American Girl Doll News

Today, American Girl revealed a sneak peek of the Barbie Peaches and Cream Collector dolls. First access is going to be on June 22 for Berry Rewards members.

It's time for American Girl's half-yearly sale! Nearly EVERYTHING on American Girl's website is on sale, excluding 18 inch dolls, Lila, Summer, Disney, Crocs and Create Your Own. Additionally, the Last Chance Outlet is up to 75% off!

Don't you hate it when you make the same mistake twice? Luckily for most of us, we aren't the owners of a multimillion dollar corporation. And as I sat down to think about something to blog about today, one thing stuck in my mind - the non-Girl of the Year contemporary character lines, and how they both came about as rushed attempts to add more diversity in the American Girl line. Our story starts in 2016. This year, despite America having an African American president for eight years and increased Black representation in children's literature, not a single Girl of the Year has been African American. Ever. There have only been four dolls of color in the Girl of the Year line - five if we count 2016's Girl of the Year, Lea Clark, who is 1/8th Brazillian. Two of them are of mixed Asian and European descent, one of them was an Indian American friend doll to a white lead character, and the only main Girl of the Year with no European descent, Mexican-American Marisol Luna, was the Girl of the Year so long ago that the target audience for American Girl wasn't even alive when she was the Girl of the Year. So when American Girl was questioned on CBS Mornings about the lack of diversity in the Girl of the Year line, they freaked the heck out. You see, the planned Girl of the Year for the next year, Tenney Grant, was another white doll with blond hair. Just like Isabelle Palmer, who was Girl of the Year 2 years before, McKenna Brooks, who was Girl of the Year 4 years before, and Lanie Holland, who was Girl of the Year 6 years before. This would be a bad look for American Girl. But they already invested so much in Tenney. What they were to do? Reuse parts from Isabelle and McKenna's collections, retire a Truly Me with dark skin to be Girl of the Year 2017, Gabriela, hire 2 authors for the 3 book series instead of one, and have her be the first Girl of the Year since Kanani to not have a movie - the annual big summer event for American Girl. Then, release Tenney - and her friend doll, Logan - the next month, release a Truly Me with a changed part and a birthmark as Z, an already established Asian American character from YouTube, and lump the already planned releases of Native Hawaiian character Nanea Mitchell and the limited return of Felicity Merriman as a "Choose Your Character" marketing campaign, and have a separate contemporary line. They even had Emory Van Zant, a hard of hearing skateboarder and cheerleader, as their next release, set to release in summer 2018. But aside from Tenney, the rushed contemporary line was a flop. So at the middle of 2018, once the dust had settled from the "no Black Girl of the Years" controversy, Tenney, Z and Gabriela retired at the same time. 2019 came and went, and no one seemed to remember what had happened. Even in 2020, when Joss Kendrick, a hard of hearing cheerleader and surfer who had an interest in skateboarding, was the Girl of the Year, no one pointed out that this was Emory Van Zant, who's books were pulled by the same author with just weeks away from release and her items being released as the Truly Me release for summer 2018, and evidence pointing to her collection being developed since 2016, which is rare for an American Girl contemporary character. Then, the 2020 racial injustice protests happened in the summer. And American Girl looked at their collection again. Still no Black contemporary characters currently available. American Girl got to work on a racially diverse line of dolls, World By Us, who's storylines revolved around topics such as police brutality, racism, climate change and immigration - all hot topics, even still today. There was more work put into World By Us than the initial Contemporary Character line - a new mold was introduced, a new hair texture was made, there were actual unique designs for the dolls. But American Girl originally had more ideas for the line than just the initial three, Makena Williams, Evette Peeters and Maritza Ochoa. Three more ethnically diverse names were trademarked, Fahari, a name commonly used for Muslim girls, Ning, a Chinese name, and Aracely, another Spanish name. World By Us debuted in 2021 to initial fanfare - a collection with Harlem Row's fashion designers, a music video by Nickelodeon star That Girl Lay Lay, a fashion show to reveal the dolls. But unfortunately, sales weren't what American Girl were initially expecting. American Girl gave up on marketing them. And now, most of the line has been quietly retired. American Girl hasn't given up on diversity, which is good. For the first time in American Girl history, there are three African American dolls marketed as part of the current Historical line, Addy Walker, Melody Ellison and Claudie Wells. After World By Us's launch, we had two Asian American Girls of the Year in a row, Corinne Tan and Kavi Sharma, and another Latina Girl of the Year, Raquel Reyes - the second in a decade - is set to launch in the fall. We even have 3 Jewish American Girl dolls being sold at the same time! But these 2 lines really show a message to American Girl - take your time. Of course we want diverse dolls! We just want them to have time put in them, whether it's creating them (where the Contemporary characters went wrong) or marketing them. Don't give up if they don't sell right away! People want these stories!

