Meet Molly

Meet Molly: An American Girl is the first book in the Molly series. It is included with the Molly doll when purchased and can be purchased separately.

Facts

 * Author: Valerie Tripp,
 * Illustrators: Nick Backes
 * Vignettes: Keith Skeen, Renée Graef
 * First Published: 1986
 * Setting: October - November 1943

Introduced

 * Molly McIntire
 * Helen McIntire
 * Jill McIntire
 * Ricky McIntire
 * Brad McIntire
 * Gladys Gilford
 * Linda Rinaldi
 * Susan Shapiro

Only in Meet Molly
Dolores

Chapter One: Turnips
Molly is at the table in the kitchen thinking about her costume for Halloween. She dreams of being Cinderella. The dress will be pinks with silver stars, and a fluffy angora top. However, Molly has to convince her mother to buy the material, make the costume, find some glass slippers, and talk her two best friends, Linda and Susan, into being ugly stepsisters. Susan would probably agree to the plan, as long as she can wear a long dress, but Linda would be harder to convince. If the girls were going to dress as a princess, Linda would want to be Snow White, since her hair is black. And then, Molly and Susan would be dwarfs. "Probably Sleepy and Grumpy," thinks Molly. Molly is definitely feeling grumpy, as she's been sitting at the table for "exactly two hours, forty-six minutes, and one, two, three, seconds." Or since 6:00 when Mrs. Gilford, the housekeeper, served dinner. She had served mashed turnips, one of the few successful vegetables that grew from her victory garden, and Molly was the only one of her siblings that refused to eat them. Mrs. Gilford said that no one could leave the table till all of the turnips were gone, leading to Molly situation. Molly tells herself that this would of never happen if her Dad was still here. She begins to remember how dinner used to be a happy time where Mrs. Gilford would make delicious dinners. But now her Dad is in England working as a doctor, Molly's Mom works long hours in the Red Cross and often comes home late, and Mrs. Gilford ruled the roost in their place. Now it is almost 9 and Molly considers eating the turnips when her brother Ricky enters and teases Molly "How do you like eating old, cold, moldy brains?" And runs off. Molly tries a bit and it does taste horrible, but she hears her Mom arriving. Molly becomes upset, thinking her Mom will be made she didn't eat her turnips, she'll refuse to make her costume, and everyone else will be mad at Molly for making Mom upset all because of the turnips! But her Mom isn't upset, and actually warms them up and adds some cinnamon and sugar to the turnips, making it taste better. Molly's Mom tells her about when she hid sardines as a girl and also tells her that while the war has changed things, there are plenty of things that are still the same.

Chapter Two: Hula Dancers
The next chapter begins with Molly, Linda, and Susan walking home from school still discussing their Halloween costumes. They happen to meet up with a classmate named Alison Hargate, who mentions that she's going to be an angel for Halloween. Molly is jealous because she knows that Alison's costume will look perfect on Alison. Molly insists that she and her friends' costume idea is much more original, though they have not decided on it yet.

The girls decide to head to Molly's house to decide, and after getting snacks, they sit on the back porch thinking. It is then that Molly decides she'll bring her Cinderella idea and discuss it with her friends. But her she and her friends get stuck on who's going to be Cinderella, and it's especially when Molly realizes that Susan had a better chance of being Cinderella, that she realizes her idea was unfair. During this time, Ricky jumps in and begins to tease them about their Halloween costumes, giving them suggestion that are meant to make them look funny or ridiculous on Halloween. This angers Molly, but when Molly snaps, Ricky ignores her and tries to show off his basket ball skills to Jill's new best friend Dolores. The girls realize that Ricky has a crush on Dolores and retaliate by teasing Ricky about it. Ricky is infuriated, threatening that he will get them back. He screams, "You'll be sorry! You'll pay for this!" as he speeds off on his bike. The girls continue to laugh, but regain themselves so that they can discuss the costume issue further. In the middle of their suggestions, Molly's mother steps in, realizing that a lot of their ideas are unrealistic for wartime, saying a lot of them needed too much material. She suggests that they became Hawaiian hula dancers, and makes suggestions on how to go about making the costumes. The girls decide to be Hawaiian dancers and make plans to meet up the next afternoon to work on their costumes. They also decide that Linda and Susan will sleep over with Molly so they could talk about their Halloween. By the time Linda and Susan leave and Molly enters the house, she completely forgets about Ricky's threat.

