American Girl dad is from Duluth
The children's book publisher and doll manufacturing juggernaut American Girl released its newest girl late last year. She is Julie, who is growing up in 1974, and the six-book set of books is written by Megan McDonald.
There are nine American Girls now, each a 9-year-old growing up in a different time and place in the U.S. I've been reading them to my daughter, including Kaya, a Nez Perce girl in 1764, Kirsten, a Swedish immigrant living in Minnesota in 1854, and so on.
And here's my point: Tonight, reading Julie's book No. 2, "Julie Tells Her Story," I read the following surprise. It's while Julie is interviewing her father for a school report.
"'Okay,' said Dad, settling into his favorite chair. 'When I was in the fourth grade, growing up in Duluth, Minnesota, money was tight and none of us could afford a bike. ...'"
I wonder if the author has any local connection. I imagine they're going to sell a million of these books.
Posted by
Beverly on February 6, 2008 09:14 PM | Permalink
Comments
Megan McDonald was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on February 28, 1959. She now lives in Sebastopol, California. Maybe she lived in Duluth in between. That's all I could find.
Posted by: Buttonhead | February 6, 2008 09:41 PM
Well, what I want to know from Julie is what she had for breakfast on Saturday mornings in 1974.
Posted by: ironic1 | February 6, 2008 09:43 PM
Megan McDonald lived in Minneapolis for a short time around 1990 before returning to Pittsburgh, then moving to California. Apparently the Minneapolis Public Library pays their librarians much better than those in Pittsburgh but alas she couldn't stand the cold.
Posted by: @ndy | February 6, 2008 10:08 PM
American Girl is headquartered in Middleton, WI, adding further to the (relatively) "local" connection. (It seems to me people from around here are more likely to reference places around here, a la The Onion [before they moved to NYC] and MST3K.)
BTW, I got a "Molly" doll for Christmas when I was in the 4th grade, but that was in the late 80s, long before the magazines & clothing lines & stores & Mattel ownership. Heck, I think they only had the first three dolls at that point, come to think of it.
One day the following summer, I got a little overzealous while brushing Molly's hair, and her head popped off. My mom's got a picture of me somewhere holding the doll in one hand, her head in the other, a look of horror on my face.
(It was really easy to fix, though. I got the impression they'd designed them with hard-brushing little girls in mind.)
Posted by: Mary | February 6, 2008 11:28 PM