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* '''Isabelle Palmer''' for 2014. She's a ballet dancer who attends the fictional Anna Hart School of Arts in Washington, DC.

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* '''Isabelle Palmer''' for in 2014. She's a ballet dancer who attends the fictional Anna Hart School of Arts in Washington, DC.
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* '''Molly [=McIntire=] (1944):''' The last of the original three who's still going. She lives in Illinois during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, while her father is serving in England as a doctor, and her books are largely about adapting to the changes brought on by war. Her family's English ward, Emily Bennett, was released as a Best Friend doll in '06. [[spoiler: According to a recent ''American Girl'' magazine issue, Molly and Emily will be retired by next year.]]

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* '''Molly [=McIntire=] (1944):''' The last of the original three who's still going. She lives in Illinois during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, while her father is serving in England as a doctor, and her books are largely about adapting to the changes brought on by war. Her family's English ward, Emily Bennett, was released as a Best Friend doll in '06. [[spoiler: According to a recent ''American Girl'' magazine issue, Molly and Emily will be were retired by next year.]]in 2013.




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* '''Isabelle Palmer''' for 2014. She's a ballet dancer who attends the fictional Anna Hart School of Arts in Washington, DC.
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* '''Molly [=McIntire=] (1944):''' The last of the original three who's still going. She lives in Illinois during WorldWarII, while her father is serving in England as a doctor, and her books are largely about adapting to the changes brought on by war. Her family's English ward, Emily Bennett, was released as a Best Friend doll in '06. [[spoiler: According to a recent ''American Girl'' magazine issue, Molly and Emily will be retired by next year.]]

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* '''Molly [=McIntire=] (1944):''' The last of the original three who's still going. She lives in Illinois during WorldWarII, UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, while her father is serving in England as a doctor, and her books are largely about adapting to the changes brought on by war. Her family's English ward, Emily Bennett, was released as a Best Friend doll in '06. [[spoiler: According to a recent ''American Girl'' magazine issue, Molly and Emily will be retired by next year.]]
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* '''Felicity Merriman (1774):''' Strangely, ''not'' part of the original three, yet pulled from the lineup in 2011. FieryRedhead, daughter of a merchant family in Virginia as TheAmericanRevolution approaches. Her series has a lot of plots focusing on the conflict of independence vs. loyalty to tradition. She also has a CoolHorse. Her creation led to Pleasant Company completely remaking their dolls to have flesh tone bodies, as Felicity's period clothing featured plunging necklines. Eventually her friend Elizabeth Cole was made into a Best Friend doll in '05.

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* '''Felicity Merriman (1774):''' Strangely, ''not'' part of the original three, yet pulled from the lineup in 2011. FieryRedhead, daughter of a merchant family in Virginia as TheAmericanRevolution UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution approaches. Her series has a lot of plots focusing on the conflict of independence vs. loyalty to tradition. She also has a CoolHorse. Her creation led to Pleasant Company completely remaking their dolls to have flesh tone bodies, as Felicity's period clothing featured plunging necklines. Eventually her friend Elizabeth Cole was made into a Best Friend doll in '05.
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Compare to ''DearAmerica.''

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Compare to ''DearAmerica.'' ''DearAmerica'', another series of historical fiction books starring girls, but aimed at an older demographic.
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Compare to ''DearAmerica.''

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Compare to ''DearAmerica.'' ''DearAmerica'', another series of historical fiction books starring girls, but aimed at an older demographic.
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* YouGoGirl: Julie's efforts to joint the basketball team serve as a kid-friendly representation of second-wave feminism.

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* YouGoGirl: Julie's efforts to joint join the basketball team serve as a kid-friendly representation of second-wave feminism.
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Hot Mom is no longer a trope.


* [[HotMom Hot Mom/Aunt]]: Many of the protagonists mothers and aunts fit this trope, even Josefina's sister Ana.
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* '''Molly [=McIntire=] (1944):''' The last of the original three who's still going. She lives in Illinois during WorldWarII, while her father is serving in England as a doctor, and her books are largely about adapting to the changes brought on by war. Her family's English ward, Emily Bennett, was released as a Best Friend doll in '06.

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* '''Molly [=McIntire=] (1944):''' The last of the original three who's still going. She lives in Illinois during WorldWarII, while her father is serving in England as a doctor, and her books are largely about adapting to the changes brought on by war. Her family's English ward, Emily Bennett, was released as a Best Friend doll in '06. [[spoiler: According to a recent ''American Girl'' magazine issue, Molly and Emily will be retired by next year.]]
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* '''Kirsten Larson (1854):''' One of the original three, pulled from the lineup in 2010. Swedish immigrant to Minnesota in Pioneer Times. The series focuses on the difficulties of adapting to a new life in harsh surroundings and features many staples of "frontier" stories, such as scary weather, a strict {{schoolmarm}} and a [[BlackBestFriend secret Native American friend]].

