stars & 8/10 hearts. I was given this book between 10-13 years old and loved it right away. Since then, I have only loved it more and more each read through! If Coolidge had just kept the story like that, it would have been a great book. But then Cousin Helen arrives and things start to go downhill. Helen was rendered an invalid in a carriage crash several years previously (we assume she's paralyzed from the waste down) but she is a saint, and she is always kind to everyone and has ABSOLUTELY NO FLAWS WHATSOEVER. These stories have such a special place in my heart and it is such a joy to reread them. I have been in a terrible book slump for the past couple of of days and I couldn't pay attention to any of the books I had chosen to read so in desperation I brought the reading of What Katy Did Next forward. I'll concede that it's enjoyable for the first few chapters. Katy Carr is a tall, rambunctious tomboy who's constantly getting into "scrapes". Her prissy and dignified Aunt Izzy despairs of her wild, messy, nature, but her younger brothers and sisters all think she's the greatest thing ever. Katy is a writer and storyteller with zillions of great ideas, and she's the ringleader of the family, and Papa's favourite. What Katy Did is an 1872 children’s book written by Sarah Chauncey Woolsey under her pen name Susan Coolidge. It follows the adventures of a twelve-year-old American girl, Katy Carr, and her family who live in the fictional lakeside Ohio town of Burnet in the 1860s. Katy is a tall untidy tomboy, forever getting into scrapes but wishing to be beautiful and beloved. When a terrible accident makes her an invalid, her illness and four-year recovery gradually teach her to be as good and kind as she has always wanted.

When I was little, I read a ton of older children's books. I read authors like L. M. Montgomery, Louisa May Alcott, Eleanor H. Porter, Kate Douglas Wiggin, Margaret Sidney, and so on. For whatever reason, I totally missed reading any of Susan Coolidge's Katy series, though I was aware that they existed. This is possibly why I did not enjoy them much when I read them at age 24. Cecy Hall: a pretty and tidy girl, the daughter of a nearby neighbour and a good friend of the siblings. The beginning of his song is Doherty singing about doing lots of heroin after the break up, and how there was nothing she could do about it.Romance Related - 6 Incidents: A girl dreams that when she’s older “all the young gentlemen will want me to go and ride, but I shan’t notice them …” Following the above, another girl says, “it would be nice to go ride with the young gentlemen sometimes.” Children make up a story about a knight and the lady he is in love with. A girl is thought to be “a real heroine of romance.” The word “breast” is used to mean chest. The word “breast-pin” is used.

So why does nobody consider moving her to the ground floor? I feel that this is probably because of the Victorian view that disability is a kind of punishment, and shameful. Anyone with a disability would tend to be hidden away. I can't believe I'd never read this book before. I would have loved it as a kid! It's got exactly the sort of chummy flavor I've long valued, like the Anne books and the Ramona books. I would have spent a lot of time imagining I was friends with Katy, like I did with Anne and Ramona, when I was a kid. Oh well, at least I've read it now! And I have both sequels waiting on my TBR shelves!

CHAPTER IX.

Both Father and Cousin Helen impart such valuable thoughts on life's lessons, and the story is told in such a way as to be wonderfully engaging and powerfully impacting. I can't recommend this enough! Later on, Katy goes on a swing she is forbidden to go on by her aunt Izzy, although, her aunt hasn't given a reason for this, so obviously, Katy goes on it anyway and gets a spinal injury which prevents her from getting into scapes for the next four years.