When I was a little girl, I was in LOVE with American Girl historical series’ dolls and all the books. My absolute favorite was Samantha with her books set in 1904. I was one of five kids, and we didn’t have a lot of money when I was young, so I will never forget my tenth birthday. My dad sent balloons and a teddy bear to my school in fourth grade that year. When I got home, he and my mom surprised me with the ENTIRE Samantha book collection and mini doll. I cherished those all the way into my adult life. I had always been an avid reader, but Samantha’s books got me excited to learn history for the first time ever.
When I had my own daughter and she started playing with smaller dolls like Barbies, etc., I showed her my prized mini Samantha doll. She is in no way as meticulous and careful as I have been since I was a tater tot, so my doll of course did not stay in its pristine condition for long. I was just happy to see it passed to a second generation and see it bring her joy. We read all of my original Samantha books together, and we made some fun mommy-daughter memories.
Having a biracial daughter, finding toys and inspiration for her in girls of color was a challenge at first. When American Girl started rolling out their historical series more robustly with girls of all nationalities featured, my love and excitement for all things American Girl was instantly renewed. Our daughter was originally diagnosed with slight dyslexia when she was in preschool. She got so good at adapting through early elementary that I would forget at times she even had dyslexia… until I went to help her with language arts or math homework, I ended up frustrated, and she ended up in tears… Both my husband and I adore reading, and it made us sad that she didn’t enjoy it at all.
Before I talked to a therapist that works with dyslexic kids up to college students, we thought we could get her to enjoy reading if we found just the right books. When she got into junior high, I found out that her brain has to work so hard just to flip letters and words around that she can’t even enjoy the comprehension of what she’s reading by the time her brain just processes one sentence at a time. We’ve switched to more audio books and highly recommend the Yoto player. I guess knowing what I do now makes me even more grateful for what I’m about to share with you.
I never was able to get a full-size American Girl doll growing up and loving my mini doll so much from my tenth birthday, I naturally wanted to get my daughter her first American Girl set of books with her own mini doll when she turned ten. My daughter’s name is Adilyn, and we call her Ady for short. We just had to get her the Addy set for herself!!! We really, really hoped it would be a fun way for her to read, enjoy reading, and learn some history with a character that was Black just like she was. Addy is set in 1864, forty years before our Samantha stories I had read to her. Guess what? Ady actually got into reading for real for the first time ever!
With the expansion of the American Girl historical series, there were even more Black characters to choose from for our daughter. We ended up getting her the Melody mini doll and all Melody’s books as well. This one is set in 1964, a hundred years after Addy and at such a pivotal time in Black history in the United States. Our Ady gobbled up all the books just like she did with the Addy series. This mama was just overflowing with joy!
Since she is such a rough kid on everything, we decided to NOT get a full-sized American Girl doll for her. We turned to the Our Generation dolls from Target, which are super high quality, so diverse, and have ALL the fun accessories you can think of. She picked one out that looked a lot like her, and she still has that doll even as a teenager now. I found one that looked like me and got Hermione (from Harry Potter) outfits and a wand and all for it and named her Hermione Jayne. I have her displayed in my home office – I’ll forever be a kid at heart!
When American Girl announced they were coming out with a series for 1986 (my birth year), I couldn’t believe it when they said her name was even going to be mine – Courtney!!! When I first saw the advertisements, I turned to my hubby with my best and most pitiful begging face, and he told me “no”. I was fully prepared to impulsively spend thousands of dollars on the Courtney doll and every single 80s-themed accessory they had to offer. My better half told me to control myself and wait until Ady was out of the house and then we could start our own “collectibles” room in her old room – haha!
I still have not allowed myself to buy any of the Courtney stuff, but I wouldn’t be opposed to anyone that wanted to get me gifts from her collection. 😉 On a serious note, I had been a little sad when they revamped Samantha, and I couldn’t get her in the original outfit like my mini doll version had all those years ago. As a working adult, I felt like I could spend the money on a full-sized American Girl doll that my parents couldn’t a few decades back. There is this darling collectibles’ shop we found in Cincinnati, Ohio called O’Smiley’s Dolls & Collectibles. There happened to be ONE original, perfectly preserved Samantha doll from back when they made them in Germany. I didn’t care how much she was (even though I negotiated the price down with the store owner), and she came home with me immediately. I finally had my dream Samantha doll!
You can find a lot of the classic American Girl doll books for sale on eBay for pretty good prices. We actually found the mini Melody doll and book set at Costco that year around the holidays. Whether you get an 18″ doll from American Girl, Target, Wal-Mart, or elsewhere, the fact that we can show our children so much range in diversity and inclusion these days is incredible. What have been your favorite books or toys to empower your children, and how have you found ways to make reading exciting for those that struggle? We’d love to know!