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* '''Kirsten Larson (1854):''' One of the original three, pulled from the lineup in 2010. Swedish immigrant to Minnesota in Pioneer Times. The series focuses on [[AnImmigrantsTale the difficulties of adapting to a new life in harsh surroundings surroundings]] and features many staples of "frontier" stories, such as scary weather, a strict {{schoolmarm}} and a [[BlackBestFriend secret Native American friend]].
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* '''Addy Walker (1864):''' The first non-white doll. First a slave in North Carolina, then escapes to Philadelphia, during TheAmericanCivilWar. Her family is separated and has to reunite, and stories focus on issues faced by former slaves, such as catching up on the education they'd been denied and the fact that "free" black people weren't all that free, even in the North.

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* '''Addy Walker (1864):''' The first non-white doll. First a slave in North Carolina, then escapes to Philadelphia, during TheAmericanCivilWar.UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar. Her family is separated and has to reunite, and stories focus on issues faced by former slaves, such as catching up on the education they'd been denied and the fact that "free" black people weren't all that free, even in the North.
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* CompanionCube: The original five girls (Felicity, Kirsten, Addy, Samantha, Molly)all have a doll that they treasure, usually received as a gift during the Christmas books. Josefina and Kit each had one as well, but they were discussed to a lesser extent.
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Hottip Cleanup


* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Think of ''all'' the notable characters in ''all'' of the girl's series that you could apply tropes to. [[YourHeadASplode Your head just exploded.]] As for dolls, there's 13 historical dolls, 5 historical best friend dolls, 12 GOTY dolls[[hottip:*: Gwen and Sonali were released along with Chrissa]] and counting, and ''58 My American Girl Dolls.'' Most fans just try to buy the ones they really like instead of getting them all.

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* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Think of ''all'' the notable characters in ''all'' of the girl's series that you could apply tropes to. [[YourHeadASplode Your head just exploded.]] As for dolls, there's 13 historical dolls, 5 historical best friend dolls, 12 GOTY dolls[[hottip:*: Gwen dolls[[note]]Gwen and Sonali were released along with Chrissa]] Chrissa[[/note]] and counting, and ''58 My American Girl Dolls.'' Most fans just try to buy the ones they really like instead of getting them all.
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* PluckyGirl: All the protagonists by default.
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* SpannerInTheWorks: In the game of Color War played in ''Molly Saves the Day,'' the Red Team captures every member of the Blue Team except for Molly and Susan, who didn't follow the group because Susan is bad at canoeing and wound up in the wrong spot. [[spoiler:Molly is ultimately the player who devises a plan to free her entire team, capture the flag and return home, victorious.]]
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** Felicity and her peers have to learn to sew samplers as part of their lessons on how to be a ProperLady.

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** Felicity and her peers have to learn to sew samplers as part of their lessons on how to be a ProperLady. Elizabeth also helps sew Felcity's blue ballgown.
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* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Annabelle has her moments.


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* PetTheDog: Off-page, Annabelle assists Elizabeth and their mother in sewing Felicity's blue ballgown when Mrs. Merriman is too ill to do it herself.

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* MayDecemberRomance: Fandom seems to center on three main pairings as favorites ie Felicity/Ben, Josefina/Patrick, and Kit/Will. The first two pairings have an age disparity of six years whereas Kit/Will has only five, but the May December Romance inherent in the pairings causes some fans to love these pairings even more, and Felicity/Ben is ''extremely'' popular within the fandom.

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* MayDecemberRomance: Fandom seems to center on three main pairings as favorites ie is Felicity/Ben, Josefina/Patrick, and Kit/Will. The first two pairings have an age disparity of six years whereas Kit/Will has only five, but the May December Romance inherent in the pairings causes some fans to love these pairings even more, and Felicity/Ben is ''extremely'' popular within the fandom.
* MementoMacGuffin: A handmade doll named Niña fulfills this purpose in ''Josefina's Surprise.'' She is both a valuable part of a family tradition and a keepsake from the sisters' mother. The tradition in question is to for the sister with the doll to hand it down to the next youngest sister when she turns eight years old, [[spoiler:but Clara breaks the pattern by hanging onto Niña after their mother dies. She completes her CharacterDevelopment when she learns to let go of her mother and finally gives the doll to Josefina.]]



** Recently a modern lunch accessory set included an Epi-Pen.

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** Recently a modern lunch accessory set included an Epi-Pen.[=EpiPen=].



* MissingMom: Josefina's mom died a year prior to the first book. This becomes a plot point in ''Josefina's Surprise.'' Marie-Grace's mother has been dead for four years at the start of Mare-Grace's first book.

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* MissingMom: MissingMom:
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Josefina's mom died a year prior to the first book. This becomes a plot point in ''Josefina's Surprise.'' ''
**
Marie-Grace's mother has been dead for four years at the start of Mare-Grace's first book.



** A major plot point in Josefina's Christmas book is the Montoya sisters, with the help of their aunt, repairing the Las Posadas altar cloth that their mother made, using a special type of embroidery called ''colcha''. Josefina notes that Clara is especially good at it.

