Kit Kittredge
Cincinnati, OH – 1934
Kit Kittredge is a resourceful, quick-witted tomboy growing up in Cincinnati during the Great Depression. She has no patience for anything flouncy, and would much rather be at a baseball game cheering on the Cincinnati Reds or reading her worn copy of The Adventures of Robin Hood. More than anything, she dreams of becoming a reporter, and her favorite place in the world is the newsroom of the Cincinnati Register. When her father loses his job and the family turns their home into a boarding house, Kit chafes at the endless chores and the loss of the life she knew. Still, she meets hard times with cleverness and a can-do spirit, learning to see the boarders as family and to speak up for the causes she cares about. She’s spunky and straightforward—sometimes too straightforward, blurting out things she doesn’t mean—but she’s also funny and warm, a bright light in the dark days of the Great Depression.
Ruthie Smithens is Kit’s loyal and warm-hearted best friend. A dreamy romantic at heart, she adores princesses, movie stars, and fairy tales, and she’s forever quoting Grimm and the Color Fairy Books as proof that things always turn out happily in the end. Because her father keeps his job at the bank, Ruthie’s family is largely spared the hardships of the Great Depression, and she’s able to continue her dance, tennis, and horseback riding lessons. Her idealism sometimes gets the better of her—she can be tactless when trying to cheer Kit up—and she’s even a little envious of the bustle and excitement of Kit’s boarding house compared to her own quiet home. But for all their differences, Ruthie is a courageous and generous friend, always finding ways to help the Kittredges without wounding their pride, and she happily lends a hand with Kit’s homemade newspaper, the Hard Times News.
Books
Central Series
- Meet Kit
- Kit Learns a Lesson
- Kit’s Surprise
- Happy Birthday, Kit!
- Kit Saves the Day
- Changes for Kit
Best Friend Book
- Really Truly Ruthie
Short Stories
- Kit’s Home Run
- Kit’s Tree House
- Kit’s Winning Ways
- Kit Uses Her Head
- Kit and Millie Ridge Again
Mysteries
- Danger at the Zoo
- Midnight in Lonesome Hollow
- A Thief in the Theater
- Missing Grace
- Intruders at Rivermead Manor
- The Jazzman’s Trumpet
- Menace at Mammoth Cave
More Information
In 2008, American Girl released a movie, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl. At this time, they also released Ruthie as a Best Friend doll with her limited collection.
When BeForever was introduced in 2014, they turned Kit’s six Central Series stories into two books: Read All About It!: A Kit Classic Volume 1 and Turning Things Around: A Kit Classic Volume 2. The first volume included modified versions of the first three stories of the Central Series, and the second volume included modified versions of the last three stories. In addition, they released a special choose-your-own-adventure book, Full Speed Ahead: My Journey with Kit.
When BeForever ended in 2019, they repackaged the stories again into two books: Read All About It! and Turning Things Around.The first book included abridged and modified versions of the first three stories of the Central Series, while the second book included abridged and modified versions of the last three.
For more details about Kit’s books, or to see additional versions of books, please see the Official Fandom Page for Kit’s books.