In 1904, nine-year-old Samantha, an orphan living with her wealthy grandmother, and her servant friend Nellie have a midnight adventure when they try to find out what has happened to the seamstress who suddenly left her job.

Samantha attends Miss Crampton's Academy, a private school for proper young ladies. Samantha wants to win the gold medal in the speaking contest, but she's worried about Nellie, the poor servant girl who has become her friend. If she can teach Nellie to read, maybe the boys and girls at school will stop calling Nellie "dummy" and "ragbag." Samantha sets up a school in Grandmary's tower room and becomes Nellie's teacher. But Nellie teaches Samantha some very important lessons, too.

The two weeks before Christmas are filled with activity as Samantha finishes her homemade presents and makes peparations for visiting relatives

When Samantha's tenth birthday party is spoiled by the boy next door, Aunt Cornelia and her young twin sisters try to ease Samantha's disappointment by inviting her and Grandmary to visit them in New York City.

While spending the summer at Grandmary's home on Goose Lake, Samantha and the twins Agnes and Agatha decide to visit the island where Samantha's parents were drowned during a storm.

Times change for Samantha when she moves to New York City to live with Uncle Gard and Aunt Cornelia. They change for Nellie, Samantha's servant friend in Mount Bedford, too. But Nellie's changes aren't as happy as Samantha's and Nellie has to find work again. When her friend disappears, Samantha thinks Nellie has been lost forever, But after a long and scary search, Samantha finds Nellie in a New York orphanage. The orphanage is not a good place for Nellie, so the girls plan a daring escape.

When Samantha planned a party, she never planned on leaving her best friend, Nellie, out. In Samantha's Winter Party, Samantha and her friends plan a party with a gift exchange. But Nellie can't afford to buy presents. Find out how Nellie manages to surprise them anyway! \—- After you read Samantha's story, learn how to make snow candles just like Samantha and Nellie might have made. \-from the back cover Also includes a section on ice skating in the early 1900s.

Fans of The American Girls Collection will love these beautiful nonfiction books. Each offers new perspectives on the past as it really was during the times of the American Girls—from major historical events to the details of everyday life. Filled with exquisite photos, illustrations, and cutaway scenes, these large-format books also feature letters and diaries of real girls and women, boys and men, that bring the voices of yesterday to life for today's readers.

A collection of crafts and recipes, which Samantha, a girl of the early 1900s, might have used to celebrate Christmas.

Boxed in an attractive slipcase, this set features all six Samantha Parkington stories. Readers love these stories of this privileged Victorian girl who befriends a servant girl.