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** A major plot point in Josefina's Christmas book is the Montoya sisters, with the help of their aunt, repairing the Las Posadas altar cloth that their mother made, using a special type of embroidery called ''colcha''. Josefina notes that Clara is especially good at it.it, [[spoiler:even sewing a new dress for [[MementoMacGuffin Niña the doll]] when she's ready to hand her down to Josefina at last]]. In different books, the sisters learn to make dresses of their own and weave blankets from sheep's wool to sell.
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* TextileWorkIsFeminine:
** Addy's mother works as a seamstress in a dress shop.
** Felicity and her peers have to learn to sew samplers as part of their lessons on how to be a ProperLady.
** A major plot point in Josefina's Christmas book is the Montoya sisters, with the help of their aunt, repairing the Las Posadas altar cloth that their mother made, using a special type of embroidery called ''colcha''. Josefina notes that Clara is especially good at it.
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* AffectionateNickname: Felicity's family and close friends call her "Lissie."
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Compare to ''DearAmerica.''
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* '''Samantha Parkington (1904):''' One of the original three, pulled from the lineup in 2009. Marketed as Victorian Era despite 1904 being TheEdwardianEra. She's a rich orphan being raised by her conservative grandmother in upstate New York. She learns about the women's suffrage movement and the horrors of child labor. She fights to change conditions for the poor, and aspires to become the [[IronLady first woman president]]. In 2004 her friend [[spoiler:and new sister, due to Samantha's Uncle Gard leagally adopting both of them and Nellie's two younger sisters, Bridget and Jenny, ans his daughters]] Nellie O'Malley was made into the first Best Friend doll to coincide with the release of [[TheMovie Samantha's movie]].

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* '''Samantha Parkington (1904):''' One of the original three, pulled from the lineup in 2009. Marketed as Victorian Era despite 1904 being TheEdwardianEra. She's a rich orphan being raised by her conservative grandmother in upstate New York. She learns about the women's suffrage movement and the horrors of child labor. She fights to change conditions for the poor, and aspires to become the [[IronLady first woman president]]. In 2004 her friend [[spoiler:and new sister, due to Samantha's Uncle Gard leagally adopting both of them and Nellie's two younger sisters, Bridget and Jenny, ans and his daughters]] Nellie O'Malley was made into the first Best Friend doll to coincide with the release of [[TheMovie Samantha's movie]].
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[[quoteright:320:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/American_Girls_collection_4175.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:320:A collection of American Girls.]]

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[[quoteright:320:http://static.[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/American_Girls_collection_4175.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pcgang5s_1299.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:320:A collection of American Girls.[[caption-width-right:350:The first five Historical Characters.]]
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Correcing bad misspellings of Addy.


* FriendToAllLivingThings: Most of the doll collections come with a pet of some kind. Some of these are perfectly reasonable, like Marisol's cat or Addie's canary. But then you get Kanani's harp seal, or Chrissa's mail-delivering llama...

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* FriendToAllLivingThings: Most of the doll collections come with a pet of some kind. Some of these are perfectly reasonable, like Marisol's cat or Addie's Addy's canary. But then you get Kanani's harp seal, or Chrissa's mail-delivering llama...
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** "Chatterbox" and Impulsive American Molly and the reserved and thoughtful Emily.
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** Felicity and her little sister, Nan, fill this role as well. As do Agnes and Agatha in the Samantha series, with Agnes being more prim than her sister (not that it lasts long).

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\"Everything\'s Worse With Bears\" clean-up


* BearsAreBadNews: [[MemeticMutation Kirsten gets eaten by a bear]], of course. (No, actually, she doesn't. But it's a close thing!)



* EverythingsWorseWithBears: [[MemeticMutation Kirsten gets eaten by a bear]], of course. (No, actually, she doesn't. But it's a close thing!)
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* {{Hypocrite}}: Annabelle thinks it's perfectly alright to call Elizabeth [[EmbarrassingNickname "Bitsy",]] but hits the roof when she finds Felicity mocking her with the name "Bananabelle".
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* ShrinkingViolet: Sort-of deconstructed in ''Felicity Learns a Lesson.'' Felicity becomes angry with Elizabeth for not speaking up when Annabelle lied about and insulted her father; however, it is resolved when Elizabeth decides to grow a spine and stand up to her abrasive older sister.
-->'''Elizabeth:''' I ''hate'' being called Bitsy. From now on, call me ''Elizabeth.'' Or I will call you Bananabelle in front of everyone. Annabelle, Bananabelle.
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[[quoteright:320:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/American_Girls_collection_4175.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:320:A collection of American Girls.]]

->''"Follow your Inner Star!"''

The American Girls Collection -- generally referred to as "American Girl" -- is a collection of dolls and books that show history in various time periods ranging from Late Native America to TheSeventies -- all through the eyes of the average nine-year-old girl.

