Comments on: American Girl Books and Generations

By: dsohigian

dsohigian — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 00:20:04 +0000

@soratothamaz: nice insight!

By: soratothamax

soratothamax — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 22:45:55 +0000

The reason why there are no boomer children is because they didn't make the biggest impact until they grew up…which in turn was the 70s. If you notice something about the books, they try to get into the minds of several ages that impacted the whole era as a whole. It's really based on important eras in American history rather than specific generations. During the "Boomer" kids' era, their parents didn't make much of an important era. Most of the results of their era took place in the 70s. Civil Rights was the only important thing to mention in the 50s and 60s which the results of it was in the 70s. The whole era is heavily relying on the adults running the world at the time. In the 70s, the parents made the most impact on the era, and the children were the victims of it.

By: Made for the Millennial Generation: Barney and High School Musical | The Gen X Files

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:04:35 +0000

[...] This post is potentially more embarrassing than my commentary on the American Girl Dolls. Last week we watched the first “High School Musical” and I was struck by how similar [...]

By: dsohigian

dsohigian — Fri, 15 May 2009 17:39:04 +0000

@laraaellinor – Great to hear they also had a positive effect for you. We will keep getting the books from the library until we have read them all! And maybe it is time for you to pick up the
Julie series to learn what your Mom lived through (if she is Generation X).

By: dsohigian

dsohigian — Fri, 15 May 2009 17:33:06 +0000

@Katrina – it's great to hear the story of how these books had a positive influence on you. We felt EXACTLY the same way about the dolls as your Mom did: they seemed so mainstream at first. But now that we have read the books we have an entirely different picture.

By: laraellinor

laraellinor — Fri, 15 May 2009 08:24:08 +0000

Wow, I am feeling a bit old learning about new american dolls that were not around when I was around 8 years old. I had two american girl dolls and read all the books. My interest in history began with those dolls and like Brieze mentioned, I also always rememberd the different girls' stories when I learned history in school.
I grew up in a very waldorf family and never had barbies but american girl dolls are very different and I learned a lot of important lessons from their stories.

By: Katrina Hoven

Katrina Hoven — Fri, 15 May 2009 07:56:41 +0000

when I saw that one of the blog posts was about American Girl Dolls, I had to smile to myself. These dolls played a huge part in my young life. Though my mom also had concerns that the dolls and their stories might be too mainstream, she put her concerns aside and I got Molly (the silent generation girl) for my 7th birthday. We quickly read her entire story and began renting the other stories from the library. I have to say that up to about the age of 11 or so, I knew all the girls stories pretty much by heart. Though I would have never correlated these girls to certain generations, it makes a lot of sense! I remember when I first noticed that the books took place every decade to 20 years apart from each other, (Samantha was 1904, Kit, 1934, Molly 1944) I now wonder if the authors decided to do this based on the pattern of major historical events, which strongly relates to the study you do generations and the like. Though it may seem cheesy, but I would definitely accredit those books for igniting my interest in history. Though I may have been fairly young, I had a pretty accurate idea of when the civil war was, and what the war was about, which cant be said of all 8 year olds. Those books have definitely been beneficial to my upbringing.

By: Matt Thompson

Matt Thompson — Fri, 15 May 2009 02:56:04 +0000

I personally never had any American Girl Dolls (dolls aren't really a guy thing), but i have a sister a little bit older than me who absolutely LOVED the dolls and their stories. My mother (who by the way also loved the stories and even had a few dolls herself) would read the book to my sister, brother and I when we were younger during our "bedtime stories" time after dinner. It was always under protest from my brother and I, but none the less she would read them quite often.
I remember 1 story in particular about a girl growing up in New Mexico (Josefina i believe?) whos mother had died and she had to deal with that and live on. I don't remember many other details about the book itself (except that i seem to remember the girl having a goat).
Where i was going with this rant was that i don't believe that time period had everything to do with the stories. i think they tried to teach lessons about life to (dare i say "prepare"?) girls (and maybe not only girls) about hard life situations.

By: Dave Sohigian

Dave Sohigian — Wed, 13 May 2009 16:38:12 +0000

@Brieze – Neat to hear how those lessons stuck with you and acted as a guidepost in your later education. I wonder if our daughter will have the same experience. Stories are always the best way to relay information in a way that will stick (as a marketer I use that principle all the time).

By: Brieze

Brieze — Wed, 13 May 2009 05:32:59 +0000

I have two American Girl Dolls (yes I’m 18 and still remember the good ol’ days with them fondly). In response to the history lessons taught in the books, I think they definitely stick with you. I read all of the books when I was young and absolutely loved them. When learning about the abolition of slavery in school, my mind sheepishly related it back to Addy’s story about escaping to freedom. Then, when learning about the depression, (my other american girl doll, Kit), I remembered the hardshipsand the general timeline and story of the depression. Though I feel a little dorky admitting this now, I definitely feel that the AG books have some cultural and historical significance.