100 Fun Facts About American Girl

How tall are the classic American Girl dolls?

18 inches: the all-American doll began as a West German one, modelled on a doll by the maker Götz, whose factory also produced the first American Girl dolls.

Which former schoolteacher launched the American Girl dolls in 1986?

Pleasant Rowland: the idea struck while she was Christmas shopping for two nieces and found only babies to mother or teen fashion dolls, nothing that looked like a girl their own age.

American Girl's founder called her blend of play and history lessons 'chocolate cake with' what?

Vitamins: the history was the healthy part, and girls swallowed it gladly. Sold only by catalogue, the dolls took in $1.7 million in their first four months.

Which toy giant bought American Girl's maker for $700 million in 1998?

Mattel: the founder sold to the maker of Barbie, the very kind of doll American Girl had been created as an alternative to, and admitted the irony did not escape her.

Which three characters were American Girl's original dolls in 1986?

Kirsten, Samantha and Molly: the colonial era that gave the founder her idea was left out at launch, and Felicity only arrived as the fourth character in 1991.

Kirsten Larson is an immigrant from which country, settling in the Minnesota Territory in 1854?

Sweden: Kirsten arrives speaking no English and has to learn it at a one-room frontier schoolhouse, while her family keeps up the customs of the old country at home.

The orphan Samantha Parkington begins her 1904 stories living with which wealthy relative?

Her grandmother: Samantha's parents died in a boating accident when she was five, so the old-fashioned woman she calls Grandmary brings her up in fictional Mount Bedford, New York.

Samantha Parkington's best friend, a young servant girl, is called what?

Nellie O'Malley: she works as a maid for Samantha's neighbours, and when she and her two little sisters are orphaned, Samantha's uncle and aunt adopt all three girls.

Molly McIntire's father spends the war years overseas serving as what?

Army doctor: he is away in England treating the wounded, and his homecoming is saved for the very end of Molly's story, in both the books and the 2006 TV film.

Molly McIntire was the first American Girl doll sold wearing which accessory?

Eyeglasses: bespectacled Molly also shares her home with Emily Bennett, an English girl sent across the Atlantic to escape the bombing of Britain.

Felicity Merriman lives in which colonial town at the start of the American Revolution?

Williamsburg, Virginia: a 1984 visit to the restored colonial town gave the founder the idea for American Girl, as a way to bring history alive for children who could not go there.

Addy Walker, the first Black historical doll, escapes slavery to reach which city in 1864?

Philadelphia: Addy and her mother flee a North Carolina plantation to get there, in a story the company worked out with an advisory panel of Black scholars.

Caroline Abbott's father, a Lake Ontario shipbuilder, is taken prisoner at the outbreak of which war?

The War of 1812: Caroline went on sale in 2012, the war's 200th anniversary year, and in her stories she helps defend Sackets Harbor when British forces attack.

Josefina Montoya lives on a ranch near which town in 1824?

Santa Fe, New Mexico: in 1824 it belonged to newly independent Mexico, so Josefina is a Mexican girl whose home only later became part of the United States.

Kaya, the earliest character chronologically, belongs to which Native American people?

Nez Perce: tribal advisers helped design Kaya, who got a face mould of her own with a closed-mouth smile, because baring the teeth goes against Nez Perce custom.

Kit Kittredge dreams of becoming what during the Great Depression in Cincinnati?

A reporter: Kit types up her own newspaper in the attic, where she has to sleep after her father's car dealership fails and the family takes in boarders.

Who played Kit in the 2008 cinema release Kit Kittredge: An American Girl?

Abigail Breslin: her Kit turns detective to clear a young hobo framed for a string of robberies, with a very young Willow Smith playing his sidekick, Countee.

Which movie star's company helped produce the first American Girl film, a 2004 TV movie about Samantha?

Julia Roberts: her company Red Om co-produced the TV film, which grew into a franchise, and she stayed on as an executive producer for the first four American Girl movies.

Which future film star played Felicity Merriman in the 2005 American Girl TV movie?

Shailene Woodley: nearly a decade before Divergent, she played the colonial girl who tames a mistreated horse against her parents' orders, with Marcia Gay Harden as her mother.

Each American Girl historical character's classic six-book series begins with which title?

Meet [name]: the set of six titles held until Kaya in 2002, whose way of life had no birthday parties or Christmas to build a 'Happy Birthday' or 'Surprise' book around.

