Image from the Kit Kittredge website downloadable wallpapers. This website has lots of fun things for kids to do on it, including crafts, recipes and party ideas in the 'Kits World' section.

Well, she’d want her parents to take her to see Kit Kittredge: An American Girl.

The film is based on the American Girl line of dolls, books and many, many accessories. Each doll is from a different historical period, and the stories reflect what’s going on in American history from a young girls point of view.

Kit Kittredge is about 10 years old and she’s growing up during the Great Depression. Kit’s dream is to become a reporter. She writes stories each day on her little Underwood typewriter about what happened at home, and gives them to her father. Then, her father loses his car dealership overnight, and leaves Cincinnati and the family behind to find work. Kit’s stories start to be about things beyond the minutia of everyday life. The family next door loses their house to foreclosure.

The Kittredge family decides to take in boarders in order to pay the mortgage. Each boarder is interesting, but the real meat of the story comes from the “hobos” who come to the door looking for work in exchange for food. They take Kit and her friends to the Hobo Village where they find out that behind the poverty and homelessness are good people just trying to survive. Kit writes the story and takes it to the city newspaper. The editor refuses to publish it because it’s not what the people of Cincinnati want to hear. They think all hobos are thieves, and the editor tells her no.

When a rash of thefts hit town, everyone blames the hobos, but Kit continues to piece things together behind the scenes and ultimately saves the day.

Historically, films that star little girls, or have women as the leads don’t do too well at the box office. And that’s really too bad. Because the next thing you know people and groups are complaining that Hollywood isn't making family-friendly movies anymore. Violence, Goth and horror fill the screens and they get tired of it. But then they need to ask themselves: Who did you take to see the family friendly movies when they were in your theatre?

The bottom line is, the film industry is a business and the public decides what kind of films will be made when they chose or don’t chose to go to a movie. They vote with their pocketbooks. If they want family films, they need to actually to go family films. And Kit Kittredge An American Girl is well worth the price of a ticket. I had to dab tears from the corner of my eyes as the film ended. So what if it’s a little “sugar coated.” Isn’t that what childhood SHOULD be all about?

So, even if you don’t have a little girl or boy, the find a neighbor child, niece, nephew, grandchild, whatever, head to the theatre, and place your vote.

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