I'll admit it: I was too busy to listen to most of the episodes of the American Girl Fan Club Podcast. However, In-Pleasant-Company on Tumblr listened, and posted a list of new facts from the podcast all about select historical dolls!
Kaya (Kaya’s Story/Aug 10 episode)
All plot lines in Kaya’s books are based on real stories that were either passed down through oral tradition or actually happened to members of the advisory board. Kaya’s special whistle for Steps High is based on the story of an advisory board member who reunited with his beloved horse in the same way.
The Cooperative Extension Educator program has a Kaya Club and produced a Kaya cookbook. (I think it may be this book, which is free.)
Rebecca (All About Rebecca/Aug 17 episode)
Rebecca’s school is PS 64. Jacqueline Dembar Greene mentions going to visit it, but the building is currently abandoned/condemned.
Author Jacqueline Dembar Greene, met two sisters in their nineties who showed her a photograph of their mother, Rebecca Rubin, who arrived in America from Russia in 1914.
The samovar in the back of Candlelight for Rebecca belonged to the ancestors of editor Jennifer Hirsch.
Kirsten (The Inside Scoop with Valerie Tripp/Sept 7 episode)
Kirsten was originally “Kristen” and from Norway. She was changed to be from Sweden because Pleasant found a Swedish sweater she liked.
Samantha
Pleasant Rowland’s niece suggested a character should be an orphan, leading to Samantha.
Valerie thinks another story about Samantha could involve Samantha’s other grandparents would come to take her to live with them on “a hardscrabble farm in Nebraska.”
Felicity
Writing Felicity’s adventures with Penny was wish fulfillment for Valerie. She wanted a horse as a child and used to give her bicycle grass pretending it was a horse.
A girl wrote a letter to Valerie Tripp after she broke her arm asking her to write a story about a girl breaking her arm. That led to Felicity Takes A Dare.
Does Felicity marry Ben? There’s a store in Williamsburg called the Davidson store.
Josefina
Josefina’s personality is shaped by the New Mexican landscape. Homes are quiet and subdued on the outside but the inside is filled with music and noise and the smells of delicious food.
Kit
Kit’s scotty dog pin inspired Valerie to create Inky.
Some details from Kit’s stories are based on Valerie’s mother’s childhood like her family running a boarding house and her brother not being able to go to college. Her mother’s thriftiness also inspired Aunt Millie.
Molly
The hula girl costumes on getting ruined on Halloween in Meet Molly really happened to Valerie but it was a neighbor who sprayed her and her friends with a hose, not a brother.
Valerie suggested Molly might go on to run the Red Cross.
Emily
Valerie used to change the numbers on her practice chart like Emily does in Brave Emily.
This all sounds so interesting!
P.S: I'm starting to hammer out the details for my first AG store meetup in January! Charlotte-area readers of AGDN, are you all excited?