American Girl Doll News

American Girl’s 2026 Girl of the Year, Raquel Reyes, has officially been confirmed to be releasing on September 17, 2026!!!

The reveal for Raquel, American Girl’s 2026 Girl of the Year, will be Wednesday morning, September 17, on GMA! Who’s excited to watch?

The American Girl of the Year 2026 is coming around the corner - and we just got a sneak peek! Here it is:

An AGDN reader, @ReplayAngel on Instagram, pointed something out about our potential Girl of the Year 2026, Raquel Reyes,... At the beginning of 2024, a few pet-themed items came out for Truly Me. Now, at the end of 2024, this just came out: Could Raquel be from the Southwest?

Hey guys! With the reveal of the Girl of the Year happening tomorrow, I figured I'd let you all know when the reveal usually happens. Usually, the reveal is in the final hour of the show, so I'd suggest starting to watch at 8:30 AM EST. American Girl has also announced she will be on the site at 9 am EST. I can't wait to meet her!

Yesterday, I turned AGDN over to you all to see what theories you have about the new Girl of the Year. I loved reading all your comments - here they are! "Her theme is Samantha Parkington, just like how Lila’s theme was gymnastics and horseback riding and Lanie’s was the outdoors, nature, and gardening. I’ve wrote about a few days ago, but I think some of her interests and likes would be making peppermint ice cream, baking petit fours, and ice skating. Her favorite holiday would be Valentine’s Day, her favorite color would be pink, her favorite flower would be pink roses, and her favorite book would the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. She would like teddy bears, catching butterflies with a butterfly net, watercolor painting, going on cruise vacations, and the Nutcracker ballet. She is also on the pickleball team and carries a heart-shaped locket. I really loved her heart locket logo. Maybe that’s why we did not get to see the logo earlier this year. But that would give away the hint that Raquel is connected to Samantha." RuthieFairyFan "i'm excited for her but i'm also nervous!!😬i've gotten my hopes up in the past and been very disappointed so i don't know what to expect. i feel like her story and collection are either gonna be super fun and nostalgic or super boring with no thought or effort put in. still holding out hope that she's our first character from Texas--the dolphin shapes on one of her advertising materials could indicate that she lives near a beach or coastline, and Texas has a coastline along the Gulfof Mexico, which is home to bottlenose dolphins!! Galveston, Corpus Christi, Port Aransas, or South Padre Island would be good location choices for her. but knowing AG, they're probably just gonna stick somewhere in New York like Samantha and every third character😑 not that there's anything wrong with New York, but we've never had a Texas girly before and at this point, if Raquel's not from Texas, we'll never get one who is😔but that's my biggest theory for now and i hope it comes true! some people online have speculated that she may also live in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, or elsewhere on the east coast which would make sense too--wherever there's dolphins to be found. i'd really be fine with any state except New York or California!! we have too many characters there already!! on a side note, i'm also a bit worried about her story/journal...i feel like in recent years--starting with kavi--the GOTY stories lack excitement and any sort of meaningful lesson. the stories nowadays are always "kavi failed a test and now she can't be in the talent show oh no it's the end of the world" "lila wants to do 2 different sports and her friend doesn't (this isn't even an issue?!) what ever will she do???" "summer's shocked that her cat and dog don't get along (which is completely normal...) and she doesn't have enough money to go to animal camp, her whole life is a disaster!!!" just meaningless problems that either get solved in two minutes or less or drag out waaaaay longer that they need to just to contunue the plot. whereas in the past the GOTY stories were about girls breaking their ankles! girls facing racism and almost dying in the mountains! girls' brothers nearly being m*rdered by her bullies! girls running over other girls with a zamboni! (it was only a minor part of one book but still, it's never been done again) all kinds of interesting problems that they had to work to solve and at the end, they learned an important lesson and so did the reader! even with the characters whose problems were less extreme, the authors still found a way to make their stories intriguing, inspiring, and educational. i'm not getting that vibe from GOTY books anymore. i don't even understand how they are able to take these picture-book-level non-issues and turn them into entire chapter books and say "good enough! let's sell it for $37!" my point is, i'm worried this new pattern will continue with Raquel and they will give her a generic, forgettable storyline and we'll all be disappointed. i'm REALLY hoping that her release will turn things around for the GOTY line and bring it back to what it used to be but it doesn't seem likely." DylliGlea

