American Girls

[osprey_archer]

One of our volunteers gave me an American Girl holiday catalog! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE I love these catalogs - they're so much fun to peruse, never mind I was never much enthused about physical dolls, and the holiday one is EXTRA THICK.

And they have dolls with curly hair now! And short hair! And freckles!

Also there are NEW BOOKS. Kaya, a Native American girl from 1764! Julie and Ivy (who is Chinese-American) from the 70s! Marie-Grace and Cecile from New Orleans in the 1850s! (American Girl has apparently realized that one can write a single series about a pair of best friends and sell twice the dolls for the same amount of work. The motive may be base and commercial but I approve of friendship.) Rebecca, a Jewish girl from 1914! (But they got rid of Samantha to make way for her. I don't approve of that at all! And Felicity and Kirsten are also missing.)

I totally want to read their books, but I think American Girl books are not the kind of thing one can profitably read as an adult. WOE.

...I am probably too old to have tea at the American Girl store, too. EVEN THOUGH THERE IS ONE AT THE MALL OF AMERICA. I COULD TOTALLY GET MY AUNT TO TAKE ME THERE.

Comments

[silksieve.livejournal.com]

They retired Samantha (and the others)! It's TRAGIC. They were my favorites growing up. I also remember getting the catalogs and reading them like magazines. :)

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I KNOW. I just can't believe they retired Felicity - that means they don't have a Revolutionary War girl! Don't they NEED a Revolutionary War girl if they're going to teach young girls American history through the medium of dolls???

And yes. The catalogs were (and are!) hours of entertainment. Did you know they've started having a doll of the year every year now? This year she's a Hawaiian girl named Kanani with hair down to her knees.

[entwashian.livejournal.com]

One of my flisters is doing a giant re-read of all American Girls books. She was planning on doing a big analysis thing at the end, but I haven't seen her post anything about it in a while. (Of course, a big move from one state to another will do that to a person's pet projects!)

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

WHO IS THIS? I must meet her. I feel we would have much in common.

[entwashian.livejournal.com]

mizzmarvel. Probably, as she is quite awesome.

We went to school together on & off from kindergarten through high school, but we only became friends, like, 3 months into our senior year of high school.

[exuberantself.livejournal.com]

Man, I loved the America Girl series. Between them and the Mandie books, I don't think I read anything else for years.

I never really got into the dolls though. I was all offended because someone commercialized my books. ...I was young and naive, what can I say?

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I was never a big fan of the actual, physical dolls either. Somehow they just weren't as appealing as the photographed versions in the catalog!

Did the dolls come first, or the books? Or were they born together?

[exuberantself.livejournal.com]

Because I can't stand for a question to go unanswered...

The original three American Girls (Samantha, Kirsten and Molly) were introduced as 18 inch dolls in 1986 and were accompanied by elaborate background stories in the form of these books. Answer: They were born together. [ I didn't actually know that or anything. primary source (http://curtdanhauser.com/AG_Collecting/Main.html) ]

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Now that is going above and beyond the call of duty. Thank you!