Happy Birthday, Molly!

Happy Birthday, Molly! is the fourth book in the Molly series.

Facts

 * Authors: Valerie Tripp
 * Illustrators: Nick Backes
 * First Published: 1987
 * Setting: April 1944; Jefferson, Illinois

Characters

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

Only in Happy Birthday, Molly!

 * Emily Bennett

Chapter One: Guess What?
Molly is skipping rope at the end of her driveway one windy spring day waiting for her friends Linda and Susan to show up because she has excitting news for them. Finally Molly spots them. Linda is walking quickly bent into the wind with her hands shoved in her pockets. Susan is walking much slower and cracking the ice over the puddles on the side of the road. Molly calls to them and then both hurry to meet her. When they arrive Molly tells them an English girl is coming to stay with the McIntires. She explains that the girl lives in London and was sent to America to be safe from the bombings. She is suppose to be staying with her aunt until the war is over but her aunt is sick with pneumonia. The girl will be staying with the McIntires until the aunt is well. Molly is very excited about this because it means the girl will be here for her birthday. The girls debate what the girl will look like and why she is coming to America now. Susan declares that the girl will look like a princess like the English princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose. Susan then asks when the girl will be coming. Molly tells them that it will be today and Linda and Susan become very excited. They go inside to play in their pretend bomb shelter which is a table with a blanket over the top of it in the basement. the idea for the bomb shelter came from a newsreel the three girls saw at the movies a few weeks back. While in the shelter the girls continue to discuss the English girl and what she will be like and the idea of being in a bomb shelter for a long period of time. As they talk Ricky comes along and bounces a basket ball on top of the table. The girls are only mildly annoyed at him because the basket ball makes it very easy to pretend there are real bombs going off. Ricky argues with the girls about the difference between their pretend shelter and the real ones. As they argue Mrs. McIntire comes in with the English girl and calls them up to introduce them. They rush up the stairs to meet the new girl but are disappointed when they see her. Mrs. McIntire introduces everyone to Emily Bennett. Emily is very shy and very skinny. She keeps her eyes on the floor most of the time and only says "how do you do?" when introduced to Molly and the others. Molly and the others take Emily up to Molly's room. She makes room in her dresser and closet for Emily's things and watches her unpack. Emily is very neat and tidy and does not have a lot of clothes. Molly struggles to come up with something to say to Emily. Finally she takes Emily down the basement to show her the pretend bomb shelter. Emily is not impressed and hurries back up the stairs. When Molly follows her she finds her mom instead. Mrs. McIntire suggest the Molly leave Emily alone for awhile and tells her to try her best to be friends with her. Molly agrees but doubts it will work out in the end.

Chapter Two: The Blackout
Over the next few days Molly does her best to try and become friends with Emily. Molly even shows Emily her most treasured possession, her nuse doll Katharine which Dad sent over for Christmas. Molly explains that Katharine is dressed just like the nurses in the hospitals in England. Emily tells Molly that nurses take care of small children while sisters work in the hospitals. Molly jokingly says she has always wanted Katharine to be her sister. Emily does not get the joke and simply hands the doll back to Molly. When Emily comes to school all the girls in the class are very impressed with Emily's accent and imitate it all day. At recess Susan asks Emily if her house was ever bombed. Emily says no but Susan persists and asks Emily if she has ever seen a house bombed. Emily becomes very quiet and answers yes after a period of time. When Linda asks if it was exciting Emily becomes very frosty and says that she can't remember. All the girls become rather shocked at this and Emily becomes quiet again. Finally Molly convinces everyone to play jump rope in the sun. At school everyone begins to ignore Emily because she is so quiet and they all consider her to be a huge disappointment. While walking home from school one spring afternoon Molly, Linda and Susan discuss Emily and Molly's birthday. Molly tells them that Emily is out visiting her aunt at the hospital and Mom is taking her shopping. Linda and Susan agree that at least Emily isn't stuck up but she is very quiet. The conversation turns towards Molly's tenth birthday which is coming up. Molly tells her friends that Mrs. Gilford is making a special birthday cake without eggs, or butter or milk. She has also saved up enough sugar and chocolate rations to make chocolate frosting. All the girls imagine the cake for a while. Later at home Mrs. McIntire and Emily return as they are eating dinner Mrs. McIntire brings up the subject of Molly's birthday. As Molly begins to explain what type of party she wants the air raid siren goes off. Ricky is very excited about the siren and rushes down to the basement. Mrs. McIntire gives orders to everyone and the family meets in the basement. While the blackout is a fun game to the McIntire children Emily does not see it as that. She wraps herself up in a blanket and sits in a dark corner of the basement until Molly comes over to talk to her. Emily is crying and tells Molly how much she hates these drills and how scary they are in England. She explains that house you walk past everyday are gone after a bombing and if you are on the street you have to make a dash to the "tube" or the subway. Emily tells Molly that she is worried about her parents in London and feels like a coward for leaving. Molly tells Emily that she is worried about her dad too, and that Emily is the bravest person she knows after her dad. The topic turns to the English Princesses and how they had to leave London as well. Emily tells Molly that she has a scrapbook of them and that she will show it to her after the blackout. When the all clear siren blows the girls hurry up to Molly's room. Molly says "Let's go" and smiles at Emily. Emily smiles back.