American Girl is having a flash sale of Truly Mes in older meet outfits - they're only $100 as opposed to $125! These dolls are available: 70 71 73 85 89 90 91 100 101 105 107 108 109 not available in new meet 112 113 114 115 116 117 119 not available in new meet 120 not available in new meet 121 not available in new meet 124 125 not available in new meet 126 127 128 not available in new meet 129 not available in new meet

Don't you think the Girl of the Year was a bigger deal even ten or five years ago than it is now? This is because of a lot of the extra stuff that the Girl of the Year got - special release parties, movies, apps, extra books, even special earrings - no longer exists for the Girls of the Year. I made a list of what they used to have, and who was the first and last to have each extra! Extra midyear release First - Marisol, 2005 Last - Kavi, 2023 Two books First - Nicki, 2007 Last - Corinne, 2022 January 1 release First - Nicki, 2007 Last - Blaire, 2019 Video game/app First - Mia, 2008 Last - Luciana, 2018 Movie First - Chrissa, 2009 Last (for a whole) - Lea, 2016 Last (of all time) - Corinne, 2022 Mini doll First - Saige, 2013 Last - Luciana, 2018 Earrings First - Saige, 2013 Last - Gabriela, 2017 Three books First - Isabelle, 2014 Last - Luciana, 2018

Here's Julie's bio, since she is the Doll of the Month for June 2025! Where she lives: San Francisco, California Her hobbies: Basketball, roller skating, activism Pet: Bunny, Nutmeg What changes her life: Her parents' divorce - and a move to a new school What she discovers: One girl can truly change the world

Hi everyone! I hope you all were able to read Changes for Samantha so we can discuss it. Sorry I was a few days late! 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. Changes for Samantha, the last book in Samantha's series, is about how when Samantha moves to New York City, her best friend Nellie's parents die and she is sent to an orphanage in the city. The orphanage is abusive and cruel, so when it seems like Nellie won't see her sisters ever again, it takes all of Samantha's strength to make a plan to free the girls and find them a new home. 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! Now that her Grandmary is married, Samantha is now living in the city full-time. How do you think the change in setting affects what Samantha sees in her day to day life? Away from the well-to-do neighborhoods in Mount Bedford, Samantha still lives in luxury in New York City, but sees more suffering and people in poverty than she saw in Mount Bedford - especially when she travels to find her uncle. Nellie lives in an abusive orphanage, where girls like her are trained to be maids. What do you thinks this parallels in real life? What I thought about when I was reading this was how some public schools in the United States in poorer areas train students to be diligent workers, while punishing any slight mistake or infraction. While richer schools allow more diversity in thought, poorer schools are more rigid, trying to train students to enter the workforce Gard and Cornelia's maid, Gertrude, is portrayed as a strict servant who is rude to others, and is even ruder to Samantha when she discovers Nellie and her sisters in the attic. Why do you think that is? There are some poor people who hate other poor people - they think they don't work "hard" enough, they think they need to conform, that they shouldn't get help from the government, etc. etc. I get the feeling that Gertrude is one of those kinds of people, just in an earlier time period. Samantha is able to use her position in society for good when she rescues Nellie and her sisters from the orphanage. While a lot of people like Samantha are able to use their positions for good, others ignore the real world and what's happening. Why do you think that is? It's easy for people to be comfortable with their privilege and simply ignore things if they aren't happening to them. That's usually because either there's a lack of education or a lack of empathy. At first, Samantha wasn't educated about any of the things happening to people like Nellie, but once she was able to know, she was able to have empathy, and do all the things she did in the series! Next week, we will be reading Meet Kirsten!

This weekend, American Girl is having triple points and 25% off collectors items!

At the American Girl Care Center (formerly known as the Doll Hospital), Create Your Own dolls are now available to be served again for doll repair and care services.

The good news - American Girl has brought back the Create Your Own dolls. The bad news? THEY ARE NOW $275.

Julie Albright is the Doll of the Month for June 2025! Julie Albright is dealing with big changes since her parents' divorce. When she finds out that her new school has a basketball team, life starts looking up - until the coach tells her girls aren't allowed to play. Julie decides to fight for a place on the team, and almost loses her best friend in the process. Meanwhile, a school project forces her to face some hard truths about her family - and herself. Growing up in San Francisco in the 1970s, Julie begins to realize that sometimes the best way to cope with change is to make a few changes of her own.

In September, I showed you all the process of making my doll Jinx, a character from a show on Netflix called Arcane. Once I finished Jinx, I fell in love with her so much that I wanted to make her sister Vi and her girlfriend Caitlyn, so here's how I made them! The first thing I did was buy the bases. It was a bittersweet day when I bought the Truly Mes that would become Vi and Caitlyn - it was the second-to-last day the American Girl store in Charlotte was open, and they were my last dolls I would ever buy from the store. The only dolls that the store had left were a few Courtneys and most of the Truly Me dolls, and I was lucky that 101 and 110 were still available! Then, I rewigged them. Vi has shorter red hair, which I couldn't find a good wig for anywhere, so I just ordered a custom red wig off of Mercari, and I'm going to cut it tomorrow. Caitlyn's hair took a little longer to get - the first wig never shipped, but the second one I ordered was a dark blue and purple wig from the I'm A Girly brand, which came in a few days. Here's what they look like right now! Caitlyn is all finished, and Vi will be finished tomorrow!