in the Cincinnati boardinghouse run by her parents, enlisting her aid in transcribing his complaining letters to the editor of the local newspaper and inspiring her to write a different kind of letter of her own.

On a visit to Cincinnati from rural Kentucky during the Great Depression, Aunt Millie impresses Kit with her money-saving cleverness. Includes information on life in America during the Great Depression.

In 1932, Kit faces a very different Christmas because of her family's financial problems and allows her pride to estrange her from her best friend.

When Tia Dolores, the beloved aunt who has cared for the Montoya family since the death of their mother, announces that she is planning to leave, Josefina and her sisters try to find a way to change her mind.

Josefina and her sisters distrust learning to read and write, as well as other changes their Tia Dolores is bringing to the household, because they fear they will lose their memories of their mother.

In colonial Williamsburg, nine-year-old Felicity's dancing skills improve when she changes from wearing clumsy shoes to dainty slippers but ultimately she learns that "Gracefulness is in the foot, not the shoe." Includes information on the education of girls in colonial America, focusing on dance, and presents square dance instructions.

On a visit to Cincinnati from rural Kentucky during the Great Depression, Aunt Millie impresses Kit with her money-saving cleverness. Includes information on life in America during the Great Depression.

Elizabeth Cole and her best friend, Felicity, are "the merriest girls in Virginia". The merry friends think it's very funny to play tricks on Elizabeth's snobby older sister, Annabelle. When Annabelle Bananabelle becomes engaged, Elizabeth and Felicity's mischief heats up, until Elizabeth finds herself in big trouble!

Molly is eager to meet a famous movie star at a War Bond rally, until she cannot find the money that her class had collected to buy a bond. Includes information on movies during World War II and a recipe for popcorn.