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Full Speed Ahead: My Journey with Kit is a My Journey Book that focuses on Kit Kittredge.

Characters

Only in Full Speed Ahead

  • Lucille[3]
  • Mrs. Schultz
  • Mr. Birdseye
  • Lucias
  • Mrs. Finch
  • Ginger Rogers
  • Ann
  • Mrs. Littlefield
  • Eli Littlefield

Present Characters

  • Protagonist: A girl who travels back into the past with a camera she finds in her suitcase. The protagonist wants a pet, though her Mom believe she isn't responsible enough to take care of one. She lives in a high-rise apartment building with her Mom, at the top floor. Her room is really messy as the protagonist isn't well-organized. She collects old and vintage clothing, choosing to either keep certain clothing items as they are or cut apart and reassemble them into something new. She's addressed by Kit as Lulu.
  • Mom: Protagonist's mom. Mom believes that her daughter's not ready to own a pet.
  • Isabel: Protagonist's best friend. She lives in a small house with her big family and has a pet rabbit named Pippa.
  • Sophie: Protagonist's teenage babysitter.
  • Harry Sharma: A boy at Protagonist's school. He attended a science day camp with the protagonist, who views him as being a jerk.

Opening and Potential Plot Events

The protagonist receives a picture of Isabel's pet rabbit on her phone. She calls her and expresses her desire for a pet, though her mom believes she isn't responsible enough to care for one. Isabel insists that she had been responsible and asks if the protagonist had started her essay, discussing the most important idea she learned during the summer. After talking to Isabel, the protagonist wanders in the kitchen and, after waving to Sophie, turns on the kitchen light. She admires the surrounding view before opening the refrigerator, finding a dish wrapped in plastic and a note from Mom. She then returns to her bedroom, sits on the floor with her laptop (as her desk is too messy) and attempts to begin her essay. Feeling cold from the air conditioning, the protagonist grabs coat from her project suitcase, which is filled with old clothes.

In her suitcase she also finds an old camera and, after peering through the viewing slot, presses the shutter button. The protagonist then find herself on the Kittredge's front lawn with a golden retriever puppy next to her and meets Kit. The protagonist adopts the name "Lulu" and, after telling Kit her desire for a pet, names the golden retriever puppy "Buddy".

After this opening, events vary according to choices made.

  • As Lucille, the protagonist and Kit board the trolley. After Buddy separates from the girls, the protagonist can either run after him or stay behind on the trolley with Kit.
  • As Lucille, the protagonist and Kit pay a visit to Uncle Hendrick. Upon receiving an invitation to stay with Hendrick, the protagonist can either accept it or decline to stay with the Kittredges.
  • As Lucille, the protagonist and Kit enter Uncle Hendrick's house to retrieve Lucille's suitcase. When a neighbor catches them and mistakes them for hoboes, the girls can either run away or be escorted to the hobo jungle.
  • As Lucille, the protagonist accompanies Kit to the soup kitchen. They meet Mrs. Schultz and distribute their donation of clothes between four girls.
  • As a hobo, the protagonist assists Kit in the garden, watering the plants and protecting Kit from a copperhead snake.
  • As a hobo, the protagonist and Kit visit the hobo jungle and are chased by a man who accuses them of theft; they board a boxcar and travel to Kentucky, where they're caught and can either be escorted to a jail or run away and do some work at a general store. Online endings include visiting Mountain Hollow and either organizing a swap party or distributing books to local residents.
  • As a hobo, the protagonist alters an old dress for Kit, which Kit greatly appreciates.

Regardless of the ending that is arrived at, the protagonist eventually returns to her own time using the camera, and returns at the exact moment she left. She makes proper goodbyes to Kit and often others she has encountered, and generally says she has to go back to her family. The protagonist returns with a new-found appreciation of her life. This often includes feelings of gratitude for her mother, appreciating her own privilege, and learning how to become responsible.

About Kit's Time

Discusses life in America during the Great Depression. Topics covered:

  • Ways people were affected by the Depression, with millions being put out of work and people not being able to afford food, clothing and other essentials.
  • Hoboes and tramps, people who wandered the country in search of work or a place to live, and why more than half of them were youths.
  • The use of symbols, marked on houses, fences and sidewalks, by hoboes to inform other hoboes what they may find.
  • The dangers hoboes face when they snuck onto trains and "rode the rails", such as jumping on or off while a train was moving or facing violent railroad guards.
  • Ways hoboes were assisted by other people, giving them food and payment in exchange for clothes, or handing down unneeded clothing.
  • Franklin Roosevelt, who launched new programs as part of his 'New Deal" after being elected as the president in 1932.
  • The skeptics who didn't approve of President Roosevelt or his programs, and Roosevelt's later success by being re-elected three more times.

References

  1. The Protagonist finds a newspaper dated September 1, 1933.
  2. Jack Kittredge introduces the Protagonist to Charlie and says he's returned home on leave from the Civilian Conservation Corps. Charlie spent the summer of 1933 working at Glacier National Park with the CCC in Kit Saves the Day.
  3. This is an identity the unnamed protagonist can take on if the reader chooses to do so.
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