by Abby W. Schachter
Have you read any of the American Girl books? I just finished the 2013 Girl of the Year installment about a 4th-grader named Saige and, as my first introduction into the juggernaut that is the American Girl LLC universe, I have to admit I’m underwhelmed.
The fact that there are books to accompany every American Girl doll is not to be devalued. Now, of course the point of the books is to get young girls interested in buying the doll as well as hundreds of dollars in accessories to accompany the personage depicted in the books. But still, the whole American Girl series of books was started with a virtuous concept, namely that real-life American girls would read about and own dolls they could relate to and learn from.
The series started in 1986 with a historical doll named Kirsten, who was described in the promotional material, as “a brave pioneer girl who settles on the Minnesota prairie with her family in 1854.” In 2009, when Kirsten was archived she was described as having had a great influence. “Countless girls have found a friend in Kirsten while learning about the trials and triumphs of growing up in frontier America, from Kirsten starting at a new school in a strange land to celebrating her family’s time-honored traditions on St. Lucia’s Day.”
Various other historical characters followed Kirsten, including Rebecca (“a lively [Jewish] girl with dramatic flair growing up in New York City in 1914”), Caroline (“a brave girl who helps her family safely navigate the War of 1812”), Kit (“a clever, resourceful girl growing up in 1934 during America’s Great Depression”) and Josefina (“a girl living in colonial New Mexico in 1824 during the opening of the Santa Fe Trail).
Fast forward to 2013 and instead of regular girls growing up in extraordinary circumstances we get Saige whose biggest concern when the book opens is that instead of getting art class every year, she is going to have to make do instead with music because her public school district doesn’t have the money to provide both subjects every year. For painter Saige this situation is as disastrous as, well, any high-class problem can possibly be.
Nevermind the champagne-nature of this “crisis,” Saige’s beloved grandma Mimi jumps in to help suggesting that Saige enlist the PTA to raise awareness of the problem at the upcoming annual local arts fiesta. Saige then goes off to “share Mimi’s fundraising idea with Mom” the book explains. Mom of course is delighted with the campaign because she was “just reading about how students get better grades when schools devote enough time to the arts.”
The fact that Saige and her classmates are getting “enough” arts every year, just not both music and art doesn’t seem to have occurred to either Mimi or Saige’s parents. Not to mention the fact that Saige spends every afternoon with her grandmother painting! So the exaggerated arts “drought” at Saige’s school is not even her only opportunity to devote time to her passion for painting.
The book is also filled with pseudo-inspirational pop-psychology like Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000-hour principle that anyone can become an expert in their field if they devote at least 10,000 hours of practice to their chosen craft. Early in the book Saige is jealous of her former best-friend Tessa’s devotion to following the “Gladwell principle” in order to become a better singer, until she learns that being good at something requires a serious commitment of time and effort. The fact that Saige loves to paint and that she has learned to love it from her grandmother—that she has adopted a tradition from her elders—is accidental and of no importance.
Finally, when Saige is faced with a real-life teachable moment about priorities, responsibilities and love because her grandmother is seriously injured when she falls at home, the story strays only a little into matters of family, aging and consequences. Mainly, readers are guided through the crisis and Saige’s eventual triumph at the arts fiesta where the case for more art classes in school is made by a horse.
It isn’t that Saige is a bad book, it just isn’t great and it isn’t nearly comparable to older stories of fictional American girls. For a classic and absolutely compelling American story of a girl facing family breakdown and thriving against great odds, through discipline and hard work, American Girl LLC would be doing every young female a real service if it bought the rights to reprint 1917’s Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. Instead of overlaying a character in a historically important moment as the American Girl historical series does, Fisher’s story is a beautiful depiction of a particular moment in American life because of her detailed descriptions of city and then farm communities.
Today’s American girls, including, when they are old enough, my own three daughters, could sincerely benefit from this fictional American heroine who faces adversity with determination and comes out a better, more virtuous and more self-possessed individual.
Abby W. Schachter is a Pittsburgh-based journalist and blogger. Follow her on twitter.com/abbyschachter.
