I explored the website for Girl of the Year 2022, Corinne Tan, on American Girl and found these promotional images and facts about Corinne:
Corinne’s dad is a ski instructor at Buttermilk Mountain, a mountain in Aspen. Due to this, Corinne has been skiing practically her whole life. She likes to go to the ski resort and train Flurry, who is a mixed breed dog.
Even though there are two bedrooms at their stepdad’s house, Corinne and Gwynn decide they’d rather share a room.
Corrine's favorite food is zongzi, steamed sticky rice and other ingredients wrapped in bamboo leaves.
Gwynn is a competitive skater who loves skating so much that she puts her competition outfit on at 5 am for an afternoon competition. Even though she’s not taking lessons like Gwynn, Corinne still likes to spend some time at the rink.
"Now that Mom has remarried, Corinne isn’t sure how she fits into her new family. The house she’s lived in her whole life—with Mom, Dad, and Gwynn—isn’t home anymore. Now she’ll either stay at Dad’s apartment in Basalt or Arne’s townhouse in downtown Aspen. Where is home, anyway? Corinne has to learn that no matter how her family changes, they’ll always have love to keep them together... Home was more about the people than the building you lived in. That’s what I should have realized. The Chinese character jia could mean house, but it could also mean family."
"Corinne tends to keep her feelings bottled up, especially if she’s worried about upsetting people. She’s so afraid of how her best friend, Cassidy, will react to Arne’s fancy townhouse and Gwynn’s expensive skating lessons that she keeps her new life a secret. After the truth comes out, Corinne realizes that keeping secrets actually does more harm than good... I was starting to feel like an overinflated balloon, getting full of more and more things I couldn’t talk about. I just hoped I wouldn’t pop."
"Corinne is proud to be Chinese American, but racism leaves her tongue-tied. At the skating rink, a boy tells her she has “Kung flu,” referring to COVID-19. The comment makes her feel terrible, but she’s too stunned to respond. Mom shows Corinne how to stand up to racist bullies. One afternoon, Corinne and Gwynn overhear a man making a racist joke outside Mom’s restaurant. When they tell Mom what happened, she runs after the men to confront them. Watching this interaction gives Corinne the words and courage she needs to stand up to her own racist bully... You were so brave, Mom!" I said. "I wanted to say those things, but I couldn’t find the words fast enough. You stopped them in their tracks." "Bullies often stop when someone finally confronts them,” said Mom."
"Corinne learns that all journeys start with a first step. To train Flurry to become an avalanche rescue dog, she starts with basic skills, like playing hide-and-seek, before working up to advanced skills, like searching for people buried in the snow. In Corinne to the Rescue, she must put this problem-solving approach to the test on a summer camping trip. To get emergency help for her stranded family, she, Cassidy, and Flurry must climb over an enormous rockslide. The obstacle seems impossible, but they tackle it one boulder at a time..."
"I’m so glad you didn’t stop. Even when it was scary. I was getting thirsty." -Gwynn
"We just kept going. Sometimes fast, sometimes slow. Sometimes crawling. But we didn’t stop."
-Corinne