American Girl and Tariffs - and, An Announcement

With excess tariffs on the horizon, affecting all sectors of products in the supply chain, it is a foregone conclusion that sooner rather than later, prices for American Girl are going to go up. I'll try not to get too political here, as I try to not do it here, but it is important to note that these unnecessary tariffs will hurt so many small businesses and everyday American people. It already has hurt the small doll brand Jilly Bing, which focuses on Asian American dolls, and I can imagine it hurting so many other small businesses that create products for our dolls, from clothing to wigs to accessories. Big companies like Mattel will be affected, too, of course, but if they bend the knee to the current government, they could be rewarded - and bending the knee to this government isn't a great idea, considering their disregard of human rights.

However, I was thinking about how American Girl could navigate this situation, as new $125 (soon to be way more!) dolls become increasingly out of reach for the average American family and become more of a luxury item. And I then remembered how I connected with American Girl on a deeper level when I was younger - through the books available at my local school library.

I went to two elementary schools throughout my time as an American Girl fan - the first one, I was there for third and fourth grade, and the second one, I was there for fifth grade only. Both schools had a wide variety of American Girl books to choose from. The school I went to in fourth grade had a variety of classic American Girl stories, from Kit's tales of the Great Depression, to Addy's journey to freedom, to Felicity's navigation of the Revolutionary War, and so much more. When I had only one friend and a school principal who excessively punished me for my autistic traits, I used to lose myself in the American Girl books I was able to access for free at the school library. I'd go through one book in the matter of a school day or two, immediately borrow the next one, and go through as many as I could. When I switched to a more accepting school in fifth grade, that school had a different range of American Girl books - Kaya's, Kirsten's, and even some modern books like Mia's and Chrissa's. I consumed them with as much excitement as I did in fourth grade, and was able to have a deeper bond with my dolls. When it was time for me to graduate elementary school, I used the prize money I won at a film festival that year to buy the entire Girl of the Year book set, and I was pleasantly surprised when the middle school library had one American Girl book: Good Luck, Ivy.

In 2025, American Girl can still be relevant, but it won't be in the "profitable" way Mattel wants it to be. The true value of American Girl in a time where basic necessities become out of reach, expensive dolls become a luxury item, where the idea of what means to be an American and our history and girlhood is under attack, is not within the dolls themselves, but the stories they all share. The stories that showcase girls through adversity, that educate girls about our country's past, that allow girls to enjoy reading and to feel seen and to learn about girls who don't share their background. The idea that the stories of American Girls, and American girlhood as a whole, is valued. And as many topics have become more "controversial", a history starting of Mattel bending to peer pressure and retiring books with queer representation, American Girl books becoming shorter, with less story, and books not even coming with dolls anymore, with corporate telling us that girls these days don't want to read and using that as an excuse to make less books - this all shows us that going back to the roots of American Girl - the stories - is how American Girl will stay relevant, weather this storm, and teach girls that they too, can be heroes, in an era where women are being under attack.

And I'll start the conversation here on my blog. Every week, on Fridays, I'll start a new feature where we are able to talk about a specific American Girl book, and how the historical message relates to girls today.

We'll start from the beginning. Meet Samantha. I'll see you then!