Which American Girl advice book has sold more than five million copies since 1998?

The Care and Keeping of You: the founder ordered the puberty guide after reading a news story about girls maturing early, and gave the job to the copywriter of her doll-accessory catalogues.

The doll line launched in 1995 as 'American Girl of Today' was renamed what in 2015?

Truly Me: the company pitched the new name as helping girls discover 'who they truly are', with each doll picked from dozens of combinations of eye, hair and skin colour.

Girl of the Year dolls were traditionally launched on which date?

January 1: from 2005 each doll was sold for just one year and retired on December 31, until Gabriela McBride in 2017 began a run of dolls that stayed on sale for about two years.

Which American Girl doll, released in 2001, is regarded as the first Girl of the Year?

Lindsey Bergman: she sold so poorly that no doll followed in 2002, and the Girl of the Year only became a yearly fixture from 2005.

The Wellie Wishers, launched in 2016 for younger children, are named for what?

Their Wellington boots: 'wellies' is the British nickname for rubber rain boots, and the girls pull theirs on to play in the backyard garden of Willa's Aunt Miranda.

Who was the first boy doll in American Girl's main line, released in 2017?

Logan Everett: he plays drums in country singer Tenney Grant's band, and the first boy in the main line lasted under two years before being retired at the end of 2018.

American Girl's historical line was rebranded under what name from 2014 to 2019?

BeForever: the relaunch added time-travel 'Journey' books in which a present-day girl meets each character, and it brought Samantha back from retirement.

Where did the first American Girl Place store open in 1998?

Chicago: until this store opened on Chicago Avenue the dolls could be bought only by mail order, and it came with a restaurant and a theatre of its own.

Which service will the doll salon in an American Girl store perform on a doll?

Piercing its ears: the salon makes the holes for a fee and adds earrings, and it can fit a doll with pretend hearing aids in the same way.

Which 2017 change to some American Girl dolls' bodies was reversed after an outcry from fans?

Permanently stitched-on underwear: collectors complained that it spoiled redressing the dolls, and within months the company backed down and offered to refit any already sold.

Why did a conservative group urge a boycott over Kira Bailey, the 2021 Girl of the Year?

Her married aunts in Australia: Mamie and Lynette, strictly her great-aunts, run the wildlife sanctuary where Kira goes to help, and One Million Moms accused the book of 'attempting to normalize same-sex marriage'.

Rebecca Rubin, introduced in 2009, is a Russian Jewish girl growing up where in 1914?

New York's Lower East Side: Rebecca is dazzled by the young film industry and wants to be an actress like her cousin Max, though her family disapproves.

Melody Ellison's 1960s story is set in which city during the civil rights movement?

Detroit: it is the home of Motown, the sound Melody loves and her brother Dwayne dreams of singing, and her father works on a car assembly line.

Julie Albright's story is set in the mid-1970s in which city?

San Francisco: Julie moves to a new apartment after her parents' divorce, then fights for a place on her new school's all-boys basketball team.

Claudie Wells, the eighteenth historical character, grows up during which cultural movement?

The Harlem Renaissance: Claudie's books are by Brit Bennett, the bestselling author of The Vanishing Half, who grew up sharing an Addy doll with her sister.

Where is Nanea Mitchell growing up when Pearl Harbor is attacked in 1941?

Honolulu: the story draws on Dorinda Makanaonalani Nicholson, who was six and living nearby when the attack came and later sat on Nanea's advisory panel.

American Girl magazine (1992–2019) shared its name with an older magazine from which organisation?

Girl Scouts: their magazine of that name ran until 1979. The doll company's version followed in 1992, and letters to its Help! column grew into the first of its advice books.

The 2010 online virtual world for My American Girl dolls was called what?

Innerstar University: the name plays on the brand's 'inner star' slogan, and a girl could only enrol with the access code that came bundled with her doll.

Courtney Moore, American Girl's 1980s character, is a top scorer on which arcade game?

Pac-Man: Courtney wonders why the games she plays have so few girl characters, so she sets out to create a video game of her own with a girl as its hero.

For American Girl's 40th anniversary in 2026, six historical characters were redesigned as a 14.5-inch line called what?

The Modern Era Collection: it swaps the period costumes for today's clothes, restyling Felicity, Josefina, Kirsten, Addy, Samantha and Molly as present-day girls.

