Preview of Hitty: Her First Hundred Years Summary:

Hitty: Her First Hundred Years appeals to younger readers as an entertainment—a pleasant few days' diversion. Probably not many boys read it, because Hitty is a doll and she tells her own story from a strictly feminine point of view. Many girls, however, adore the tale and turn back to it frequently even as they mature into their teens. They discover not only that they have been entertained, but that they have been given a microscopic panorama of American social history from the 1820s to the 1920s. They have learned what it was like to be a part of a family whose father earned his living from the sea, and they have learned more about whaling than they will know until they have read Melville's Moby Dick (1851). They have also learned about what were, in the 1820s, strange lands with exotic customs. They have gained some...