History Literature / AmericanGirlsCollection

** 2023 saw a {{Crossover}} with the Disney Princess franchise with three dolls based on Jasmine, Belle, and Rapunzel released as limited edition dolls this carried into early 2024 when AG launched the start of a Disney character focused line as part of the brand.

* PrizedPossessionGiveaway: In ''Meet Samantha'', Samantha begs Grandmary to buy her an expensive doll she saw in town, and agrees to work really hard at her various chores to earn the doll, which she does. She even [[DeadGuyJunior names the doll after her mother Lydia,]] [[MissingMom who died when she was five in an accident]]. When her impoverished new friend Nellie has to go back to the city and is scared she will have to work in a NightmarishFactory again, [[SpoiledSweet Samantha gives Nellie the doll]], knowing Nellie loves it and it will comfort her. Extra heartwarming when considering that this is the first and likely only doll Nellie would've ever known due to her family's poverty.

* ProperLady: Elizabeth. This is also how Grandmary is trying to raise Samantha.
* PursuingParentalPerils: Samantha. "My parents died in a boat accident returning from an isolated island in a storm? Guess what I'm going to do!"

* RedOniBlueOni: Several, though not all, of the main protagonists are [[RedOni Red Onis]] to BlueOni best friends. Examples:
** 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.

** RedOni Kaya and BlueOni Speaking Rain.
** RedOni Kit and BlueOni Ruthie.
** RedOni Addy and BlueOni Sarah Moore.
** RedOni Samantha and BlueOni Nellie, although Samantha's RedOni traits are less pronounced than usual (justified because of expectations placed on girls in the Edwardian Era).
** RedOni Cecile and BlueOni Marie Grace, although this is somewhat subverted/averted. Both girls share a main protagonist role, in addition to being best friends.

** Molly wants curls like Shirley Temple's instead of her own straight hair.
** Cécile, a well-to-do free girl of color, has hair in sausage ringlets.

* ReimaginingTheArtifact: Samantha's ice cream maker was spoken of in her books first (since her birthday book was released in 1987), but released in Addy's collection first in 1994; it was not given to Samantha until 1998. When Samantha was rereleased (and Cécile and Marie-Grace archived), Samantha got their parasol, Addy got their ''underwear'', and the ice cream maker--still Addy's and part of a birthday set--was soon retired.
* RepetitiveName: Kirsten's older brother is named Lars Larson. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] as while his name would have originally been the patronymic Lars Andersson (as their father is Anders) in Sweden, the family was all given the last name "Larson" to match Anders's when they immigrated (as America considered a family's surname to be whatever the father's was, with everyone in the family matching the surname).

** Josefina being gifted the family doll, Niña, that was made for her sisters. Her mother made it when the oldest, Ana, was a child and it was intended to be passed down to each sibling the holiday season after they turned nine, with a new outfit and a refreshing of the doll. Clara however has kept her, thinking the doll is the last peice she has of their late mother. She has her own moment of growing up when she realizs she has her mothers embroidery skills, and gifts the doll to Josefina.

** 2023 saw a {{Crossover}} with the Disney Princess franchise with three dolls based on Jasmine, Belle, and Rapunzel released as limited edition dolls.

** Samantha was orphaned at age five when her parents died in a boat accident. Later, Nellie's parents die of the flu, and her Uncle Mike sells their things and then abandones them. [[spoiler:This allows her and her younger sisters to be adopted by Gardner and Cornelia.]]

** Tia Dolores is this for Josefina for most of the series, though [[spoiler:she becomes Josefina's stepmother in the final book.]]