Cécile Rey, the second Black historical character, is a well-to-do girl from which city?

New Orleans: Cécile belongs to the city's free people of colour in 1853, and when yellow fever strikes her brother she throws herself into helping the sick.

Gabriela McBride, the first Black Girl of the Year, is a dancer, an artist and a what?

Poet: Gabriela has a stutter, and she uses spoken-word poetry, alongside speech therapy, to find her voice.

Gwen Thompson, a 2009 American Girl doll, is hiding which hardship from classmates?

Homelessness: Gwen and her mother are living in a shelter for women and children, and by the end of the story her mother has found work and they move into an apartment.

Which prolific American Girl author wrote the stories for the Hopscotch Hill School dolls?

Valerie Tripp: the founder's first recruit, she had worked beside her on school reading textbooks, and went on to write the Felicity, Josefina, Kit and Molly books.

Which American Girl line launched in September 2021 with the dolls Makena, Maritza and Evette?

World by Us: its three friends in Washington, DC, each take on a cause, from racism to immigration to protecting a river, but the line was wound down within a few years.

The 2019 and 2020 collector dolls were made in partnership with which crystal brand?

Swarovski: only three of the 2019 holiday doll were made, each priced at $5,000 and set with more than 5,000 crystals, and the three one-off dolls of 2020 were auctioned for charity.

In 2023, on which gaming platform did the doll brand launch 'American Girl World'?

Roblox: players can have a character's doll follow them around the game, which arrived alongside the twin sisters Isabel and Nicki, who live in 1990s Seattle.

Which future pop star played the Girl of the Year in the American Girl film Grace Stirs Up Success?

Olivia Rodrigo: at 12 she made her acting debut as Grace Thomas, a young baker with business plans, six years before 'Drivers License' turned her into a pop star.

Which 2009 film was the first based on a Girl of the Year doll?

Chrissa Stands Strong: the new girl is picked on by a clique known as the Mean Bees, until one of the three, Sonali, walks away from the others and becomes her friend.

Maryellen Larkin imagines herself as the hero of which 1950s TV western?

The Lone Ranger: nine like almost every American Girl historical character, Maryellen feels lost in a family of six children, so she dreams up episodes in which she gets to be the hero.

Which future Bridge to Terabithia star played the title role in the first American Girl film, a 2004 TV movie?

AnnaSophia Robb played the orphan Samantha a year before she turned up as gum-chewing Violet Beauregarde in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Which star of 1980s teen films played the mother in the 2006 American Girl TV movie set during World War II?

Molly Ringwald played the mother of a character who shares her first name, Molly McIntire, and who takes a job at an aircraft plant in the film.

American Girl dolls entered the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2021 alongside the board game Risk and what else?

Sand was honoured in the same November 2021 ceremony, ahead of finalists such as Battleship, Cabbage Patch Kids and The Settlers of Catan.

Which famous doll did American Girl remake at its own larger size as a collector doll in December 2023?

Barbie got the American Girl treatment as The Classic Barbie collector doll, a twist given that the brand began as an alternative to adult-figured dolls like her.

Kit Kittredge, American Girl's Great Depression character, is fascinated by which record-setting 1930s pilot?

Amelia Earhart appeals to Kit because she hates depending on charity and would rather do things for herself, as the aviator did.

Which children's book franchise inspired American Girl doll outfits and accessories that drew criticism in 2022?

Harry Potter house sweaters and a plush owl joined the range, and LGBTQ Nation asked whether the tie-in fit a brand that champions inclusion, given J.K. Rowling's views on transgender people.

Luciana Vega, American Girl's Girl of the Year for 2018, dreams of becoming the first person to do what?

Walk on Mars is the ambition of this space-loving eleven-year-old of Chilean heritage, whose doll has a purple streak in her hair and a galaxy-print dress.

Joss Kendrick, a surfer and cheerleader released in 2020, was the first American Girl doll with which condition?

Hearing loss shaped the doll herself: Joss wears a removable aid in her right ear, and an audiologist and a deaf surfer advised on her story.

Which disease sweeps through the city in the 1850s American Girl stories of Marie-Grace Gardner and Cécile Rey?

Yellow fever strikes Marie-Grace's singing teacher and Cécile's brother, and both girls throw themselves into helping the sick.

