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The Making of American Girl
Explore the early days of the iconic American Girl brand, from developing key characters to opening the first store!
Go behind-the-scenes of the creation of one of America's most iconic brands, American Girl. From founder Pleasant Rowland's original business plan scribbled on a yellow legal pad to the culmination of her dream to add a store and a magazine, readers will discover never before seen art, letters, product designs, and so much more.
Includes material from the archives of American Girl - some of which have never before been seen by the public!
Packaged in a beautiful, sprawling coffee table book, get ready to immerse yourself in the history of Pleasant Company and American Girl.
Go behind-the-scenes of the creation of one of America's most iconic brands, American Girl. From founder Pleasant Rowland's original business plan scribbled on a yellow legal pad to the culmination of her dream to add a store and a magazine, readers will discover never before seen art, letters, product designs, and so much more.
Includes material from the archives of American Girl - some of which have never before been seen by the public!
Packaged in a beautiful, sprawling coffee table book, get ready to immerse yourself in the history of Pleasant Company and American Girl.
- GenresNonfictionHistory
228 pages, Hardcover
First published May 12, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
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April 11, 2026Oh my goodness! I love the look of this one.
I've been on an American Girl binge for the last 4 or 5 months and am super curious about the behind the scenes details now.
I've been on an American Girl binge for the last 4 or 5 months and am super curious about the behind the scenes details now.
May 14, 2026
Wow. This exceeded any and all expectations I had. I was so excited for this book and KNEW it would be so special to me, but I’m blown away by how well researched and well written this is. The book is sectioned into 9 chapters, starting with learning about Pleasant Rowland and the foundations of American Girl and its overall purpose. The purpose being compared by Rowland to "chocolate cake with vitamins". Exciting and enjoyable play, intermixed with history/education and important lessons that any girl in the world can relate to and learn from to carry through generations.
There are also 6 chapters dedicated individually to each of the original first 6 American Girl dolls. These chapters go through the planning and decision making process for the creation of each of these girls dolls and their stories. It was so fun to see original sketch ups and drafts. (Kirsten was originally named Rebecca and was from Norway instead of Sweden! Samanthas Grandmary was also supposed to die in the original drafts of the books!!)
I understand why they chose the original 6 to focus on, but I do wish Kaya had been included. I know a lot went into the creation of her doll and I would have loved to read more about how the company worked with the Nez Perce tribe and the acknowledgement of necessary changes to implement (such as the face mold) to accurately depict Kaya.
If you ever owned an American girl doll or read any of the books- I highly recommend you to read this. I've always been so in love with this company, specifically for their dedication to balance education and play, all wrapped up in a bow of female empowerment. Anyone a fan of AG will love this.
I also want to add that it’s just a gorgeous book in general and makes a perfect “coffee table” book. I did not expect the size and quality to be so exceptional.
There are also 6 chapters dedicated individually to each of the original first 6 American Girl dolls. These chapters go through the planning and decision making process for the creation of each of these girls dolls and their stories. It was so fun to see original sketch ups and drafts. (Kirsten was originally named Rebecca and was from Norway instead of Sweden! Samanthas Grandmary was also supposed to die in the original drafts of the books!!)
I understand why they chose the original 6 to focus on, but I do wish Kaya had been included. I know a lot went into the creation of her doll and I would have loved to read more about how the company worked with the Nez Perce tribe and the acknowledgement of necessary changes to implement (such as the face mold) to accurately depict Kaya.
If you ever owned an American girl doll or read any of the books- I highly recommend you to read this. I've always been so in love with this company, specifically for their dedication to balance education and play, all wrapped up in a bow of female empowerment. Anyone a fan of AG will love this.
I also want to add that it’s just a gorgeous book in general and makes a perfect “coffee table” book. I did not expect the size and quality to be so exceptional.
May 16, 2026
Absolutely gorgeous photography. This book is filled with so many tiny details-even as an AG super fan, I learned a few things I didn’t know! I am sure I will read this cover to cover multiple times.
