The American Girls books are part of a large franchise which sells not only series of books but dolls matching the characters in the books and activity kits aimed at young girls. Because I cover only nostalgic books here and do not post reviews for anything less that ten years old, I’m not going to cover every part of the franchise yet, but these books are nostalgic for many girls who were young in the 1990s. Later, I’ll expand on the information here.
The American Girls books cover several different series of books, each of which focuses on a different girl living in a different place in the United States and a different period of American history. Actually, the franchise has expanded since its original creation, including series of books about contemporary girls as well as historical ones. All of these series are considered American Girls books with the historical ones specifically labeled as BeForever series now. For a complete list of all American Girls characters, see Wikipedia.
The first sets in the American Girls series, specifically historical ones, had a formulaic pattern to the books in the series. Each series had books in the following pattern:
- Meet (Name of Girl) — Introduces the heroine of the series, her life, and her problems (different girls have different issues they struggle with in their lives, often based on the period they live in and events around them).
- (Name of Girl) Learns a Lesson — Shows what education was like for a girl in that time period and the girl in the story learns something important about herself or getting along with others.
- (Name of Girl)’s Surprise — A Christmas story. Whatever else is going on around her, the girl gets a happy surprise for Christmas.
- Happy Birthday, (Name of Girl) — The girl has a birthday, showing what birthday celebrations were like then, and an adventure.
- (Name of Girl) Saves the Day — Always a summer story, the girl has an adventure with friends.
- Changes for (Name of Girl) — Always a winter story. Changes are a major theme of each of the girls’ lives, and this story always showed what eventually happened with the over-arching story and problems that each girl had.
Later book sets in the American Girls series varied on this theme. However, the girls are still about the age of ten in the stories, and different series still have supplemental activity books, an extra series of mystery stories, and dolls and toys based on the characters in the stories. Sometimes, there are also books that expand on the original series, focusing on the girls who are the best friends of the original main characters.
The American Girls historical books are educational because each of the stories has a section in the back with historical information about the period of the story.
Some of the American Girls series were later made into movies. Personally, I found the movies a little angsty compared to the books, but that is partly because the problems of all six books in each set were condensed into a single movie. The book series were much less angsty.
Series of American Girls Books:
Felicity is the daughter of a prosperous merchant living in Virginia at the beginning of the American Revolution.
Kirsten is a Swedish girl who comes to America with her family and settles on the frontier during the mid-1800s.
Addy was born as a slave in the South in the mid-1800s. During the Civil War, she and her mother escape to the North, eventually reuniting with other family members in Philadelphia.
Samantha is an orphan raised by her wealthy relatives in New York during the early 1900s.
Molly lives with her family in Illinois during World War II. Her father is an army doctor stationed in England.
Jestress's Forgotten Books and Stories 