Getting your questions ready
Getting your questions ready
Beat the crowd
10 questions No timer
50 free American Girl trivia questions with answers — pop culture quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
40 free American Girl trivia questions with answers. American Girl started in 1986 with three dolls, a catalogue and a founder who had just come back from Colonial Williamsburg convinced that girls deserved something better than baby dolls and Barbie. Forty years and a $700 million sale to Mattel later, the brand has its own stores with doll hair salons, a hall-of-fame induction, and a generation of adult fans who can still recite the six-book structure. This quiz covers all of it. Expect questions on the historical characters and their eras, from Kaya in 1764 to Isabel in 1999: Kirsten's Minnesota, Samantha's Mount Bedford, Molly's glasses, Addy's escape to Philadelphia, Josefina's goat and Kit's typewriter. Then the company: Pleasant Rowland's teaching career, the Götz doll mould, the Girl of the Year launches, the Wellie Wishers, the underwear controversy, American Girl Place and the films with Abigail Breslin and AnnaSophia Robb. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the company, the characters and the films, and each question carries its source. Difficulty runs from things any collector knows to catalogue-history details.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01How tall are the classic American Girl dolls?
18 inches
The design was modelled on dolls made by Götz in West Germany; Bitty Baby is the smaller 15-inch line.
Q 02Which former schoolteacher founded the company in Madison, Wisconsin, and introduced the dolls in 1986?
Pleasant Rowland
A former second-grade teacher and textbook writer, she started the company in Madison, Wisconsin.
Q 03A trip to which historic site inspired the founder to create the line?
Colonial Williamsburg
She saw a gap between baby dolls and Barbie for a doll that looked like a child and taught something.
Q 04Which toy giant bought the company in 1998, and for how much?
Mattel, for $700 million
The brand was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2021.
Q 05Which three characters were the original 1986 historical dolls?
Kirsten, Samantha and Molly
All three shared one face mould, distinguished by hair and eye colour.
Q 06Kirsten Larson is an immigrant from which country, settling in the Minnesota Territory in 1854?
Sweden
Her family tries to keep its old traditions while she attends a one-room schoolhouse.
Q 07Samantha Parkington's 1904 story is set in which fictional town?
Mount Bedford
It is based on the real Mount Kisco in Westchester County; she is a wealthy orphan living with her grandmother.
Q 08Samantha's best friend, a young servant girl, is called what?
Nellie O'Malley
Their friendship across the class divide is the heart of the Edwardian-era stories.
Q 09Molly McIntire's stories are set in 1944 in a fictional town in which state?
Illinois
Her father is a doctor stationed in England and her mother works for the Red Cross.
Q 10Molly is the only historical doll sold with which accessory?
Eyeglasses
Her English wartime friend Emily got her own doll before both were archived in 2013.
Q 11Felicity Merriman, introduced in 1991, lives in which colonial town at the start of the Revolution?
Williamsburg, Virginia
The auburn-haired horse lover is caught between Patriot and Loyalist family and friends.
Q 12Addy Walker, the first Black historical doll, escapes slavery to reach which city in 1864?
Philadelphia
Her six books by Connie Rose Porter sold over a million copies in a year and were vetted by Black historians.
Q 13Where did Addy make her public debut in September 1993?
A Black Family Reunion event in Washington
Q 21Which American Girl non-fiction title outsold every other in the line?
The Care and Keeping of You
The puberty guide became a rite of passage for a generation of tweens.
Q 22The doll line launched in 1995 as 'American Girl of Today' was renamed what in 2015?
Truly Me
It was renamed Just Like You in 2006, My American Girl in 2010 and Truly Me in 2015.
Q 23Girl of the Year dolls are traditionally launched on which date?
January 1
The line grew out of a 2001 contemporary character and Kailey Hopkins a year later; each doll is usually available for one year only.
She remained the only Black historical doll for nearly two decades.
Q 14Josefina Montoya lives on a ranch near which town in 1824?
Santa Fe, New Mexico
New Mexico was then part of Mexico; she has a pet goat named Sombrita and wants to be a healer like her grandmother.
Q 15Kaya, the earliest character chronologically, belongs to which Native American people?
Nez Perce
A tribal advisory board asked that her 1764 story be set before Western contact, and her face mould was made without a toothy smile because baring teeth is impolite in her culture.
Q 16Kit Kittredge dreams of becoming what during the Great Depression in Cincinnati?
A reporter
She types articles in her attic bedroom; her family takes in boarders after her father loses his job.
Q 17Who played Kit in the 2008 cinema release Kit Kittredge: An American Girl?
Abigail Breslin
The Little Miss Sunshine star was joined by Stanley Tucci, Joan Cusack, Julia Ormond and Chris O'Donnell.
Q 18Which movie star's production company made the first American Girl film, Samantha (2004)?
Julia Roberts
Her Red Om company launched the franchise; AnnaSophia Robb played Samantha.
Q 19Which future Divergent star played Felicity in the 2005 film?
Shailene Woodley
The Molly film followed in 2006 with Maya Ritter in the lead.
Q 20The classic six-book series for each historical character always begins with which title?
Meet [name]
Then Learns a Lesson, Surprise, Happy Birthday, Saves the Day and Changes for; only Kaya broke the pattern.
Q 24Who is regarded as the first Girl of the Year, in 2001?
Lindsey Bergman
Marisol (2005) was a dancer and Mia (2008) an ice skater; each doll comes with her own story and talent.
Q 25The Wellie Wishers, launched in 2016 for younger children, are named for what?
Their Wellington boots
The six characters are Willa, Camille, Kendall, Emerson, Ashlyn and Bryant, and the line focuses on nature and the outdoors.
Q 26Who was American Girl's first-ever boy doll, released in 2017?
Logan Everett
He was the bandmate of Tenney Grant, an aspiring country singer who launched the contemporary characters line.
Q 27The historical line was rebranded under what name from 2014 to 2019?
BeForever
The relaunch came with 'Journey Books' in which a modern girl travels back to meet each character, and brought Samantha back from retirement.
Q 28Where did the first American Girl Place store open in 1998?
Chicago
The 35,000-square-foot store had a restaurant and a 150-seat theatre; stores offer a doll hair salon and a doll hospital.
Q 29Which of these services can American Girl stores perform on a doll?
Piercing its ears
The doll hair salon also does nails, and pretend hearing aids can be fitted to the 18-inch dolls.
Q 30The company reversed a 2017 change to some dolls' bodies after fan outcry. What was the change?
Permanently stitched-on underwear
It was the first body change since cloth torsos went from white muslin to flesh tones in 1991; buyers could get dolls retrofitted.