American Girl

"Turning Things Around, the second volume of Kit's classic stories, tells how Kit uses her talents to tackle the challenges brought by the Great Depression"--

Julie is in school detention for passing a note to Joy, a deaf student who has trouble understanding what their teacher is saying. Indignant, Julie decides to run for student body president so she can make changes to the detention system. But the other students are put off by Joy, her choice for vice president, and Julie worries that she'll have little chance of winning if she partners with someone who seems so different. With persistence and creative campaigning, Julie wins the students over--and wins the election without compromising her principles. The "Looking Back" section discusses the 1976 presidential election.--From publisher's description.

In 1878, twelve-year-old Ida Kate and her widowed father welcome a mail-order bride and her baby to their Kansas homestead, but Ida Kate soon suspects that the bride is not the woman with whom Papa has corresponded.

Looking forward to swimming lessons before finding out that she will have to put her face underwater, a little girl tells her doll, Bitty Baby, a story about a brave little duckling who teaches his brothers and sisters that practice makes perfect.