Chapter Three: The Princesses
Molly and Emily are in Molly's room looking at the pictures of the princesses in Emily's scrapbook. Emily points out that when the princesses were younger they use to dress alike. Molly jumps up and exclaims that they could do that too. They both have blue sweaters, skirts white blouses and knee socks. The girls dress in matching outfits and pretend to be the princesses. They even realize that Molly's name starts with M like Margaret Rose and Emily is like Elizabeth. Molly shares that before Emily arrived, she would look like Princess Elizabeth. Emily grins and shares that she thought Molly would look like Shirley Temple. Molly pulls her braids and comments her hair is more like long brown sticks then bond ringlets. Even though Emily compliments Molly's hair, Molly sighs that her hair doesn't help her look like a movie star or a princess. "Of course, if I really wanted to be like one of the princesses, I would have to get a dog." Molly beings to pretend she and Emily are the English princesses walking their dogs. As the two leave, the girls bump into Ricky in the hall. Ricky teases the girls on their same outfits and Molly tells Emily to ignore him. But Emily was looking at the poster of fighter planes Ricky was tacking up on his door. Emily notes that he has one incorrect and fixes it for Ricky. He is embarrassed and asks "What does a girl know about fighter planes anyway?" Emily shares that she had seen hundreds of fighter planes flying over England and Ricky, who had never even seen one fighter plane, is impressed. Emily shares some information on how to tell apart the planes and Ricky snaps he knows that. He takes down his poster and without turning around, asks Emily if she sees any more mistakes. Emily says she'll look at his poster more carefully later. The girls play out front and pretend they are the princesses of England and they walk imaginary dogs. Molly pretends her dog is frisky while Emily's dog is quiet and well-behaved. Molly mentions how she likes dogs and how much fun it is to play with them and Emily agrees. But when Molly mentions how a dog can really be your friend, Emily quickly move a few steps ahead of Molly, her imaginary dog pulling her leash. For the next few days, everyone gets used to the girls sharing the same outfits and walking their imaginary dogs. The girls share a single pair of roller skates and Molly apologizes she can't get another pair for Emily. Emily says she doesn't mind, reminding Molly that the two are princesses and princesses never complain about the sacrifices they have to make. The two go up the driveway of Molly's house and pass by Molly's Mom. Mrs. McIntire, working out front, asks Molly what she wants to do for her birthday party. Molly isn't sure, mentioning she wanted to do something different this year, and asks Elizabeth how she celebrates birthdays. Emily mentions she would have a tea party and Molly immediately loves the idea. Mrs. McIntire mentions that Emily can tell them exactly how to have a tea party and Emily glows. She mentions she hadn't had a big birthday party since the war started as it was impossible to get special foods. Emily gives a quick description of her last big party and Molly mentions how it's just like what a princess would do. Molly announces her birthday party will be the princesses' tea party and invites Emily to share her birthday, to make up for all of the years Emily missed. Emily blushes and says it would be very nice and the two girls are pleased.