** Samantha is raised first by her grandmother and then her aunt and uncle, since her parents died when she was five. In the movies, Uncle Gard seems to be her major father figure, even before she goes to live with him and Cornelia.
* PassFail: The situation that causes Addy's family's troubles in ''Shadows on Society Hill''. [[spoiler:Uncle Solomon's niece, Elizabeth, is passing as white and feared Addy and her family would expose her. Addy deduces this in defending her name after being accused of theft and Elizabeth wanting to evict their family to hide her past, and part of her understands why the woman did it; the "Looking Back" section discusses this phenomenon and its aftereffects. Ironically, her actions to remove the Walkers are what lead to the secret coming out; despite the familial link, the Walker family had never met Elizabeth and probably never would have come anywhere near piecing it together. But when Elizabeth learned of their connection to Solomon and started to try and drive the family away -- including accusing Addy of stealing a valuable necklace -- Addy's determination to clear her own name led to the truth being revealed.]]

* PimpedOutDress: The holiday dresses for both modern and Historical characters. Justified as these are supposed to be formal outfits and initially were the fanciest style of dresses for the era (e.g. Felicity's is a fine ball gown.)

** In 2023 the company released three Franchise/DisneyPrincess dolls based on Jasmine, Belle, and Rapunzel as limited edition dolls.

* ItWillNeverCatchOn: In Kit's Journey book, an encounter with her miserly Uncle Hendrick can result in this regarding UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt and his presidency. Hendrick rants that Kit's brother's Charlie's job by FDR for the CCC isn't a real job, merely a "make-work boondoggle" created by FDR; Hendrick, who hates the president, is sure he'll be voted out of office at the next election because he's "clearly" ruining the country (and believes everyone else must agree with him, of course [[ItsAllAboutMe because he's always right about everything]].) The time-traveling protagonist, being from the future, knows that FDR will be elected four times and uses this knowledge to make a bet with Hendrick: if FDR is re-elected in the next election, Hendrick will then pay for Charlie to attend college--and if he's re-elected ''twice'' after that, he'll then pay for Kit to attend (but if she's wrong, Kit and Charlie will do chores for him for a year for free). [[TheScrooge Miserly]] Hendrick takes the bet (with Kit and Charlie as witnesses) and believes he's won already, since he's convinced FDR is a terrible president and more likely to be impeached rather than re-elected.

** Annabelle has her moments.

** Kays is put to work as a servant for the band of Natives who capture her and Singing Bird in a raid.

* MultipleEndings: The My Journey books. Most don't have a True End, but one of Maryellen's branches leads to a StableTimeLoop, implying that one of the two endings that it leads to would be canon for that character.

** She notices that one of her male teachers is lonely and tries to get him together with her female teacher (the same one from the desk incident), who she thinks is also single. As Lindsey finds out, her female teacher is ''engaged,'' but can't wear a ring because she's sensitive to metal. (It might have been less of a big deal if she had just nudged them towards each other -- that alone would have likely been a pretty minor thing at the end of the day -- but she crossed the line when she flat-out lied to the male teacher to further the scheme.)

** When she stays after school to help her teacher set up for an upcoming class project, she sees that said teacher's desk is a complete mess, so she reorganizes it according to her own system. Her teacher doesn't like the change, because while it ''looked'' like it was just a mess, she actually had her own system of how she organized things and Lindsey accidentally ruined it.

Compare ''Literature/DearAmerica'', another series of historical fiction books starring girls written as diaries and aimed at an older demographic (they did not have a dedicated line of companion dolls; selected characters were made by Madame Alexander), ''Literature/GirlhoodJourneys'', a short-lived series of historical characters around the world similar to ''Literature/GirlsOfManyLands''; ''Literature/MagicAtticClub''; a line centered on girls who used costumes to experience both history and fantasy; and ''Toys/StardustClassics'', a line of fantasy dolls and books.

%% * HeroesWantRedheads: Part of the justification for the Ben/Felicity pairing.

