Kit’s Hero by Colleen O.

Having a father can be the best experience ever. Just ask nine-year-old Kit Kittredge. To her, her dad is the best person in the whole wide world. He smothers her with love, he gave her her beloved nickname, and he always does his best to support Kit’s dreams of becoming a reporter.

Jack Kittredge runs a car dealership during the midst of the Great Depression. With it, he’s always been able to support his family in style. But as the Depression worsens every day, not many people are able to afford the luxury that is now a car. Finally, after fighting the inevitable for who knows how long, Jack has no choice but to close down his business, leaving him and his family with no source of income.

The loss of her father’s job is only the first of many changes in Kit’s life. In order to keep themselves afloat, Kit’s mother turns their big, luxurious home into a boarding house, where strangers rent rooms and live there indefinitely.

Kit and Ruthie in treehouse — Kit and Ruthie in Kit’s tree house, built by her dad.

To make room, Kit make move to the attic, as well as do chores and help serve meals to keep the borders happy. She is irritated by all this, and wishes for things to return to normal.

But her world comes to a screeching halt when she sees her dad, her hero, collecting food at a soup kitchen like a beggar, and she finally realizes how dire her family’s situation is. Kit is desperate to keep her father at home with her, instead of leaving to look for a job far away and never returning, as her friend Stirling’s father had. Then she comes up with a great plan.

She creates WANTED ads in her own newspaper, ads that will help get in more borders, more money, and help Dad realize how much more he could help at home, even if he may not yet have a job. With her writing and Stirling’s illustrations, the plan is a success, and Kit learns to be grateful for her mother’s plan, for the borders…and especially for her dad’s presence at home.