“Mom, what kind of American Girl Doll did you have when you were my age?”
Today Strudel gets a preview of the American Girl Doll at the mall that she could receive if she continues her good behavior until the beginning of September.
“They did not have them when I was a kid,” I said.
“WHAT,” Strudel sporfled. “What did you have then?!”
“We had dolls made out of dirt with sticks for arms.”
“What was their hair like?” she asked.
“Oh, some old yarn, like brown, because they did not have dyes then.”
“And the clothes?”
“Like a coal sack or something.”
“Man, that sounds ugly,” she said.
In Other News
I’m reading 11/22/63. Did I ever think I would read a Stephen King book ever again in my life? I did not. I read Thinner at nine and moved on to Christine and Cujo. I think the last thing I read by him was Gerald’s Game at 13. My mother was the horror fan–I just read everything and anything that was laying around this house. I could not resist the allure of JFK, however. I think this book was made for me, since I have every major player and event memorized. It’s like an old dance. This past winter I finally picked up Oswald’s Tale, which is awesome because it really focuses on his time in Russia, something that is often glossed over in the typical books in the Oswald/JFK canon. It is not awesome because it features the strong authorial voice of Norman Mailer, who spends a lot of time on the idea that Oswald is a closeted homosexual and implies that’s where his problems are rooted. Anyway, King. It smelled like riding the Mad Men zeitgeist, and when a girl in a Jantzen showed up it kind of cinched it. Sometimes you know you’re being manipulated but you buy a ticket to the show anyway.
I thing the American Girl books have been around since at least 1987 or so. I don’t know when the dolls came out.
Isn’t the whole American Girl thing ripe for some satire? Hold the phone!
http://www.nytheatre.com/Show/Review/524
Refugee Girls!
I almost bought 11/22/63 the other day! I am a huge Stephen King fan, as you may already know. And then I thought of his epic tome “Under the Dome” that is still sitting in my bedroom collecting dust so I refrained.
Are you back from your jaunt to the wild frontier country?
I am home, just crazy busy this week with house and legal stuff. Rargh.
Oh man, don’t go down the AG rat-hole. I never tire of bitching about the complete lack of punk-ass dolls and outfits. Had to make do with the “broken bones” add-on. A more ambitious parent would allow no purchased clothes whatsoever, only hand-sewn, possibly from the hides of varmints picked off with a slingshot. Also, decorative bone in hair.
I’ve already been! The big one has one, so of course these things are contagious. How I handle it is get the starter set and then the grandparents always have a ready present later for the add on stuff.