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** This is also the case in Felicity's series, though is not as overt for a reader who doesn't notice or overlooks the fact. Felicity's family owns two slaves--Rose and Marcus--and her grandfather owns a large plantation with several slaves, which is only briefly mentioned in ''Felicity Saves the Day'' when she's next to him while he speaks to the overseer in the fields. Felicity almost never acknowledges the issues with her family owning people (she finds her time on the plantation to be pleasant and even considers being there a break from responsibilities as the enslaved people can take on day-to-day tasks) and considers Rose and Marcus part of her family, though not at equal footing. In the [[{{Gamebooks}} Journey book]], the time-traveling protagonist is extremely unnerved by the prospect of seeing slaves at work while touring the land, and an encounter with two slaves that were "night-walking" to another plantation to visit makes her worry that Felicity will turn them in. (Felicity doesn't, but she does make them go back to the slave quarters.) The protagonist then returns and talks to her black friend about the realities of enslavement and how uncomfortable the history of black people in Virginia is.

The first line, the historical character line, released in 1986 and focuses on the history of the UsefulNotes/UnitedStates in various time periods as seen through the eyes of a nine-to-ten-year-old girl living in the era. The line started with three characters and now ranges from pre-European settlement (and Native culture) to TheNineties. The collection was first referred to as "The American Girls Collection" when it was the only line availiable, then "Historical Characters" when other lines came out, and briefly redesigned as "[=BeForever=]" from 2014 to 2019 before reverting back to "Historical Characters." This is also the part of line most people who remember the brand from the 90s are thinking about or have nostalgia for, and is often parodied or [[ReferencedBy/AmericanGirlsCollection referenced]] in other media.

Compare ''Literature/DearAmerica'', another series of historical fiction books starring girls written as diaries and aimed at an older demographic. (It did not have a dedicated line of companion dolls; selected characters were made by Madame Alexander at one point.)

Has a [[Characters/AmericanGirlsCollection character sheet]] in need of cleanup and expansion; characters that are part of a main character's series should be listed there (e.g. tropes about Samantha's Aunt Cornelia can be listed on Samantha's page).

* MerchandiseDriven: The company, until the [=BeForever=] remvamp, made sure to tie the images in the books to the historical character's collections. Futhermore, initially each book cover had images of items from the collections displayed to show what purchasers could get to "recreate" the style from the character's story with the doll. For example, the cover of ''Happy Birthday Samantha'' has her in her birthday dress, holding her gifted teddy bear, and with her table and chairs decked out with her birthday treats--all things that could then be purchased as part of her collection.

** Rebecca Rubin suffers shades of this. Her older twin sisters Sadie and Sophie always leave her out. Victor gets more attention than she does because he's at bar mitzvah age, and little brother Benny is coddled as the baby of the family. Ana's arrival helps somewhat but Rebecca maintains the struggle to get her share of attention.
** Averted with Molly for her first five books, but comes up in ''Changes For Molly'', though it's less about relative ages and more about the fact that her father's letter describes the changes he expects to see in the other three, but seems to have tacked her on almost as an afterthought, mentioning her "in the same sentence as pot roast".

** Same goes for Addy. In her case, this may actually be because she is separated from her older brother and younger sister in ''Meet Addy,'' and effectively spends four of the six books in her series as an only child. Plus, given the horrors the family is living through, it's hardly surprising that they'd come to rely on, rather than compete with, each other, and that the kinds of issues that lead to Middle Child Syndrome would probably not seem all that serious by comparison.

** Addy's mother during a trip to Cape Town, NJ, sets her hair in rag curls which Addy fusses about having to keep her hair nice; it lastes until she goes swimming.

* EdibleThemeNaming: The Coconut pets were originally named after various food items.
* EmotionsVsStoicism: Discussed in ''Meet Addy''. Prior to the events of the book, Addy's brother Sam tried to run away and was caught and whipped in front of Addy and their parents. Addy, who was bawling the whole time, asks her parents why they didn't cry, and her father told her that they were "crying on the inside" but aren't free to express their emotions outwardly.