'''The main Historical Characters currently consist of:'''
* '''Kaya'aton'my (1764):''' Nez Perce Native American in the Pacific Northwest, pre-European settlement. Tries to get rid of her EmbarrassingNickname 'Magpie' by proving to her tribe she isn't like the selfish bird. She has a CoolHorse.
* '''Felicity Merriman (1774):''' Strangely, ''not'' part of the original three, yet pulled from the lineup in 2011. FieryRedhead, daughter of a merchant family in Virginia as TheAmericanRevolution approaches. Her series has a lot of plots focusing on the conflict of independence vs. loyalty to tradition. She also has a CoolHorse. Her creation led to Pleasant Company completely remaking their dolls to have flesh tone bodies, as Felicity's period clothing featured plunging necklines. Eventually her friend Elizabeth Cole was made into a Best Friend doll in '05.
* '''Caroline Abbott (1812):''' The third historical character to be released that isn't set in a year ending in '4. Daughter of a Sackets Harbor shipbuilder who ended up getting caught by the British during the War of 1812.
* '''Josefina Montoya (1824):''' ShrinkingViolet, daughter of a rancher in the Mexican-controlled Southwest. Her [[MissingMom mother died]] just before her series starts, leaving her, her three sisters, and their grieving father somewhat lost, until her aunt Dolores moves in and helps everyone discover their HiddenDepths. [[MyNameIsInigoMontoya No relation.]]
* '''Cécile Rey and Marie-Grace Gardner (1853):''' Two very different girls (a French-speaking African American and an English-speaking Caucasian American, respectively) growing up and becoming friends during the boom of 19th century UsefulNotes/NewOrleans, Louisiana. The girls' stories involve embracing one another despite differences and cultural barriers, and giving aid to those in distress, most notably during [[ThePlague the breakout of yellow fever]] which struck New Orleans in 1853. The first of the main historical characters to be marketed as a duo (although each have their books, and their dolls can be purchased separately), and the first Historical Dolls not set in a year ending in '4.
* '''Kirsten Larson (1854):''' One of the original three, pulled from the lineup in 2010. Swedish immigrant to Minnesota in Pioneer Times. The series focuses on the difficulties of adapting to a new life in harsh surroundings and features many staples of "frontier" stories, such as scary weather, a strict {{schoolmarm}} and a [[BlackBestFriend secret Native American friend]].
* '''Addy Walker (1864):''' The first non-white doll. First a slave in North Carolina, then escapes to Philadelphia, during TheAmericanCivilWar. Her family is separated and has to reunite, and stories focus on issues faced by former slaves, such as catching up on the education they'd been denied and the fact that "free" black people weren't all that free, even in the North.
* '''Samantha Parkington (1904):''' One of the original three, pulled from the lineup in 2009. Marketed as Victorian Era despite 1904 being TheEdwardianEra. She's a rich orphan being raised by her conservative grandmother in upstate New York. She learns about the women's suffrage movement and the horrors of child labor. She fights to change conditions for the poor, and aspires to become the [[IronLady first woman president]]. In 2004 her friend [[spoiler:and new sister, due to Samantha's Uncle Gard leagally adopting both of them and Nellie's two younger sisters, Bridget and Jenny, ans his daughters]] Nellie O'Malley was made into the first Best Friend doll to coincide with the release of [[TheMovie Samantha's movie]].
* '''Rebecca Rubin (1914):''' Russian Jewish immigrant living in the Lower East Side of Manhattan and aspires to be a movie actress, despite her parents and grandparents' more traditional views.
* '''Kit Kittredge (1934):''' Cincinnati, Ohio, during TheGreatDepression. Kit's series focuses on learning to make-do without, and not taking things for granted. Her companion Ruthie was made into a Best Friend doll in '08.
* '''Molly [=McIntire=] (1944):''' The last of the original three who's still going. She lives in Illinois during WorldWarII, while her father is serving in England as a doctor, and her books are largely about adapting to the changes brought on by war. Her family's English ward, Emily Bennett, was released as a Best Friend doll in '06.
* '''Julie Albright (1974):''' Lives in UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco during TheSeventies. She learns how to deal with the changes her parents' divorce caused to her life while navigating social upheavals like [[YouGoGirl second-wave feminism]], the environmentalist movement, and the changing rights of racial minorities as explored through her relationship with her Chinese best friend, Ivy Ling. Ivy was released alongside Julie as a Best Friend doll, but her collection consisted of exactly one dress up until 2011.

There is also a set of dolls, called "My American Girl", which offers multiple dolls of varying looks to make into a personal character. This can lead to [[MarySue some unusual characters]].

Also since 2001, there has been a "Girl of the Year" (GOTY), a 9-year-old girl who would represent the year she came out.

'''Girls of the Year so far include:'''

* '''Lindsey Bergman''' in 2001. She was sold until the end of 2002. She was the first Jewish character to come out of American Girl and in her stories, she tried to help people with [[StopHelpingMe negative consequences]]. She had terrible sales when available, yet ironically she's one of the [[EnsembleDarkhorse most sought-out dolls]] by collectors nowadays.
* '''Kailey Hopkins''' in 2003. A surfer girl who tries to save the California tide pools from development projects.
* '''Marisol Luna''' in 2005. A Hispanic girl who loves to dance, yet has to move to the other side of town where they don't have dance lessons.
* '''Jess Akiko [=McConnell=]''' in 2006. A half-Japanese, half-Irish girl who goes out to Belize with her archaeologist parents.
* '''Nikki Fleming''' in 2007. A Colorado girl who trains a dog to be a service dog.
* '''Mia St. Clair''' in 2008. An ice-skater who wants to pursue figure skating when her family is full of hockey players.
* '''Chrissa Maxwell, Sonali Matthews, and Gwen Thompson''' in 2009. Chrissa is the new girl who has to deal with bullying from the [[GirlPosse mean bees]]. Sonali is a former member of the bees, and Gwen is the (literally) poor girl they used to harass.
* '''Lanie Holland''' in 2010. An adventurous girl who loves the outdoors living with a family who prefers the indoors.
* '''Kanani Akina''' in 2011. A Hawaiian girl who introduces her cousin to her homeland. The line appears to be trying to avoid HulaAndLuaus, but there are some spots...
* '''[=McKenna=] Brooks''' in 2012. A girl who struggles to balance her struggle with her schoolwork with her love of and focus on gymnastics.
* '''Saige Copeland''' in 2013. An artist who wants the subject to return to her school fully, instead of the every other year situation going on due to budget cuts.