Tenney Grant, an American Girl doll released in 2017, is an aspiring songwriter from which city?

Nashville is home to the famed Bluebird Cafe, where Tenney's first book has her chasing the chance to perform her own songs.

Emily Bennett, who shelters with Molly McIntire's family during World War II, was sent to safety from which country?

England was too dangerous in wartime, so Emily's family sent her to America; she began as a minor guest in Molly's birthday story before getting a doll of her own in 2006.

Lea Clark, American Girl's Girl of the Year for 2016, visits her brother in the rainforest of which country?

Brazil is where Lea, a budding photographer from St. Louis, finds her adventure, and her release came with a World Wildlife Fund campaign called Wild at Art.

Mia St. Clair, American Girl's Girl of the Year for 2008, pursues which sport instead of her brothers' hockey?

Figure skating is Mia's passion, which puts her at odds with her hockey-playing family across two books, Mia and Bravo, Mia!

Before the first American Girl store opened in 1998, what was the only way to buy the dolls?

A mail-order catalog, with purchases made by post or phone, was the company's only shop window for its first twelve years.

Which future singer of Whip My Hair played the young hobo Countee in Kit Kittredge: An American Girl?

Willow Smith was seven when the film opened, and her character Countee spends most of it passing as a boy.

Which Black-ish star played Melody Ellison in the 2016 special Melody 1963: Love Has to Win?

Marsai Martin made her film debut in the role, three years before the comedy Little made her Hollywood's youngest executive producer.

American Girl's 2016 live-action specials about Melody Ellison and Maryellen Larkin premiered on which service?

Amazon opened the run with the Melody story, which was also Amazon Studios' first original special.

Courtney Moore, American Girl's character from 1986, has pajamas printed with which cartoon characters of the decade?

Care Bears pajamas sit in her range beside a Walkman and a Caboodles case, and her story is set in the very year the first American Girl dolls went on sale.

The American Girl films about Samantha, Molly and Kit Kittredge were all shot in or around which Canadian city?

Toronto doubled for Edwardian, wartime and Depression-era America, and one of its antique streetcars stood in for a Cincinnati one in the Kit film.

American Girl's original maker began in a warehouse and long kept its headquarters in which Midwestern state?

Wisconsin was home from the start: the first dolls shipped from a warehouse in Madison before the offices settled in nearby Middleton.

Which American Girl line of 15-inch dolls, aimed at children aged three and up, has its own picture books?

Bitty Baby dolls are smaller and cheaper than the main range, and since 2013 they have starred in stories written for three- to six-year-olds.

Julie Albright, American Girl's 1970s character, petitions for girls to join her school's team in which sport?

Basketball is Julie's cause in stories that also have her celebrating the Bicentennial and asking her mother what Watergate is.

After two American Girl TV movies on The WB, where did the Molly film premiere in November 2006?

Disney Channel took over because The WB had just merged with UPN, and the film's screenwriter went on to win a Humanitas Prize for it.

Rebecca Rubin, American Girl's 1914 character, is drawn to the young film industry and dreams of which career?

Actress is a calling her family disapproves of, though Rebecca still treasures the Jewish traditions they observe at home.

Z Yang, American Girl's first Korean American character, specialises in making which kind of videos?

Stop-motion films made with the dolls were already a fan craze online, enough for BBC Trending to report on it in 2015, two years before Z arrived.

Isabel and Nicki Hoffman, the American Girl historical characters released together in 2023, are related in which way?

Twin sisters Isabel and Nicki live in Seattle, and their stories unfold as the 1990s give way to a new millennium.

Addy Walker and her mother flee a plantation in which state at the start of her Civil War stories?

North Carolina is where Addy's journey begins, and her first three books sold more than a million copies in the year they were released.

Felicity Merriman secretly tames a mistreated horse owned by a cruel tanner and gives her which name?

Penny belongs to the abusive Jiggy Nye, and Felicity's parents forbid her to go near the horse, so she slips out to visit her anyway.

Kanani Akina, American Girl's Girl of the Year for 2011, helps her family run which kind of shop on Kauaʻi?

Shave ice is the family trade, and when Kanani's story had her rescue a monk seal, a dollar from every plush seal sold went to a wildlife charity.

American Girl's Caroline Abbott, raised beside a Lake Ontario shipyard, dreams of holding which job one day?