* EveryoneIsChristianAtChristmas: Invoked in Rebecca's Hanukkah story, where it causes problems both at school and at home. Rebecca feels pressured to go along with the crowd when her teacher announces that her class will be making a Christmas decoration to take home, and almost all the other Jewish girls in class just go along with it or risk being publicly shamed. (One, Rose, speaks up but is shot down same as Rebecca, and she throws her decoration away when taking it home.) On the other hand, Rebecca is concerned that her family will be angry and ashamed of her for coming home to them with a Christmas decoration, especially after her mother scolds her sisters for singing Christmas carols and wearing festive red and green ribbons. Ultimately, their grandmother is pleased that Rebecca obeyed her teacher and created something beautiful in the process, and she gives the decoration to a Christian resident of their tenament building.
* 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. Samantha has to do this at the beginning of her self-improvement lessons with Grandmary.

* FantasyHelmetEnforcement: All modern bike, roller skate, and equestrian sets have helmets and safety gear. Julie's and Samantha's skate and bike items don't, but the catalogues included disclaimers saying that the exclusion is ''only'' for the sake of historical accuracy and reminding modern kids to please wear their safety gear.

** Felicity would like to run around freely without having to wear stiff stays and not in long skirts, saying she wishes she could wear breeches like a boy. Josefina is gifted her late mother's childhood skirt from her grandmother; it's snug, and when she dances in it (to her grandmother's disappointment, as she's considered too young to dance in public) the button on the waistband pops off. Kirsten's traditional Swedish clothes are unsuitable for a New York summer; she put them on in March in Sweden and has been wearing them since. Addy's mother during a trip sets her hair in rag curls which Addy wears until she goes swimming. And Grandmary's rule for Samantha was to wear long underwear from September to June to prevent illness, and is considered passé by the more-fashionable Agnes and Agatha.

** Courtney gets her ears pierced in her first book, and the book describes her ears as bright red and throbbing in the moments afterwards. They heal fine, though.

* 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 traditional New Mexican poem about first love was a favorite of hers (even though she could not read). Her literate aunt wrote the poem down in a notebook (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]].

** The Girl of the Year Line tends to reuse themes over the years including horses, dance, and feminine sports. Given that the demographic age of eight to twelve is likely to have aged out by the next time a theme comes around again, it makes sense--especially because aspirations of dance and/or [[AllGirlsLikePonies bonding with horses]] continue to be girlhood fantasies.

* {{Flanderization}}: Not by the company--who tries to represent characters evenly with balanced character arcs--but often in parodies, by fans who only remember a few things, or online articles--all of which reduce the characters to exaggerations of themselves. Felicity is only seen as a tomboy who hates anything feminine and loves horses (and stole a horse!), Samantha is so good and noble about class issues and feminism as to be a Purity Sue who never does wrong, Molly is overly patriotic, Kirsten is an ignorant immigrant who knows nothing of America and never learns, and Addy gets reduced to being a runaway slave that the others overlook (with her past often stated to make the other white characters uncomfortable around her). Josefina is the token Spanish girl with the dead mom. Kit, if included, is also reduced to a poor reporter with no money; Kaya, if included, is made a NobleSavage who only cares for the earth and her horse. Characters after her are more often than not left out.

* ChristmasEpisode: Until Kaya's release and for several characters afterwards, each Historical Character's third book focused on Christmas (with the exception of Kirsten's book focusing on St. Lucia's day). Sinc Kaya lived in a time prior to Christianity's widespread influence in her area, she did not get this but did get a book about a winter gift holiday. Rebecca instead has a HanukkahEpisode, but the American focus on Christmas as a universal holiday and her conflict with it as a Jewish girl is examined. A ZigZaggedTrope with Julie; she spends a Christmas tea with her father at the beginning her book ''Happy New Year, Julie!'' but the primary focus is her time celebrating Chinese New Year with Ivy.

* MadeASlave: Addy's entire family has been enslaved their whole lives. Her ancestor, Aduke, was kidnapped from Africa and enslaved.