May 13, 2026
A really beautiful book telling the story of the creation of Pleasant Company and American Girl up through the sale to Mattel in 1998. It makes sense to stop there with the first six historical characters, but I was a little sad my doll Kit wasn't included (the first release after the sale to Mattel).
Reading the book evokes the feeling of being a kid and poring over the American Girl catalogue when it arrived. I was more into the books so I only ever had the one doll, and I never had any additional accessories for the doll, but it was still such a wonderful experience looking at all the beautiful dolls and accessories in the pictures of the catalogue. Reading this book made me wish I had saved one of those catalogues. (honestly, there's a lot I wish I'd saved relating to American Girl)
I was really interested in some of the background they had around writing the Addy and Josefina books. They sought guidance from a whole panel of experts to tell those stories, including some eminent historians. The book discusses how there was a huge conversation around whether it was a good idea to have the first black doll character originally a slave (but escape to freedom in the first book), and they came to the conclusion that it "crucial to understand the history of slavery" as context and background for later black Americans' experiences. Given that one of the advisors was Lonnie Bunch, the former director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, among many others eminent in their field, maybe we can finally put to bed the rage bait I see occasionally posted online around how "racist Addy is" as a "slave doll." That's such a bad faith reading of the character.
In contrast, I kind of wish they had had more advisory boards for the prior characters. This book touches on the fact that Felicity's family (Felicity is the Revolutionary War era character that was created before Addy) had slaves and is more sensitive to that than the actual books are. Similarly, I've read that the company has made some updates to the portrayal of Singing Bird in the Kirsten books based on feedback from Native folks, so at least they seem to genuinely want to learn and do better than the original 90s iterations.
All this to say, this book was released in the perfect year for me. I've discussed before that I'm re-reading all the American Girl books I originally had in conjunction with listening to the Dolls of Our Lives podcast (currently wrapping up Kirsten materials, starting Addy soon). It's been such a joyful experience to return to something I loved so much as a kid. I'm also incredibly excited for the first adult American Girl novel to be released later in the year.
One final warning: this book is physically HUGE. I was kind of expecting a normal 8x11 coffee table book, but they made it big enough to show pictures of the dolls in their actual dimensions as a spread, so be forewarned the book will be bigger than you expect.
Reading the book evokes the feeling of being a kid and poring over the American Girl catalogue when it arrived. I was more into the books so I only ever had the one doll, and I never had any additional accessories for the doll, but it was still such a wonderful experience looking at all the beautiful dolls and accessories in the pictures of the catalogue. Reading this book made me wish I had saved one of those catalogues. (honestly, there's a lot I wish I'd saved relating to American Girl)
I was really interested in some of the background they had around writing the Addy and Josefina books. They sought guidance from a whole panel of experts to tell those stories, including some eminent historians. The book discusses how there was a huge conversation around whether it was a good idea to have the first black doll character originally a slave (but escape to freedom in the first book), and they came to the conclusion that it "crucial to understand the history of slavery" as context and background for later black Americans' experiences. Given that one of the advisors was Lonnie Bunch, the former director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, among many others eminent in their field, maybe we can finally put to bed the rage bait I see occasionally posted online around how "racist Addy is" as a "slave doll." That's such a bad faith reading of the character.
In contrast, I kind of wish they had had more advisory boards for the prior characters. This book touches on the fact that Felicity's family (Felicity is the Revolutionary War era character that was created before Addy) had slaves and is more sensitive to that than the actual books are. Similarly, I've read that the company has made some updates to the portrayal of Singing Bird in the Kirsten books based on feedback from Native folks, so at least they seem to genuinely want to learn and do better than the original 90s iterations.
All this to say, this book was released in the perfect year for me. I've discussed before that I'm re-reading all the American Girl books I originally had in conjunction with listening to the Dolls of Our Lives podcast (currently wrapping up Kirsten materials, starting Addy soon). It's been such a joyful experience to return to something I loved so much as a kid. I'm also incredibly excited for the first adult American Girl novel to be released later in the year.
One final warning: this book is physically HUGE. I was kind of expecting a normal 8x11 coffee table book, but they made it big enough to show pictures of the dolls in their actual dimensions as a spread, so be forewarned the book will be bigger than you expect.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews