An American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong

An American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong
Directed by	Martha Coolidge
Starring	Sammi Hanratty Austin Thomas Kaitlyn Dever Adair Tishler Ariela Barer Shelby Harmon
Release dates	January 5, 2009 (USA) November 20, 2009 (Canada)
Running time	91 minutes

An American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong is the fifth film in the American Girl series, starring Sammi Hanratty and Adair Tishler. It is based on the Chrissa books in the American Girl range written by Valerie Tripp.

The screenplay was written by Christine Coyle Johnson and Julie Prendiville Roux. The movie was directed by Martha Coolidge. It won a 2009 Gold Award from National Parenting Publications (NAPPA)

Plot

Chrissa Maxwell and her family move to the fictional town of Edgewater, Minnesota from Iowa in order to be closer to her "Nana". Chrissa, a fourth grade girl, starts school on the day before Valentine's Day but her efforts to make new friends are stalled by the Queen Bees,(rather known as the Mean Bees.) d a clique of three girls who rule the grade by intimidation. The "Queen of the Mean Bees", Tara James, taunts Chrissa and convinces fellow Bee Sonali Matthews to steal Chrissa's valentines (which Sonali later returns and gets punished for a month.).

Chrissa attempts to befriend Gwen Thompson, a shy, lonely, unpopular girl who is also bullied by the Bees. Although Gwen is at first aloof, the girls gradually become friendly. At a fundraiser for the local homeless shelter, Chrissa finds out that Gwen is homeless; Chrissa is sworn to secrecy but the girls become closer as a consequence. Meanwhile, Sonali is starting to be friendlier with Chrissa but is still more loyal to Tara.Chrissa becomes friends with Sonali and Tara warns her that if she is friends with her she will be kicked out of the club but Sonali says she doesn't care if she isn't in the club.

The Bees find out Gwen's secret by eavesdropping and catch up to them in the girls' bathroom when Gwen is trying to get Chrissa to cut her bangs. Tara convinces her to let her cut them saying her mom works in a salon. Tara then chops off Gwen's bangs, saying "Now you really look like a homeless person". Gwen leaves the school for some days and the other four girls are sent to the principal's office. Sonali tells the truth which causes Tara to be suspended for 3 days while Jadyn Johnson, another mean bee, and Sonali get suspended for a day. The next day, Sonali finally apologizes to Gwen,telling her that Chrissa did not tell the queen bee's and Sonali leaves the queen bee's.

After this incident, the bullying gets more intense. In the girls' locker room there are flyers with Chrissa's face on a llama's body. Chrissa finds a message on the swim team message board she knows Tara put up, "Ask Chrissa about her contagious skin disease. Should we be swimming in the same water as her?" and Tyler ends up hitting his head, but not getting a concussion (in the book he did get a concussion), because Tara was telling him that he couldn't do a dive called "the super corkscrew". Chrissa quits the swim team after this but then returns for the big meet.

During the meet, Chrissa realizes she and Tara have to work together on the relay. Although Tara is reluctant, Chrissa assures her that even though they may not ever be friends, they can still work together to win—which they do. After the race they hug.

The final scene in the movie is "the big fourth grade project" about bullying. Each character makes a short speech about ending bullying; the movie closes on a summer scene where Chrissa, Sonali, and Gwen are going to lake Chandler to swim with Chrissa's old friend Colleena from Iowa.

Characters

Chrissa Maxwell (Sammi Hanratty) - Chrissa is the main protagonist of the movie. A fourth grader who moved with her family to Minnesota from Iowa to live with her grandmother. She is a heartfelt, truthful girl, but is afraid to stand up for herself at the beginning of the movie because she is so put down by the Mean Bees. Like her dad she has to "test the waters" before she dives in-coming across as shy. She is compassionate, bold, kind,honest, and wants to do what's right. Chrissa has a love for llamas and can "swim like a fish."

Tyler Maxwell (Austin Thompson) - Tyler is Chrissa's older brother. He is very popular, good at making friends, and never seems to expect that anyone will try to hurt him. Tyler never suspects anyone to bully or intimidate him. Tyler eventually leads him into trouble when Tara convinces him that she is the only one who can do a special dive, and when he tries, he hits his head on the board and almost gets a concussion.

Gwen Thompson (Kaitlyn Dever) - Gwendolyn [Gwen] is a former homeless girl who lives with her single mother. She is very reserved because she does not want anyone to find out her secret. Gwen has reddish blond long hair and is very good at the violin. She and Chrissa become friends, but Gwen turns against her when she believes that Chrissa told Tara her secret. Later Sonali tells her Tara, she, and Jadyn were eavesdropping and therefore Gwen becomes Chrissa's friend again.

Tara James (Adair Tishler) - Tara is a popular bully and the "queen" of the Mean Bees. She appears very innocent after she does something wrong and can seem very intimidating. Tara is the best swimmer in the class until Chrissa comes; Sonali and Jaydn do whatever she says. She has a cell phone and refers to Chrissa and Gwen as "Loser 1 and Loser 2".She bullies to feel good of herself after being bullied.

Sonali Matthews (Arielle Barer) - Sonali is one of the "Mean Bees" who eventually turns over to Chrissa's side. She secretly doesn't like what Tara does but is afraid of what will happen if she stands up. Sonali, like Tara, has a pink cell phone; according to the books her mother is Indian and her father is American. She has black-brown hair and dark-brown eyes.

Jadyn Johnson (Shelby Harmon) - Jadyn is the backup for Tara, she regards Tara with near-worship and will do whatever she says, Jadyn has a darker golden blond hair color, she has a cell phone (it is drawn in art) but it is never shown, Jadyn, of all the girls, is not developed much in the plot.