In 2016, American Girl released {{Toys/WellieWishers}}, a line aimed at the previously-overlooked 5-7 year old demographic (outside of the short-lived Hopscotch Hill Line); the target age was later lowered to four years. There is also a baby doll line, Bitty Baby; initially released as a brand to ease children who might have a new baby in the house soon into being an older sibling, it is now solely a baby doll focused brand line for ages 18 months and up. American Girl also briefly published the ''Literature/AmeliasNotebook'' and ''WesternAnimation/AngelinaBallerina'' series and released themed toys and/or accessories. Discontinued lines of their own creation include the ''Literature/GirlsOfManyLands'' and ''History Mysteries'' ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin historical-themed mysteries]], set in at-the-time uncovered eras and locations). Part of the [=BeForever=] line also includes the ''My Journey Books'', a set of GameBooks starring a protagonist of the same age going back in time and interacting with the main historical character, learning lessons that apply to their own life along the way.

In 2016, American Girl released {{Toys/WellieWishers}}, a line aimed at the previously-overlooked 5-7 year old demographic (outside of the short-lived Hopscotch Hill Line); the target age was later lowered to four years. There is also a baby doll line, Bitty Baby; initially released as a brand to ease children who might have a new baby in the house soon into being an older sibling, it is now solely a baby doll focused brand line for ages 18 months and up. American Girl also briefly published the ''Literature/AmeliasNotebook'' and ''WesternAnimation/AngelinaBallerina'' series and released themed toys and/or accessories. Discontinued lines of their own creation include ''Girls of Many Lands'' (characters of various cultures and eras worldwide) and ''History Mysteries'' ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin historical-themed mysteries]], set in at-the-time uncovered eras and locations). Part of the [=BeForever=] line also includes the ''My Journey Books'', a set of GameBooks starring a protagonist of the same age going back in time and interacting with the main historical character, learning lessons that apply to their own life along the way.

Books and characters in the ''Girls of Many Lands'' series are as follows:
* Isabel Campion, representing Tudor England (1592) in ''Isabel: Taking Wing''
* Cécile Revel, representing France during the last years of the reign of King Louis XIV of France (1711) in ''Cécile: Gates of Gold''
* Leyla, representing the Tulip Period in Turkey (1720) in ''Literature/LeylaTheBlackTulip''
* Saba, representing Ethiopia during the Age of Judges (1846) in ''Saba: Under the Hyena's Foot''
* Chou Spring Pearl, representing China during the Second Opium War (1857) in ''Spring Pearl: The Last Flower''
* Minuk, representing the arrival of American Christian missionaries in the Alaskan Territory (1890) in ''Minuk: Ashes in the Pathway''
* Kathleen Murphy, representing Ireland during the global Great Depression (1937) in ''Kathleen: The Celtic Knot''
* Neela Sen, representing the rise of desire for independence in British-occupied India (1939) in ''Neela: Victory Song''

* CheapCostume: In the ''Girls of Many Lands'' book ''Kathleen: The Celtic Knot'', Kathleen's family can't afford a proper Irish dancing costume, so her aunt makes her one from a pair of green curtains.

* DarkerAndEdgier: The ''Girls of Many Lands'' book and doll line and the ''History Mysteries'' book series had darker plots than the Historical Character books. The series had older protagonists than the historical characters, and often touched on some of the darker, sadder, and more controversial eras of history the main historical series tend to play down or hadn't covered at the time.

* DoubleMeaningTitle: All the ''Girls of Many Lands'' book titles are supposed to sound poetic and evoke the setting, like ''The Black Tulip, The Last Flower'', or ''Gates of Gold''. When you read the books, those items are all literally present and important to the characters.

