WILLIAMSBURG— Valerie Tripp, author for the American Girl series, returned to Williamsburg this week to discuss how research, place and history shaped the stories that introduced generations of young readers to early America.
Tripp was hired by Pleasant Roland, the creator of American Girl, right out of college. She began work on a reading program called “The Super Kids.” She had thought she had applied for an editor job, but that wasn’t the case.
“The very first day, Pleasant just handed me a pad of paper and said, you know, here, go down the hallway and write lyrics to a song that will help children learn the sound of a hard ‘C,’ like as in cook,” Tripp recalled about her first day. “So I wrote the song, and it turns out I really loved it.”
Tripp and Roland worked together for 12 years on “Super Kids.” During that time we they talked about the books that they had loved reading when they were growing up. Tripp herself had three sisters, and Roland had two of her own. The two of them were fond of the books in which the girls got to have adventures and cause mischief.
Eventually, Roland and Tripp each married and moved to different states. Tripp recalled receiving a postcard from Roland at her home in South Carolina describing an idea to write books about girls growing up in different periods of American history, aimed at readers the same age as the characters and paired with dolls.
“We just had so much fun planning these characters and thinking about their life situations and their challenges, and then Pleasant said to me, ‘you know, choose which ones you want to write about.’ And so I chose Molly as my first character to write about,” said Tripp.
Overall, Tripp says it’s a story of the friendship between Roland and herself and how they worked really well together. She says she had a lot of fun working with her, and one thing led to another.
Tripp, Felicity and Colonial Williamsburg
Tripp said her research into the character and period started the same way it always did: by reading everything she can get her hands on, written during the period the character lived in and about the period the character lived in.
American Girl describes Felicity as a spirited girl from 1774 Williamsburg, and was first released in 1991.
When working on Felicity, Tripp said she had the bonus of Colonial Williamsburg, where she said she got to immerse herself in the sights, sounds, textures and experience of being in a place that was created to look like it would have looked when Felicity would have lived.
While at Colonial Williamsburg, Tripp said she was able to speak to people who had made it their life study exactly what she wanted to write about. She recalled having tea with a woman named Quilla Roth, who had made the study of tea her life study.
Tripp says the research into the time when Felicity would have lived led directly to her personality.
“She lived at the time of the American Revolution. That said to me that she was going to be a revolutionary character herself. She was going to be subversive. She was going to be a person who stretched the rules and broke the rules,” Tripp said about the character.
Tripp said that is what made the character compelling to write. She said there is something about the story set in Williamsburg that she finds evocative.
Reflecting on 250 Years
Tripp said writers pour themselves into their work and hope it leaves a lasting impression. Returning to Williamsburg years after writing the books and taking part in the nation’s 250th anniversary celebration, she said, gives her chills.
“I love, love, love, love how history is not dusty. It is not all folded in a nice, tidy way, and put away in a drawer. It’s happening again and again,” she said. “History helps us, our new science helps us know more about what life was like during that period of time.”
Tripp also thanked the people of Williamsburg for sharing their expertise over the years. She said she is grateful to young readers who connect with the characters she writes about and to longtime readers who have continued to follow those stories into adulthood.
“I never foresaw this continuing interest and devotion to these characters,” Tripp admitted. “I’m very, very grateful to my now grown-up readers who took Felicity to heart and have passed the stories and the books along.”
Tripp will be in Williamsburg this weekend to headline the 5th annual KidLit Fest: Anniversary Edition at the Williamsburg Library on May 9 from 12:30 to 4 p.m. To learn more about the free event, visit the official website.
