It's a damn shame

When I was a little girl, I had a fascination with the America Girl books. When was about 8, they were pretty much the coolest set of books ever. There were three American Girls. Molly, who lived during WWII, Samantha who lived in New York in the turn of the 20th century (and her best friend Nellie who was a orphaned house servant), and Kirsten who was a Sweedish girl who emigrated to the United States in the late 1800's. They were three girls who lived in different times of American History. Soon enough a 4th American Girl was introduced into the mix. Her name was Felicity and she lived during the Revolutionary War. Her friend Elizabeth was the daugher of a Loyalist but Felicity's father was on the American side of that conflict. They all had essentially the same adventures in different points in history. They really are great books for young girls.

So those were the American Girls. I loved them. I loved their books (and I actually still have all of the original books. I keep them down the cape in all their dog eared, battered, dirty, well read and re-read splendor). And eventually I got the doll version of Molly, who was by far my favorite American Girl. I still have Molly and I still consider myself pretty luck to have had her, as none of my friends got the actual doll. (I had to beg for a year straight and when finally got her, that was my only birthday present).

I have great memories of American Girl books. They were my first glimpse into history and they actually make the historical aspects of the books really interesting.

That is why I am so disheartened by what American Girl has become. I was watching Jon and Kate plus Eight (really good show, aside from this blip) and they took their twins to the American Girl store in NYC for their 6th birthday. I was curious about that because 6 year olds normally cannot read. Those books really are more for the 3rd graders, not kindergarteners. Well, apparently American Girl is a major franchise right now. And books hardly make a dent in their products. There are now 9 Girls, one of whom is getting a movie pretty soon (Kit - I have no idea who Kit is, she wasn't one of the original). Each doll has her own clothes line, for god's sake, and that is among many many other non-literary products. Check it out for yourself. The American Girls have been tainted. I actually had looked forward to getting my daughter all the American Girl books when she would be old enough to read them. But now she'll most likely be demanding an American Girl doll before she can speak in complete sentences. I'd be all for the mass commercializing of the Girls if they increased readership of the books, but I very much doubt that is the case.

How many little girls are reading the books and getting lost in history these days? How many are eagerly awaiting their mother to find Molly Saves The Day, or Changes For Felicity? Will they cry when Molly's father comes home from the war and Molly gets her very own special father/daughter moment all to herself? Will the study the "Glimpse Into History" in the back of Samantha's books and be doubfounded that the orphan train really did exist? Or will they trot off to watch their American Girls straight to video movie? Their imaginations are being taken away from them. Now they can use the computer to play interactive American Girl games (which is great, I wish I had the internet when I was a kid) but they won't have the memories of curling up on their bed ready to read the entire book cover to cover and refusing to consider the idea of dinner until they know WHAT HAPPENS TO BEN???

The book is always better.