** Discussed in the Girls Of Many Lands book ''Minuk: Ashes in the Pathway'', in which Minuk's village is visited by a group of white missionaries. After Minuk's cousin goes through a coming-of-age rite, one of the missionary women tells them about her own coming of age when she had to begin wearing long skirts and corsets and putting her hair up, and admits that she initially found the changes incredibly unpleasant. Later, a nurse who's with the missionary group tells Minuk that she believes that corsets (specifically the tight-lacing concept that the missionary wife seems to practice) are not only painful to wear but are actually harming the health of the women who wear them--which is why the nurse, in defiance of her cultural customs, refuses to wear one.
** In ''Spring Pearl: The Last Flower'', the eponymous protagonist stands out for not having bound feet like almost all upper-class Chinese girls had at the time. She considers her independence a more than worthy trade-off for having (comparatively) abnormal-looking feet and refuses to be ashamed of them.

* MadeASlave: One of the Girls Of Many Lands books, ''Leyla: The Black Tulip'' centers around a girl (first named Laleena, later renamed Leyla) who inadvertently sells herself into slavery. She was told the people she went with were looking for women to be wives to wealthy men and were merely compensating the families for the hardship of having one less set of hands around; she believed it, taking the money to give to her poor family. She eventually learns that [[spoiler:something similar happened to her DisappearedDad]].

** Cécile Rey (of the Historical line) and Cécile Revel (of the Girls of Many Lands line) are both of French background, though different times and locations and part of separate lines in the company.

** In the Girls of Many Lands book ''Minuk: Ashes in the Pathway'', Minuk's cousin goes through a series of coming-of-age traditions after she begins menstruating. The eponymous ashes are actually one piece of this rite, as the ritual calls for ashes to be laid down behind the woman to symbolize the fact that she is now a woman and cannot "go back" to being a child.

* {{Unishment}}: In the ''Girls Of Many Lands'' book ''Isabel (Taking Wing)'', set in the late 1500s, the protagonist longs for a more interesting life and chafes at the expectations and restrictions placed on her as a girl in that era. About a third of the way through the story, she's caught sneaking out of her home with her maid to go see a play, and is punished by being sent to live with an elderly aunt in the country. Isabel is initially dismayed, believing that said aunt will be the latest in a line of adults trying to teach her to be a lady, but it turns out that her aunt is actually a strong, independent, educated woman--in other words, pretty much the exact kind of woman Isabel had always wished to become. She's happy to take Isabel on as her protegee.

* WorstAid: A major plot point in ''Cecile: Gates of Gold'' from the Girls of Many Lands series. Cecile's father, a strong opponent of bloodletting as a medical practice, was exiled from the court after claiming that a senior doctor killed the king's brother by bleeding him. At the book's climax, after the royal family contracts measles, Cecile and several nursemaids barricade themselves in a room with the infant prince so that the doctors can't bleed him. The child's parents and brother (who are bled) die, but the baby survives. Cecile is exiled for what she did, but because her actions [[ArsonMurderAndLifesaving saved the prince's life]], the royal family [[PetTheDog throws her a bone]] by arranging for her to attend a girls' school of higher education (the only one in the country) rather than simply sending her back to her old life.

** In ''Meet Addy'', Addy's brother Sam tells her a riddle ("What's smaller than a dog, but can send a bear on the run?") In ''Addy Saves The Day'', Addy uses that same riddle as part of a puppet show, [[spoiler:leading her to recognize and be reunited with her older brother Sam (who happens to be in the audience) when he says the answer--a skunk. He even says "even my little sister knows that one," tipping Addy off.]]

** Josefina's sister Francisca in ''Josefina Saves the Day'' agress to accompany Josefina into the center of Santa Fe in the middle of the night to try to prove that American trader Patrick O'Toole hasn't reniged on his trade with their father.

** Addy's teacher Miss Dunn. She's a black female teacher in the North and also formerly enslaved. She's quite perceptive and progressive for her time. For example, she never shames Addy for her early poor literacy skills (since she teaches at a school where students of all backgrounds learn, including very recent from enslavement) and catches Harriet Davis' nastiness quickly and lectures her on it rather than letting her act superior to the formerly enslaved students. She also demonstrates awareness and understanding of the affect slavery and racism have had and continue to have on black people both in Philadelphia and in America at large. Her behavior inspires Addy to seek a career as a teacher.