While the dolls are targeted towards the 8-12 year old age range, most of the fandom will be found to be [[PeripheryDemographic over the age of eighteen]]. This is because much of the fandom around the dolls consists of people who got or wanted the dolls young and grew up. (The dolls are expensive and can only be mail-ordered or purchased at specialty stores found in very large American cities.) There is also a large demographic of middle-aged women, many of whom have children who have or had the dolls.

The company also used to publish the ''AmeliasNotebook'' series.
----
!!The ''American Girl'' series, toy line, and fandom show examples of:

* AdaptationDyeJob: in the original Felicity books, Felicity's best friend Elizabeth is a brunette, but in the movie (and later, for her doll) she's a blond.
* AllGirlsLikePonies: Felicity, Kaya, and a big chunk of the modern collection.
* AlliterativeName: Rebecca Rubin, Molly [=McIntire=], and Zig Zagged with Kit Kittredge; Kit is just a nickname and her real name is Margaret, but her full name is Margaret Mildred Kittredge.
* AlphaBitch: Harriet Davis in Addy's series and Lavinia Halsworth in Cécile and Marie-Grace's series. Also Annabelle, Elizabeth's older sister in Felicity's story, Edith Eddleton in Samantha's story, and Blair in Lindsey's story with Missy as her [[TheDragon Dragon]].
* AlwaysIdenticalTwins: Wing Feather and Sparrow, Kaya's younger brothers, Agnes and Agatha Pitt in Samantha's series, and Rebecca's twin older sisters Sadie and Sophie.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: None of the "tan" Just Like You dolls are given a specific race, and can generally be whatever the purchaser chooses. The tan dolls now actually have more facial diversity than the light ones.
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Sometimes Wing Feather and Sparrow to Kaya, sometimes Nan and William to Felecity, Brad to Molly, and Ethan to Lindsey.
* AscendedExtra: Emily was originally a minor character who stayed with Molly's family for two weeks. She was later made into a doll, given her own book and starred prominently in the movie.
** Elizabeth, Nellie, Ruthie, and Ivy eventually got their own doll and book, best friends to Felicity, Samantha, Kit, and Julie, respectively.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Josefina is suddenly a lot less of a ShrinkingViolet when you piss her off.
* BittersweetEnding: Kaya's mystery ''The Silent Stranger''. While [[spoiler:giving away her beloved pet dog Tatlo to the titular stranger]] is great character development for Kaya, it's a bitter pill for many readers to swallow.
** ''Changes for Addy''. Yes, Addy's whole family is reunited once more, but [[spoiler: Uncle Solomon dies before he can reunite with the Walkers and Auntie Lula dies a few days after returning Esther to the family.]]
** ''Meet Kirsten''. The final chapter shows Kirsten arriving in Minnesota and becoming friends with her cousins. The previous chapter [[spoiler: has Kirsten dealing with the death of her best friend Marta.]]
* BlackBestFriend: With different races. Julie's best friend Ivy Ling is the only Asian Historical, and Kirsten has a Native Best Friend in Singing Bird.
** Josefina, who may be mestiza, also has a Pueblo Indian friend, Mariana. ''Happy Birthday, Felicity!'' features a young black militiaman whom Felicity and Ben hang out with.
* BlitheSpirit: Julie. Heck, her first book is about Julie trying to have her new school accept girls onto the boys-only basketball team.
* BlitzEvacuees: Emily Bennett.
* BraidsBeadsAndBuckskins: The only Native American doll, Kaya, is set in 1764. Guess what she wears.
* BritishStuffiness: Emily Bennett from Molly's story fits this at first, and the trope is also mentioned by Molly's mother.
* ButNotTooBlack: The dolls of color in the Just Like You collection. The Asian one looks like a pale white girl with black hair and "almond" eyes, the company added several new dark skin models in 2010 (some even with the new Sonali mold), and the tan dolls are all racially ambiguous. They recently toned down the "textured" hair of the black dolls so the hair is less "natural" and more like chemically straightened hair, and the dark skin tone has gotten noticeably lighter. Some people will even purchase the Just Like You #26 doll and put her in Addy's clothes.
** In an interesting subversion, the Sonali doll actually has ''darker'' skin than the original character.
* ChewToy: Lindsey is just ''never'' allowed to be happy or succeed at anything, is she?
* ChildHater: Mrs. Schumacher from Lindsey's story comes across this way.
* ComingOfAgeStory: The center of the historical dolls' stories.
* CoolBigSis: Some of the older sisters have their moments, like Francisca in ''Josefina Saves the Day'' when she's the one to accompany Josefina into Santa Fe in the middle of the night to get the stuff Patrick O'Toole left for them.
* DaddysGirl: Molly [=McIntire=]
* DarkerAndEdgier: The Girls of Many Lands book and doll line and the History Mysteries book series (both discontinued). Both series had slightly older protagonists than the historical dolls, and both touched on some of the darker and sadder parts of history the main historical series tend to play down.
* DeathByChildbirth: Florecita, one of the goats on the ranch where Josefina lives, in ''Happy Birthday, Josefina!''