Ship's captain is her ambition, and she proves her nerve by slipping escape clues to her imprisoned father and helping to defend her village when it comes under attack.

In the American Girl books, Molly McIntire's mother spends World War II working for which organisation?

The Red Cross is Mrs. McIntire's wartime employer in the books, while the 2006 film sends her to an aircraft factory instead.

American Girl opened its first Middle Eastern stores in 2017 in which city, before all had closed by 2020?

Dubai got two stores through a deal with the mall group Majid Al Futtaim, and a third followed in Bahrain a year later.

Which actor, Robin in Batman Forever, played the out-of-work father in Kit Kittredge: An American Girl?

Chris O'Donnell played Jack Kittredge, whose car dealership fails, opposite Joan Cusack as a mobile librarian and Stanley Tucci as a shady magician.

Which keen gymnast became an American Girl Best Friend doll, released alongside Julie Albright in 2007?

Ivy Ling, who is Chinese American, was the first Best Friend doll launched on the same day as her main character, with a book of her own by Lisa Yee.

Ruthie Smithens, best friend of Kit Kittredge, is shielded from the Great Depression because her father is what?

A banker's daughter in the Depression, Ruthie quietly helps the struggling Kittredges in ways that will not wound their pride.

Maryellen Larkin, American Girl's 1950s character, grows up in a big, busy family in which Florida city?

Daytona Beach is home to Maryellen, who arrived in 2015 to take the place of the retired Caroline Abbott in the historical line-up.

Josefina Montoya, American Girl's first Latina character, has which kind of animal as a pet named Sombrita?

A goat named Sombrita shares the family ranch, where Josefina hopes to become a healer and her books explain their Spanish words in a glossary.

Besides a restaurant, the original American Girl Place store of 1998 housed which 150-seat attraction?

A theater was part of the founder's plan for a store that doubled as a day out, though every American Girl Place stage had closed by the end of 2008.

Before a 1991 change made for Felicity's low-necked gowns, American Girl dolls had cloth bodies of which colour?

White muslin would have shown above a colonial neckline, so the cloth was switched to match each doll's skin tone.

The first American Girl dolls were modelled on dolls made by which West German toy company?

Götz supplied the classic face mould, and the founder used one of its dolls as her model when she pitched the idea in 1986.

Which novelist wrote the six-book American Girl series about Addy Walker, published from 1993?

Connie Porter had already published the novel All-Bright Court when she was approached, and her Addy books went on to sell more than three million copies.

Which American Girl line of 2002 paired historical novels with small dolls meant for display, not play?

Girls of Many Lands dolls came from settings such as 1711 France and 1846 Ethiopia, stood half the height of the main range, were sculpted by Helen Kish and lasted until 2005.

American Girl's 2023 Nutcracker collector range included a toy soldier doll made with which famous toy store?

FAO Schwarz put its name to the soldier in the same year American Girl began turning out collector dolls of Belle, Jasmine and Rapunzel.

Kaya's second book, Kaya's Escape, broke which title pattern used for earlier American Girl characters' second books?

Learns a Lesson had followed each earlier character's name in book two, part of a fixed six-title pattern that Kaya was the first to break.

Kaya, the earliest American Girl historical character by setting, rides a beloved mare with which name?

Steps High has a foal called Sparks Flying, and Kaya's range also includes a tepee, a saddle and a dog named Tatlo.

Which creator of the Judy Moody books wrote the American Girl series about 1970s character Julie Albright?

Megan McDonald, a former librarian, filled Julie's six books with the upheavals of the 1970s, from divorce to the push for girls' place in school sports.

American Girl's Canadian boutiques, opened in 2014 and closed in 2023, sat inside which retailer's stores?

Indigo, the country's big bookstore chain, hosted the shops for nine years until every one of them was shut in July 2023.

American Girl's founder funded the first dolls largely with savings of $1.2 million that came from what?

Textbook royalties from the reading programmes she had written for schools gave her the stake, and sales hit $7.6 million in the company's second year.

Kit Kittredge, American Girl's Depression-era character, goes by a nickname; what is her real first name?

Margaret is also her mother's name, and the nickname comes partly from the kit-bag in an old soldiers' marching song.

Out of respect for a tribal custom, the Kaya doll is the only American Girl historical character not to show what?

Her teeth stay hidden behind a closed-mouth smile, so designers sculpted a face mould just for Kaya instead of reusing the usual one.