My daughter and I just finished the Meet Molly series from the American Girl collection. We both loved the books! And what better way to celebrate and make a fun memory than cooking a recipe from Molly’s time. I know there is a Molly Recipe book somewhere out of print, but I don’t have it. So we improvised.
In case you aren’t familiar with The American Girl series collection I can tell you all about them. Each girl come from a different time period. Molly is a 9 year old girl who lives in Ohio during World War II. Through a series of 6 books we learn about what a typical girl might experience during that time. This is probably one of my favorite ways to learn about history. It’s easier to learn about our past when it connects to a story. I love that these books give us a chance to teach history and bring up great talking points. Be sure to take advantage of this chance to teach your children about the past.
After we read about Kirsten, a pioneer girl who came to America from Sweden, we made a traditional bread that is part of Saint Lucia Day. I was thinking about what kind of experience we could have to remember Molly when I remembered the book Happy Birthday Molly. Molly is excited for Mrs. Gilford to make her favorite chocolate cake for her birthday. Because rations were happening during this time we decided to make a wartime cake that doesn’t require milk, eggs, or butter.
In the book Happy Birthday Molly they don’t end up making her favorite chocolate cake. They have a friend from England staying with them so Molly decided to have a Birthday Tea and celebrate Emily’s birthday too. And though it would have been fun to make sconces and have a tea I wanted to teach her more about rations. And my daughter was so excited to make this cake with me. The frosting is a traditional recipe so we would have to save our rations up for this special cake.
This cake tasted so delicious. And was super easy and quick. I’m sure I’ll make it again. And hopefully if my daughter is ever without milk or eggs or butter she can remember in a pinch that she can still make a cake. While reading the Molly series we were able to talk about rations, Nazi’s, collecting scrap metal, family, the importance of learning at school and what it means to be patriotic.
To make this story even sweeter we were talking to Grandma Nan about what we were reading while she was visiting family here in Arizona. Turns out she knew all about this time period. If Molly were alive today she would have been one year younger than Grandma Nan. That really blew my daughter’s mind to think that if Molly was alive today she would be Grandma Nan’s age. We got to talk to her about victory gardens, collecting scrap metal, and rations. It really make the history come alive for us.
In the first book I thought Molly was kinda a brat. She wasn’t as sweet as Kirsten. But Molly grows up a lot during the series, as people do during a war, and I really love these stories! The story has a perfect ending, not because everything goes perfectly. But because the things that matter most are cherished.
Theses books do a great job of dictating what life was like. They don’t gloss over everything that happened during that time. Hard things happen as they do in life. But there are great lessons and strengthen that comes from overcoming hard things. I highly recommend these books! My 10 year old son enjoys them too. My daughter is almost 5 but is able to understand the story and comprehend what is happening. She asks a lot of questions and is learning so much.
You don’t have to make this cake after reading these books. But I find that doing little things makes these kind of stories come alive. And children remember the memories and I find it makes them love reading even more. And did you know they have a Molly movie? Nothing better than watching a movie (with a treat) after reading the book.
Check out these books and click here for the Wartime cake or Wacky cake recipe as they are sometimes called. And see if you have a parent, aunt, or grandparent who lived during this time and can talk to your kids about their experiences when they were younger. Be sure to pin this image and check out my other American Girl posts or see a list of my kids favorite books.
Check out what we did while reading Kirsten’s Surprise…
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