Here's Maritza's bio, since she is the Doll of the Month for September 2025! Where she lives: Washington DC Her hobbies: Soccer, activism Pet: No pet What changes her life: A family she cares about has been separated due to immigration issues What she discovers: Even if you're young, you can change the world

American Girl is having a Disney sale - with the purchase of girl clothes, you get 15% off accessories.

Hey guys! Raquel comes out in just three days! I’m so excited to meet her and learn her story. Usually, I’m the one theorizing for new dolls, and I’ve had quite a few theories for her. But I have a lot of homework to do this weekend, so to celebrate her release, I figured I’d turn it over to you guys! What do you all think Raquel will be like? I’ll post your answers and my thoughts tomorrow :)

Today is Corinne and Kira's shared birthday! Corinne was born in 2011, making her 14 years old today, and Kira was born a year earlier in 2010, making her 15.

Hi everyone! I hope you all were able to read Molly Learns A Lesson so we can discuss it. If you don't have copies of these books going forward at home, you can check to see if a local library has them, and if no libraries have them, you can make an account at the Library of Congress's Internet Archive and check them out there. Molly Learns A Lesson is about Molly's school life during World War II, where she admires her teacher, Ms. Campbell, and feels jealous of popular student Allison. When each gender in the class is assigned to do a group project to help the soldiers in World War II, Allison's idea to knit socks makes Molly feel jealous enough to start her own project - only for her to realize that coming together will do the most good. When I was rereading this book, several things came to mind about the themes within, and both their historical context and what it means to be a girl in 2025. I don't want these posts to be too long, so I'll list my thoughts, and let you discuss these topics as well in the comments! Molly admires Ms. Campbell and fantasizes about her wedding, but also has to deal with a reality where big weddings can't happen as much because of the war. How do you think she balances that? Molly's fantasies are a way to cope with the stress of World War II and having to worry about her dad being away. In the book before this, she fantasized about being Cinderella for Halloween, a world without the war - she's just a girl, and she doesn't really like this reality she lives in. Molly is jealous of Allison, to the point where she doesn't want to do the assigned project because Allison had the idea. Why do you think that is? Molly feels plain. Molly doesn't feel like she has many talents. She knows she is bad at multiplication, while Allison isn't. Molly has braided hair, while Allison has curly blond hair, which is romanticized. Allison is the ideal of a perfect student during this era - what Molly aspires to be. Ultimately, Molly's experiences knowing that her dad needs blankets to treat wounded soldiers win the third-grade girls the contest. How do you think the war being so close to home affected Molly and her idea? Molly has first-hand experience with the war and what it has caused her. She looks forward to her letters from her dad, and absorbs every detail - even the details about the war. Her love for her dad and want for him to be okay drives her to do this for all the other soldiers - she knows they need blankets, and would do anything to get that for them. In school, the war looms large over everything - from patriotic songs to projects to how geography questions are presented. How do you think education is the same and different today? We aren't in a war as all-consuming as World War II - rather, a series of smaller wars that we don't hear about as much. But the way education, particularly history, is skewed is similar to how education was used as in World War II, down to state lines. Like I've said before on this blog, North Carolina's education system skews the story it tells about certain events it has a not-so-favorable role in in order for students to have state pride, and certain events the US didn't have a good role in are also sanitized. While students in World War II had patriotism incorporated in their education for use of reminding them about their part in the war, nowadays, it has been abused for more far-reaching purposes. Next week, we will read Molly's Surprise!

Just a reminder that Girl of the Year 2026, Raquel Reyes, is releasing in one week from today! I’m so excited to meet her - I hope all of you are too :)