* DeniedFoodAsPunishment: In ''Changes For Samantha'', Samantha's friend Nellie is regularly punished by the cold headmistress and given little to no food during her stay at [[OrphanageOfFear Coldrock House]].
* DisappearedDad: Stirling's dad from Kit's series, Molly's dad until the end of ''Changes for Molly'', and Gwen's dad from Chrissa's series.
* DontSplitUsUp: In ''Changes for Samantha'', when the orphaned Nellie was to be sent on the orphan train without her sisters, Samantha helps the three sisters to run away and hide out in her attic so they could be together.
* DramatisPersonae: At the front of every book, the protagonist's family and friends are depicted in a historically accurate way - individual portraits for the well-to-do Colonial Merrimans, but a group family daguerreotype for Kirsten's family, and so on.
** The current books tend to stick with individual portraits for all the stories, Kirsten's group daguerreotypes being replaced with single portraits. The frames do reflect either the character's time period or their culture, however.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Lindsey's story.
* EdibleThemeNaming: The Coconut pets are all named after various food items.
* EvenTheDogIsAshamed: From Lindsey's book --
-->It didn't get any better when I got home, either. Mom met me at the door with her own version of the asparagus face. Even my dog, Mr. Tiny, the most loyal and fabulous wiener dog in the history of the world, lowered his tail and slunk down to the basement at the sight of me.
* EverythingsBetterWithLlamas: Chrissa, the girl of the year in 2009, has a pet llama named Starburst.
* EveryProperLadyShouldCurtsy: In ''Happy Birthday, Molly!'', one of Molly's friends tries to curtsy while wearing pants when she meets the English girl Emily, and she says that she thought English girls always did that. Felicity and her peers have to learn for real.
* EverythingsWorseWithBears: [[MemeticMutation Kirsten gets eaten by a bear]], of course. (No, actually, she doesn't. But it's a close thing!)
* FakeBrit: Molly and her friends fake British accents while anticipating the arrival of [[ShrinkingViolet Emily]].
* FashionHurts: In Molly's last book, she's obsessed with curling her hair so she'll be more likely to get picked for the lead role in a patriotic dance for her tap class. After trying various increasingly uncomfortable methods, she resorts to one that involves sleeping with soaking-wet hair, which causes her to catch a cold and not be able to perform at all.
* FearOfThunder: Josefina (although it's actually lightning she's afraid of).
* FeudEpisode: Kit and Ruthie, Molly and Emily...it's a common plot for a couple of the books, though the friends always make up in the end.
* FirstLove: This trope is alluded to in Josefina's stories; her [[MissingMom mother has died]] before the series began. A poem about first love was a favorite of hers (even though she could not read). Her literate aunt wrote the poem down at some point (and uses it to encourage Josefina to read); it is implied that the poem is unique for Josefina's late mother through the series as it takes Josefina's father some time to grow to [[SecondLove love her aunt, Tia Dolores]].
* FriendToAllLivingThings: Most of the doll collections come with a pet of some kind. Some of these are perfectly reasonable, like Marisol's cat or Addie's canary. But then you get Kanani's harp seal, or Chrissa's mail-delivering llama...
* ForceFeeding: Addy's first book, when the slave driver forces Addy to eat slugs off the tobacco plants.
* FourGirlEnsemble: The Montoya sisters: Ana, the oldest and the TeamMom (almost literally, since their mother is dead and she's already married with two kids); Francisca, the beautiful, fashionable, rebellious one; Clara, the diligent, prudent, preachy one; and Josefina, the youngest and the main character, who's chirpy and cheerful and tries to keep the peace between Francisca and Clara when Ana's not around.
* GirlinessUpgrade: Kit states that she doesn't like pink, and her collection originally reflected this with no pink outfits and items. Once her movie came out, [[OutofCharacterMoment Kit got a batch of pink outfits and a pink blanket]].
* TheGreatDepression: The setting for Kit's books and [[TheMovie her movie.]]
* GrayEyes: Molly.
* GrumpyOldMan: Uncle Hendrick.
* HappyHolidaysDress: Almost every Historical Character has a holiday dress, and every year a new holiday dress and accessory ensemble is released.
* HaveAGayOldTime: In the Rebecca mystery "The Crystal Ball", one paragraph mentions "the gay crowds". Since this story takes place in the 1910's, the language is accurate for describing a cheerful group of people. On the other hand, the story was published in 2012 - and today's average tween and young teen reading this book is likelier to be much more familiar with a very different meaning for the word "gay".
* HeroesWantRedheads: Arguably, part of the justification for the Ben/Felicity pairing.
* HollywoodHistory: History gets (somewhat) prettied up when making it palatable for children. The worst abuses of Edwardian Era workhouses are left out (except in the movie), but it's still pretty clear that they're rotten, awful places. Also, although it makes a lovely story, it's unlikely that a society as class-driven as Samantha's would have seen a rich couple adopting immigrant street orphans.
