| Caroline Abbott |
|
American Girl character |
| Created by |
American Girl, Kathleen Ernst |
American Girl is an American line of 18-inch (46 cm) dolls released in 1986 by Pleasant Company. The dolls portray eight- to eleven-year-old girls of a variety of ethnicities. They are sold with accompanying books told from the viewpoint of the girls. Originally the stories focused on various periods of American history, but were expanded in 1995 to include contemporary characters and stories, the latest addition being WellieWishers, a line of 14.5-inch (37 cm) dolls aimed for younger children.
Provided below is a list of characters from the Historical series (BeForever), Contemporary characters, the Girl of the Year line, and WellieWishers.
The BeForever characters (originally known as "The American Girls Collection" or, colloquially, "Historical Characters") were initially the main focus of Pleasant Company. This product line aims to teach aspects of American history through a six book series from the perspective of a nine-year-old girl living in that time period. Although the books are written for the eight-to-thirteen-year-old target market, they endeavor to cover topics such as child labor, child abuse, poverty, racism, slavery, alcoholism, animal abuse, and war in manners appropriate for the understanding and sensibilities of the company's target market.
The first dolls in the American Girl/Historical line (Samantha, Kirsten and Molly) shared the same face mold but had different hair and eye colors. The first dolls were created with white muslin bodies, but these cloth bodies were changed in 1991 from a white muslin to a matching flesh tone. This accommodated the low necklines of Late Colonial/Revolutionary period gowns produced for the Felicity Merriman character (also introduced in 1991). Additional face molds were later developed for other dolls, and the line to date includes ten characters covering the period 1764 to 1974.
The "Best Friends" line was introduced in 2004; supplemental characters from the core book series were created in doll form and marketed as "best friends" for some of the Historical Characters. These Best Friend dolls share the collections of the main characters, but each has her own book, and additional products were marketed under their names. However, in May 2014, American Girl announced that Ruthie, along with Ivy, Cécile and Marie-Grace, will be retired from their historical roster, citing business reasons as they decided "to move away from the character-friend strategy within the line".
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