osprey_archer | Brave Emily

I finished my grading! And thus I treated myself to Brave Emily, the American Girl book about Molly’s British friend. Emily is very British indeed. Indeed, “indeed” is one of her favorite words, as is quite. Emily is so terribly adorably English, I’m pretty sure that Anglophilia is one of the virtues that American Girl wishes to impart.

I’ve been puzzling, actually, over how to sum up what messages American Girl does wish to impart: it’s an important part of the company identity that they do have a message, but how to sum it up without letting it take over my paper?

Then I realized (through the kind offices of

asakiyume that American Girl thoughtfully attached adjectives to all its historical characters, to make it clear what important life lessons each girl teaches. Totting them all up, one achieves a composite image of the iconic American Girl: a resourceful, compassionate dreamer who is very, very, (very!) brave.

This description actually coincides pretty clearly with how heroines were portrayed in books 100 years ago - perhaps there weren't quite so many verys before "brave," but otherwise that's a good description of Anne of Green Gables or Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. There's been a certain amount of continuity, then, in what we want our girls to be.

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...I have to say, as much as I know British stories are outside of the American Girl purview, Emily’s memories of her life in Britain during World War II are way more interesting than her actual story. Emily’s adjustment to American school is all well and good, but who wouldn’t rather read Emily in the blitz, or Emily’s voyage across the sea, dogged by the fear of German U-boats?