CVK
Not me, but daddy in a strange land, one of the men behind Rice Daddies, a blog written by a group of Asian-American fathers. We’ve mentioned Jess before, she’s the mixed Asian/white American Girl doll, but it’s interesting to hear a parent’s take on it. Also, I’ve never set foot in one of these stores and I gotta agree with daddy — it does seem a bit creepy, like, Stepford-wife-in-training.

Okay sorry, I can’t resist. I have to include a gratuitous cute baby pic from the Rice Daddies flickr group. Is this not the cutest thing you’ve ever seen????

But anyway, back to American Girl Place. Here are some excerpts from daddy’s take on it, but click here to read his entire post: 

I thought the F.A.O. Schwartz that was in the space before was creepy, what with the animatronics and the non-stop music. But this takes it to a whole other level. First of all, let me say that I’m not the most receptive audience for this. The whole girl-empowerment thing is great, but combining it with crass mass commercialism [”Buy matching clothes for you and your doll! And don’t forget the accessories!”], not so much—and then add in my favorite problematizers, race and class, and, well…. Let’s just say that The Pumpkin won’t be taking her doppleganger doll to high tea there any time soon…

This 10-doll collection of characters from American historical periods from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries, complete with novels, has been lauded for its sort of “girl power” version of fictionalized social history. In the last few years, they’ve added an African American (runaway slave), a Latina (New Mexican), and Native American (eighteenth century Plains)to the collection. Just out of curiosity, I checked the on-line store to see what matching clothes you could get to dress like your historical dolls—”Dress like a run-away slave!”—but, alas, it’s mostly nightgowns. Except there’s nothing for Nez Perce warrior girl Kaya—and I was so looking forward to buying The Pumpkin some faux buckskin jammies…