* CosmeticallyAdvancedPrequel: Some of the collections released after the first three but set before have this effect, especially in relation to the very first items released. For example, if decent shoes were around by Felicity's time, why did first edition Samantha's meet shoes made of generic plastic? Averted with newer items and redesigns released for older characters, which have the same quality as items for newer ones.

* DeathByChildbirth: Florecita, one of the goats on the ranch where Josefina lives, in ''Happy Birthday, Josefina!''

** This is also the case in Felicity's series, though is not as overt for a reader who doesn't notice or overlooks the fact. Felicity's family owns two slaves--Rose and Marcus--and her grandfather owns a large plantation with several slaves, breifly mentioned in ''Felicity Saves the Day'' when she's next to him while he speaks to the overseer in the fields. Felicity almost never acknowledges the issues with her family owning people (she finds her time on the plantation to be pleasant and even considers being there a break from responsibilites as the enslaved people can take on day-to-day tasks) and considers Rose and Marcus part of her family, though not at equal footing. In the [[{{Gamebooks}} Journey book]], the time-traveling protagonist is extremely unnerved by the prospect of seeing slaves at work while touring the land, and an encounter with two slaves that were "night-walking" to another plantation to visit makes her worry that Felicity will turn them in. (Felicity doesn't, but she does make them go back to the slave quarters.) The protagonist then returns and talks to her black friend about the realities of enslavement and how uncomfortable the history of black people in Virginia is.

** Samantha's first two books focused on her relationship with Nellie (a poorer Irish immigrant child her age) and had an antagonist in Edith Eddleton, a well-to-do girl with a snobbish attitude. However, the plotlines and focus on class issues proved controversial; the first author, Susan S. Adler, was replaced for the third book which barely included Nellie and changed Edith from an antagonist to a minor acquaintance. Valerie Tripp wrote the last three books: Nellie is never mentioned by name in ''Happy Birthday, Samantha'' (leading to the fan theory that Grandmary, who was still slowly getting through her classism, didn't allow Samantha to invite her to her birthday party and made her invite Edith instead), and is entirely absent from ''Samantha Saves The Day'', before coming back into the spotlight (at the center of a non-class-related plot arc) in ''Changes for Samantha''.

** Samantha (round one), Felicity (twice), Kirsten, and Molly (twice) were all retired (or, as the company said, "archived") in various years, with their collections fully unavailable. Their books were initially available, but with the release of [=BeForever=], any books in the older style were retired.

** With the releases of Melody, Nanea, and Courtney, Addy, Samantha, Kit, and Josefina have been demoted, as Felicity was before, to online-only and flagship store availability, with only the doll, meet accessories, and books available. Even when Felicity and Molly came back, they were given this treatment on arrival and ended up being archived once again for low sales (not a surprise, given that a doll with no collection is likely to shelfwarm).

* DirtyCommunists: Maryellen's school story talks about the Cold War and centers around an allegory for the same. Also, in Melody's first book, when she hears that there's been a bombing in Alabama, she asks if it's the Russians (it's the KKK).

** Stirling's dad from Kit's series (and Kit's dad himself in the movie, but not in the books)

* DiscreetDiningDisposal: When Molly complains about her vegetables, her mom confesses to having done this as a child.

** In ''Meet Addy'', Addy is devastated when she's separated from both of her siblings within a short period of time. There's nothing she can really do about it, though; she's helpless to prevent her brother from being sold to another master, and she and her mother can't realistically take Addy's baby sister with them when they run away.

* FluffyFashionFeathers: Addy's snood from her birthday outfit and some of Kaya's outfits have feathers on them, though they're downplayed. Samantha has a hat with a huge feather draped from it, and Felicity's ridign outfit has some feathers.

** Josefina's Tia Dolores explains, using th flowers Florecita ate, that as long as the roots are present and strong, a plant can come back from what appears to be destruction--while not outright said, it is a metaphor for the Montoya family slowly growing though their grief from Mama's death.