Chapter Four: Planning the Party
The next day, Molly and Emily are planning out what to write on their invitations. Emily shows how the English write their invitations. Molly finds it wonderful, commenting on how English it is, and Emily smiles. Molly says that the only problem is that none of her friends really drink tea so she says they should offer cocoa instead. Emily says that in England it's always real tea and offers that her friends could put in a lot of milk and honey so her friends will like it. Molly mentions that at most birthday parties they have cold milk with peanut butter sandwiches or hot dogs. Emily shakes her head, saying in England they have tea sandwiches. Molly thinks tea sandwiches sound okay and asks what's usually in them. Emily explains they their put meat paste or watercress and explains to Molly what meat paste is. Molly doesn't think her friends won't probably like the meat paste, leading to Emily sighing they'll just have to have bread and margarine. Molly says that mostly everyone eats ice cream and cake at birthdays and Emily says English tea parties don't have ice cream. Molly is surprised at the lack of ice cream even at a birthday tea party, and asks if they only have plain old cake. Emily says that a tea party would have a special cake, something like lemon tarts. Not liking the sound of the tarts, Molly tells Emily that her favorite part of birthdays is the big layer cake and says how Mrs. Gilford saved enough cocoa ration for chocolate frosting. She offers to make the cake shape into something British related like a castle, but Emily says that it wouldn't be a proper English Princesses' tea party at all. Molly gives up, telling Emily as long as she's sure lemon tarts is what the princesses would have. The two go tell Mrs. McIntire about the food while Molly thinks that the tea party wasn't such a great idea. The girls at school however, love the idea and all week long they talked about Emily's tea party. Everyone envies Molly for having Emily tell her how everything is done in England and thus Molly thinks she must be lucky if everyone is jealous. The night before the party, the two girls blow up balloons and make party hats. Molly reminds Emily they'll have to make themselves crowns. When Emily asks the purpose of the crowns, Molly says it's to make sure everyone can tell they're princesses. Emily laughs softly and tells Molly she's thinking of fairy tale princesses, not the English ones. Stubbornly, Molly reminds Emily there was pictures of the princesses wearing them in her scrapbook. Emily explains the crown was used for special occasions, and it wasn't something they'd wear to a tea party. Molly, disappointed, mentions at least she'll have a nice party dress from last year. Emily explains that the princesses would have dressed as normal for a tea party and Molly can't take any more. She states that she won't wear her old school clothes to her birthday and when Emily tries to explain what the Princesses do, Molly says she doesn't care. Emily says that they won't look like princesses, but Molly doesn't care. Emily then says they then won't look the same and Molly realizes Emily doesn't have a party dress. Feeling bad for Emily, Molly says they'll wear normal clothes. The two continue to decorate the dining room and the radio from the living room turns on. Molly sings "My country 'tis of thee..." along with the music and hears Emily softly singing "God save our noble king..". Molly tells Emily that it's an American song and the lyrics are 'My country 'tis of thee'. Emily disagrees, saying it's a British song. The two start to fight about it, Emily saying it's the English national anthem. Molly says now it's an American song, but Emily says it was a British song first. She comments "You Americans think everything in the world belongs to you." and the fighting continues until Ricky tells the girls he wants to listen to his program. The two are quiet and Molly throws her sweater on the floor. Mrs. McIntire tells Molly not to throw around her clothes like that, asking why can't she take care of her things like Emily. Molly flings her sweater onto a chair and the only voice in the room is the radio. The radio mentions how it's up to the Americans to save England and the rest of the world from Hitler when Emily states it's not true. She blushes from everyone's looks and explains how she's tired of hearing how America is winning the war when England had been fighting longer. Molly says that the radio is still true, as American soldiers are stronger and England can't win the war without America. Emily huffs how Americans have to have everything their own way and how they think they're so important. Molly says they are important when Mrs. McIntire interrupts the rights and reminds them that England and America are allies. She says the girls are tired and tells the two to go to bed. The two girls are too angry to look at each other and as Molly gets ready for bed, she thinks how her birthday party was turning into Emily's tea party. She throws a candy cup she made earlier on the ground and Emily exclaims that Molly will ruin the candy cup. Molly doesn't care, saying how everything is already ruined thanks to Emily. She tells Emily she doesn't want milky tea or lemon tarts, nor does she want to wear ugly clothes. Emily tells Molly all she ever worries about is food and clothes, nothing important. She tells Molly she doesn't know what a real war is like or even what's real. Emily tells Molly that she's just a spoiled child who has to have everything her own way. Molly is insulted, saying that she was sharing her whole birthday with Emily. She tells Emily that if England's so great, she should just go back. Emily goes underneath her covers and Molly thinks she hear some sniffles, but she's too mad to care. As she tries to go to sleep, Molly decides she's not giving in to Emily anymore and she'll tell her mom she's having a normal American birthday party and Emily's not invited.