Chapter Three: Trick or Treat?
The girls start making their costumes with Susan's and Molly's mother's help. Although the outfits aren't glamorous as Molly's dream Cinderella costume, she thinks that the skirts make a nice rustling sound. By the time they're done, Molly, Linda, and Susan are excited about Halloween and are happy with their matching hula costumes. Dolores mentions that the girls are as cute as buttons in their costume as she and Jill put paper flowers in their hair. Molly's mother tells the girls she'll take a picture of them for Molly's dad when she comes back from taking Brad trick-or-treating. She mentions that she wants a photo of Ricky too, who dressed up as a pirate as he does every year. The girls go trick-or-treating and run into Allison. Allison's angel costume looks perfect, yet Molly's hula costume manages to make Allison jealous, pleasing Molly. Molly compliments Allison's costume, and thinks it would be fun to trick-or-treat with Allison if her mom didn't always come with her. Mrs. Hargate compliments the girl's costume, and they just smile and run off. Linda says she feels sorry for Allison, and Molly agrees, saying Allison's mom doesn't know that the point of Halloween is to go out with friends instead of parents. The girls don't get much candy due to sugar rations, but they still get lots of treats. Some houses ask them to do a trick before they get their treat, which then the girls do a hula dance, sing a Hawaiian song, and Linda plays a stringless ukulele. Once done trick-or-treating, the girls are about to go through Molly's back door when a hose sprays straight at them. The girls costumes are ruined, along with the candy, and when the water stops, Molly asks who would do such a mean trick. The girls hear Ricky singing "I see London, I see France, I can see your underpants!" and Molly growls that he'll be sorry. Ricky runs off, and the girls stay where they are due to shock. Molly thinks that she shouldn't of teased Ricky about Dolores, but she hasn't expected him to get her back in such a mean way. Linda says she's freezing, and Molly says she'll clean up the mess while her friends go inside. Molly says that they have some major plans to make if they want to get back at Ricky.

Chapter Four: War!
The girls change and talk in Molly's room when Mrs. McIntire calls the girls down for hot chocolate. Susan says they can tell her what Ricky did, but Molly tells her friends not to say anything. Molly says she doesn't want to be a tattle tale, and her mom would go easy on him. Molly's mother notices the girls in their pajamas as they come down and asks what happened to their costumes and their treats. Susan starts to tell Mrs. McIntire that a hose had ruined their costumes, but Molly interrupts Susan to say that they ran into a hose by accident. Mrs. McIntire doubts Molly's story and as Ricky tries to leave the table, she asks him to tell her what happened. Ricky, getting nervous, says that it was just a Halloween joke, and he just got a little water on them. Molly and her friends object to Ricky's last statement loudly, telling Mrs. McIntire the whole story in the process. Molly's mother tells Ricky that his father would be ashamed and he was to give all of his candy to Molly and her friends while only keeping one for himself. As the girls went up to bed, they all agree that Molly's mother was too easy on Ricky and it was up to them to make him really suffer. The girls plan to embarrass Ricky by making him look bad in front of Dolores, though they aren't exactly sure how. Molly has a plan though, and tells her friends they will have to cooperate if they wanted it to work out. The next morning at the breakfast table, Dolores slept over with Jill last night, and the girls begin their plan. Susan asks Mrs. McIntire for three big bags to use for the candy. Linda asks Ricky after breakfast if he would show her how he shoots hoops. When Molly's mother leaves with Brad to mail a letter and Jill and Dolores went to Jill's room, Molly and Susan run into Ricky's room. They start filling up the bags with Ricky's underpants. Once ready, Susan goes into Jill's room to tell the girls that Russ Campbell, a popular senior boy, offered them a ride in his car. As the girls leave, Molly and Susan prepare the bags. When they pass by the window above the hoop, they pour Ricky's underwear over the girls. Jill and Dolores start to laugh at Ricky after their initial shock, Molly and her friends start to laugh, and Ricky tells Molly that it was war now. But Molly's mother was standing in front of the house and is very upset. She punishes everyone, Ricky having to rake the yard, Molly and her friends having to do Ricky's laundry, and Jill and Dolores having to babysit Brad. She tells them that wars start with meanness, anger, and revenge and tells them that she doesn't want to see anymore fighting. As everyone gets to work, Molly and Ricky apologize and make up. As Molly finishes hanging up Ricky's laundry, she thinks how much better it felt not to be fighting.

Items associated with Meet Molly

 * Molly McIntire (doll)
 * Molly's Accessories
 * Molly's Hula Costume

Trivia

 * With the redone covers, Molly is the only character not wearing her meet outfit on the cover.