* {{Flanderization}}: Not by the company--who represents characters evenly with balanced character arcs--but often in parodies, by fans who only remember a few things, or online articles--all of which reduce the characters to exaggerations of themselves. Felicity is only seen as a tomboy who hates anything feminine and loves horses (and stole a horse!), Samantha is so good and noble about class issues and feminism as to be a Purity Sue who never does wrong, Molly is overly patriotic, Kirsten is an ignorant immigrant who knows nothing of America and never learns, and Addy gets reduced to being a runaway slave that the others overlook (with her past often stated to make the other white characters uncomfortable around her). Josefina is the token Spanish girl with the dead mom. Kit, if included, is also reduced to a poor reporter with no money; Kaya, if included, is made a NobleSavage who only cares for the earth and her horse. Characters after her are more often than not left out.
* FluffyFashionFeathers: Addy's snood from her birthday outfit and some of Kaya's outfits have feathers on them, though they're downplayed.

** Kirsten and Singing Bird. While Singing Bird's father doesn't care, Mrs. Larson bans Kirsten from seeing Singing Bird when she finds out about their interactions, due to her fears of the Natives. This carries through the series and it's only in one of the short stories when she relents, after Singing Bird helps locarte missing Peter.

* FleetingDemographicRule: 2007's ''The Light in the Cellar'' and 2018's ''The Legend of the Shark Goddess'' were both mysteries written for the 1940s characters who were current at the time (Molly and Nanea, respectively) where the plot revolves around suspicions of theft and black-market activity to circumvent rationing. They end differently: [[spoiler:In Nanea's, nobody was guilty at all, and the characters who look suspicious all have valid reasons.]]
* FlowerMotifs: When Molly is confused by Emily being so shy and quiet, Mrs. [=McIntire=] compares her to a flower that hasn't bloomed yet but needs time and care to open.

** Samantha's collection and ''Samantha's Surprise'' state that the doll she desires in the toy store for Christmas [[spoiler:and gets from Cornelia]] is a Nutcracker designed doll; it's carrying a mini wooden soldier which is described as ''like the soldier from the ballet''. However, Samantha--and indeed, America--wouldn't have known about ''Theatre/TheNutcracker'' in 1904. The ballet wasn't known outside of its native Russia at the time; the first complete performance of the ballet was done in England in 1934,[[note]]It was preceded by an abbreviated version in Budapest in 1927, which was the very first time it was performed outside of Russia at all.[[/note]] while the first United States performance was in 1944. It's more accurate for ''Molly'' to know about the ballet than Samantha.

** Samantha's collection and ''Samantha's Surprise'' state that the doll she desires in the toy store for Christmas [[spoiler:and gets from Cornelia]] is a Nutcracker designed doll; it's carrying a mini wooden soldier which is describes as ''like the soldier from the ballet''. However, Samantha--and indeed, America--wouldn't have known about ''Theatre/TheNutcracker'' in 1904. The ballet wasn't known outside of its native Russia at the time; the first complete performance of the ballet was done in England in 1934,[[note]]It was preceded by an abbreviated version in Budapest in 1927, which was the very first time it was performed outside of Russia at all.[[/note]] while the first United States performance was in 1944. It's more accurate for ''Molly'' to know about the ballet than Samantha.

** Kirsten, in every release of her doll and her books' illustrations, has thick front bangs (what fans call "pie bangs" on dolls, as they look like a pie slice from the top). However, bangs were not a fashion of the time for women or children--the most prevalent hairstyle at the time for women was a center part with the hair slicked or pulled back, with occasional wisps or curls at the side. (Other girls and women, including her mother, friends, and cousins, are illustrated with more accurate to the era center parted hair.) The guess is that Kirsten was given the same style wig--if not the same color--as Samantha and Molly and it's just never been updated because at this point, it's part of her look. (Later released characters that cover the same era, Marie-Grace and Cécile, have more accurate center-part hair with side curls.)