Chapter Five: Yank and Bennett
On her birthday, Molly usually woke up early and happy. But after the fight with Emily last night, Molly woke up unhappy. The weather was gray and cloudy and Molly thinks how it doesn't look like a very happy birthday. Molly feels bad about the things she said to Emily and wonders how did everything get so mixed up. Molly looks at Emily's empty, perfectly made bed and Emily comes back from the bathroom. She looked away hurriedly when she saw Molly was awake, and Molly thought Emily looked sorry too. Molly tries to think what her dad would have done and realizes how much she needs her dad. Molly is sure that her dad would have said no party was half as important as a friend's feelings. Molly is about to apologize when the door swings open and Mom and Brad come shouting happy birthday. Mom gives the two girls a hug and tells Jill and Ricky they can come in now. The two come into the room, holding puppies in their arms. Molly is happy, saying they're perfect. Mom explains they thought the two princesses deserved real puppies and Ricky adds that the girls can stop acting like they're nuts when talking to their imaginary puppies. Everyone laughs and Molly thanks her family as she plays with her puppy. Emily thanks Mrs. McIntire and Mom says they'll leave them to their puppies as they prepare a royal breakfast for the two. Molly's puppy starts licking her and Molly tells Emily to look. Emily cuddles her puppy and murmurs that it's been so long. Molly asks what Emily means and Emily explains she used to have a dog. She says that she didn't tell Molly before because her dog was killed a year ago when it was trapped under a building that was hit by a bomb. Molly hugs her puppy and tells Emily that she's sorry. The two dogs start to play with each other and Molly tells Emily she does think some of the things Emily said last night were right. She says that the war has been harder for Emily while it hasn't been real for Molly. Emily says she wasn't completely right, saying how she's only been away from her parents a few weeks while Molly has been away from her father for two years. She tells Molly she knows she misses him very much and the war is hard for Molly too. Emily's dog starts to growl as it yanks Emily's bathrobe sash off and Molly comments her dog is a tough little fighter. She asks what she's going to name her dog and Emily says she'll call him Yank because it's a good American dog. Molly shares that she'll name her dog Bennett after her good English friend. The two smile at each other. Molly mentions how everyone at the party will know they're really princesses with their new puppies, even if they aren't wearing crowns and long dresses. Mrs. McIntire then comes into again and playfully scolds the girls that if they weren't such lazybones, they would have found another birthday surprise in their closet. Molly takes a look and finds two matching pinafores. Emily gasps that they're lovely and Molly gives her mother a hug. The two girls thank Mrs. McIntire. Molly's Mom tells the girls to put on their play clothes and come down for breakfast as they have a lot to do before their birthday tea party. Emily picks up her puppy and smiles at Molly. Emily says she thinks this is a very happy birthday and Molly agrees.

Looking Back: Growing Up in 1944
The article explains what childhood was like in the 40's, including:
 * The use of practical nurses to help raise a baby
 * Kids getting vaccination shots to stay healthy.
 * Some kids in other countries were evacuated to America, where it was safe.
 * Stories and radio programs kids enjoyed during the war
 * What teenagers did and how they got money
 * Choices a girl could have when she graduated high school.

Items associated with Happy Birthday, Molly!

 * Party Pinafore and Birthday Crown
 * Bennett the Puppy
 * Chrome Table and Chairs
 * China Tea Set
 * Molly's Party Treats
 * Party Games