* [[HotDad Hot Dad/Uncle]]: From the pictures in the books and later the movie, it's sufficient to say that Kit's dad deserves this trope.
** Uncle Gard in the Samantha movie falls into this category as well.
** With the beautiful illustrations of the books, many of the other fathers fit this trope!
* [[HotMom Hot Mom/Aunt]]: Many of the protagonists mothers and aunts fit this trope, even Josefina's sister Ana.
* IJustWantToBeFree: The Walker family.
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: In ''Changes for Josefina'', Tía Dolores feels that despite her feelings for Josefina's Papá, she has to leave the ranch so he can find a new wife. Ironically, Papá ''does'' love Tía Dolores, but [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy he wants his beloved to be happy]] and let her go where she wants to go. [[spoiler: Fortunately they end up HappilyMarried with each other when Josefina clears up the situation with her Papá.]]
* IconicItem: As part of the [[StrictlyFormula strict formula]], each girl has a necklace and gets a doll at Christmas. Sometimes these have some plot significance, and sometimes they don't -- e.g., Josefina's necklace is a gold cross with a garnet that's never mentioned at all in-story, whereas Addy's is a cowrie shell her grandmother brought from Africa strung on one of her brother's shoelaces to remind her of her family; but Josefina's doll is part of a family Christmas tradition from before her mother died, and Addy's just happens to be her Christmas present.
* [[IllGirl Ill Boy]]: Stirling.
* InfantImmortality: If you're young enough to be considered a child in whatever time period you're in and the main character knows you by name, then you're pretty much guaranteed to live in the historical series. Averted with [[spoiler:Marta in Kirsten's series]], though, and Marie-Grace is stated to have a younger brother who died in a cholera epidemic.
* InformedFlaw: Brad is described as a 'little pest' to Molly, but he never does anything in the books to antagonize or even annoy Molly.
* JerkAss: Uncle Hendrick in Kit's series. He thinks less of his niece's husband for paying his workers with his own money, and hates Roosevelt out of a belief that poor people are lazy and don't deserve his help.
* KarmaHoudini: [[AlphaBitch Blair]] and [[TheDragon Missy]] in Lindsey's story get away with [[KickTheDog everything they do to April.]] Blair even wins the Perfect World Collage contest.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Think of ''all'' the notable characters in ''all'' of the girl's series that you could apply tropes to. [[YourHeadASplode Your head just exploded.]] As for dolls, there's 13 historical dolls, 5 historical best friend dolls, 12 GOTY dolls[[hottip:*: Gwen and Sonali were released along with Chrissa]] and counting, and ''58 My American Girl Dolls.'' Most fans just try to buy the ones they really like instead of getting them all.
* LiveActionAdaptation: Some of the Historicals, namely Samantha, Felicity, Molly and Kit got to appear in their very own films. As for the contemporary girls, only Chrissa Maxwell and [=McKenna Brooks=] made it in front of the camera so far.
* LuddWasRight: Samantha's grandmother believes this, anyway.
* MayDecemberRomance: Fandom seems to center on three main pairings as favorites ie Felicity/Ben, Josefina/Patrick, and Kit/Will. The first two pairings have an age disparity of six years whereas Kit/Will has only five, but the May December Romance inherent in the pairings causes some fans to love these pairings even more, and Felicity/Ben is ''extremely'' popular within the fandom.
* TheMerch: From historically accurate underwear to doll-sized Heelies, the dolls have everything.
** Recently a modern lunch accessory set included an Epi-Pen.
* MerchandiseDriven
* MissingMom: Josefina's mom died a year prior to the first book. This becomes a plot point in ''Josefina's Surprise.'' Marie-Grace's mother has been dead for four years at the start of Mare-Grace's first book.
* MrFanservice: Why Kevin Zegers was cast as Ben Davidson in ''Felicity: An American Girl Adventure'' and likewise for Max Thieriot as Will Shepherd when the AG movies went theatrical in 2008 with ''Kit Kittredge: An American Girl''. This trope also appears in the books, where readers have admitted to crushing on male characters drawn beguilingly handsome such as Kit's older brother Charlie from her books.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Lindsey, [[StopHelpingMe over and over and over again.]] Although it's not just Lindsey -- April indirectly gives her the idea to put smiley-face stickers on the neighbors' trash cans, which lands her in hot water with them, her mother, and the ''police.''
* OfficialCosplayGear: There were girl-sized outfits and accessories that matched the outfits available for the Historical Characters. Now this is generally only applied to their nightclothes and the modern outfits.
* OrphanageOfFear: Nellie and her sisters get sent to one of these. Thank goodness Samantha helps them escape and they all end up [[HappilyAdopted adopted by Samantha's rich family]].
