What the ‘Dear America’ Series Taught Me

Reading someone’s diary might just be the pinnacle of rudeness. But is it acceptable if the person is fictional?

After graduating from the American Girl books, as a child I’d fill up my library-card quota with titles from Scholastic’s “Dear America” series, Dreams in the Golden Country; One Eye Laughing, the Other Weeping; When Will This Cruel War Be Over? — these are just a sampling of the 30-plus books in the collection, each of which focuses on various moments in American history. Told from the perspective of a 12-to-14-year-old girl, these stories resonated deeply with me. I devoured them and often found it difficult to reemerge from Dust Bowl–era Oklahoma, the attack on Pearl Harbor, or a plantation in Virginia when I was called to other duties.