American Girl Doll News

From today until April 22, American Girl is having $25 off purchases $150 or more for Earth Day! AG Rewards members get triple points on purchases, too.

Hey guys! Sorry for the post so late at night - I’m sure most of you guys won’t be seeing this until the morning tomorrow, but I figured I’d post anyway. I was thinking about some of the false rumors I have heard about dolls that American Girl has released, only for them to NOT be true when the doll actually came out. Usually, the rumors for the historical dolls are pretty spot-on, but with the Girls of the Year, rumors are more commonly wrong. Here’s a few Girl of the Year rumors that turned out to be wrong: Lanie has a connection to Ethiopia. Girl of the Year 2010 Lanie’s author, Jane Kurtz, lived with her parents in Ethiopia from when she was 2 years old to when she was in her 20s, so some AG fans suspected Lanie would have a connection to Ethiopia or another African country. This proved to be the opposite when it came to Lanie - Lanie’s stories were all about finding the adventure in her own backyard! Saige, Grace and Lea are going to be dolls of color. For three different reasons, Saige, Grace and Lea were initially rumored to be dolls of color - all stemming from their movies. Starting with Saige, Girl of the Year 2013, New Mexico, where it leaked she was going to be from due to her movie being shot there. New Mexico has a high Hispanic/Latine population, so there were theories Saige was going to be Latina, but that proved not to be the case, as Saige is a white redhead. Then, two years later, when they were filming Grace (Girl of the Year 2015)’s movie in 2014, pictures leaked of Olivia Rodrigo, who played Grace, on set with the girls who played Maddy and Ella. Her exact ethnicity couldn’t be determined from the picture (Olivia is mixed race, half-white and half-Filipino), but I suspected Grace to have the same skin tone as Olivia - and then, I was wrong. Lastly, the casting call for Lea’s movie in 2015 (for release in 2016) asked specifically for girls of mixed heritage to apply, and the mini doll that leaked of her around the same time had darker skin than the actual Lea doll, so we assumed she would be mixed. She technically was mixed - but we weren’t expecting only 1/8th Brazilian. Luckily, we finally got 2 dolls of color to be Girl of the Year after that - Gabriela and Luciana - and then got Corinne and Kavi a few years after that. Kavi is going to be a poet. This one’s on me, guys - I did the name research, and found that Kavika, her full name, had a connection to poetry. So the entire time, we expected a poet - only to get a theater kid instead. Blame me for this one, lol! Are there any other false rumors that you remember about Girls of the Year? (Besides Tenney being rumored to be GOTY 2017 - we all know that story!)

The formatting of how American Girl products are shown on the website has been changed:

Here's Molly's bio, since she is the Doll of the Month for April 2024! Where she lives: Jefferson, Illinois Her hobbies: Tap dancing Pet: Bennett, a dog she gets for her 10th birthday What changes her life: Her father being shipped out to overseas during World War II What she discovers: There is many ways to help your family, community and country during hard times

Today is Joss's birthday. She was born this day in 2010, which makes her 14 today!

Okay, so remember a couple months ago when I shared an email someone on the AG Reddit got from AG saying Kirsten wouldn't be coming back? AG was joking. I just heard from a reputable source on an American Girl fanboard (Mary Kate on AGPlaythings) that Kirsten is in fact, coming back. However, she will have "less items than expected", leaving me to believe that less of her items are going to be coming back than Molly's and Kit's. I cannot wait for Kirsten's return! She's one of the only historicals I wasn't around in the AG fandom for (she retired 3 years before I became an AG fan and 4 years before I started AGDN), so it will be exciting to see her collection in stores in a way I have never before.

Today, I took some detailed photos of the new American Girl kitchen at the store in Nashville!

Today was Paramount’s presentation for their upcoming year of movies. As you may know, Paramount just got the rights to make an American Girl movie, so once I noticed it was happening, I kept refreshing every single film news site for even the teeniest update on the AG movie… And guess what they announced today for AG? NOTHING!!!! That’s right, AGDN readers! I delusionally searched for news for the AG movie - even though it was just announced four months ago - in hopes of hearing something. And nothing happened!!! Technically, something did happen. I’ve been watching the Avatar The Last Airbender cartoon lately, and they just announced a new trilogy for that … but while that’s a win for me personally, is that an American Girl related win? NO! So I sorta did this all for nothing! I’m not even sure why I’m making this post. I guess it’s just to tell you guys that I tried, I had my eyes peeled, but literally nothing AG-related happened. Oh well, there’s always next year…

Today is Nanea's birthday. She was born this day in 1932, which makes her 92 today!

April and May are the most common months for American Girl dolls to have their birthdays, so I figured it would be cool if I could post the birthday outfits for the American Girl dolls! Back when Pleasant Rowland owned American Girl, every doll had a birthday outfit, but once Mattel bought the company, there were less birthday outfits made, but still, some dolls had them! Here's the birthday outfits, in birth date order: Melody's Birthday Outfit released in 2017 and retired in 2019. Josefina's Feast Day Finery released in 1998 and retired in 2018. Rebecca's Movie Dress released in 2009 and retired in 2018. Addy's Birthday Pinafore and Snood released in 1994 and retired in 2013. Nanea's Tropical Birthday Outfit released in 2018 and retired in 2021. Felicity's Spring Gown with Pinner Apron and Pompon released in 1991 and retired in 2009. Molly's Birthday Outfit was released in 1987, retired in 2013 and rereleased in 2022. Julie has had 2 Birthday Outfits, 1 released in 2008 and retired in 2015, another released in 2020 and retired in 2023. Maryellen's Birthday Dress released in 2015 and retired in 2018. Kit's Birthday Outfit released in 2001 and retired in 2015, it was brought back for a limited time in 2023. Samantha's Pinafore Dress released in 1987 and retired in 2008. Kirsten's Birthday Outfit released in 1987 and retired in 2009. Saige's Sparkle Dress was only available in 2013, just like Saige. Caroline's Birthday Dress was released in 2012 and retired in 2015. What's your favorite American Girl birthday outfit?

Today is Maritza's birthday! She was born in 2008, making her 16 today.

Today is Addy's birthday! She was born in 1855, making her 169 today.