* ParentalAbandonment: A few, like Samantha, the orphan. Addy is also a partial case of this, as only she and her mother make the initial journey north. In ''Addy's Surprise,'' she is reunited with her father.
** Marie-Grace's father is still alive, but he gets so busy with his doctor work that she only sees him in the evenings. At one point he tries to send Marie-Grace to live with her relatives due to the yellow fever epidemic keeping him away from home so often.
* PimpedOutDress: The holiday dresses, since these are supposed to be formal outfits.
* PrettyInMink: Some of Samantha's outfits. In "Changes for Samantha", she wears a white fur hat with a puffball at the top, and a white fur muff.
* ProperLady: Elizabeth. This is also how Grandmary is trying to raise Samantha.
* RaisedByGrandparents: Samantha
* RedOni,BlueOni: Impulsive FieryRedhead Felicity and Cooler headed Elizabeth, especially in "Very Funny, Elizabeth!" when the girls were discussing plans on how to prevent Elizabeth from being moved to England, Felicity discussed them running away to the Kentucky Frontier while Elizabeth comes up with a more convenient and hilarious plan.
* RetCon: This is dramatically seen with Elizabeth Cole -- Felicity's best friend -- being changed from a brown-eyed brunette to a blue-eyed blonde. All the images and text of Felicity's stories were updated to make it like she'd always been blonde.
** A more minor example is Emily. She was originally portrayed as having a bob-like hairstyle, she was later reillustrated to have shoulder-length hair following Molly's movie.
** Another minor example is Felicity's iconic "Meet Felicity" gown. The original books and dolls showed her in a rose-print gown. It's pretty, but the pattern manages not to be overly girly. Later editions give her a lavender gown with multicolored flowers and white flourishes, looking much cuter and stereotypically girlier.
* RuleOfThree: The first three girls were released together: Samantha, Kirsten, and Molly.
* ShadowArchetype:
** Edith Eddleton to Samantha. They are both wealthy, upper-class girls, but Samantha befriends Nellie and her sisters while Edith looks down on them for being servants.
** Blair and Missy to Lindsey in a similar fashion -- Lindsey is a good friend to April and helps her feel better, but Blair and Missy get their kicks out of bullying her.
* ShownTheirWork: At the end of each historical book is a "Looking Back" section that goes into some detail about the time period, and helps to place the character in the time. Kaya and Josefina had cultural panels involved in their creation as well, which is why Kaya is the only doll with a closed mouth (showing one's teeth is considered offensive to Nez Perce).
* SpiritedYoungLady: Felicity Merriman. In contrast, her friend Elizabeth Cole is more of a ProperLady.
* StrictlyFormula: The central books always followed a pattern of 'Meet ____' (introduction), '___ Learns a Lesson' (school), '___'s Surprise' ({{Christmas|Episode}}), 'Happy Birthday, ___!' (self-explanatory), '___ Saves the Day!' (adventure), and 'Changes for ___' (winter, New Year's, or some sort of closure to the story). The books broke the pattern with Kaya because Native Americans obviously didn't have things like schoolhouses or Christmas, and all dolls released after her have followed a similarly loose formula.
** This also counts as IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming.
* ThreeMonthOldNewborn: Averted (no, seriously). Kirsten's mother tells her that when she was born, she was "a red-faced little thing with white fuzz for hair".
* TitleDrop: Occurs in the last line of ''Really, Truly Ruthie''.
* TokenMinority: Josefina, Ivy, and Kaya all have unique ethnicities. Also seen in people's collections when people will have one or two minority dolls. This mostly consist of limited edition dolls or [[ButNotTooBlack Just Like You #26, who appears biracial black.]] There have only been two Jewish dolls: Lindsey (who was only available for a short time) and Rebecca.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Felicity and Elizabeth, Kit and Ruthie, Julie and Ivy. Note that [[RealWomenNeverWearDresses the tomboy is always the star of the series]].
** Molly's friends Linda and Susan, with Molly as TheKirk.
* WhamLine: When Kit goes to the soup kitchen and serves soup to a man [[spoiler:who turns out to be her father]].
** Combined with MeaningfulEcho and BrickJoke in ''Addy Saves the Day''. In the first book, Addy's brother Sam teaches her a riddle, so in ''Saves the Day''...
-->'''Addy:''' ''(doing a puppet show)'' What's smaller than a dog, but can send a bear on the run?
-->'''Solider in Crowd:''' That's an easy riddle! [[spoiler:Even my little sister knows that one! It's a skunk!]]
* WoundedGazelleGambit: Lindsey stops Blair from tormenting April, so Blair pretends that Lindsey attacked her on the way to school. It only partially works.
* YouMeanXmas: Up until they created Kaya, each of the American Girl characters had a Christmas story as a part of her book series. Since Kaya obviously wouldn't have celebrated Christmas, living before the Nez Perce had much contact with Europeans, they gave her a story about "giving" as her obligatory "holiday" book.
* YouGoGirl: Julie's efforts to joint the basketball team serve as a kid-friendly representation of second-wave feminism.
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