Meet Kit, The New American Girl! 
Her Story Depicts Life During American's Great Depression

Kit™ Kittredge,  the brand new long-awaited American Girl™ doll has just been released!  Kit is a nine-year old girl growing up in Cincinnati, Ohio, during America's Great Depression.  Her story, illustrated by a wonderful series of six books written by American Girls Collection author Valerie Tripp, begins in 1932, three years into the Depression.  At the start of the first book, Meet Kit, Kit's father loses his job, and this drastically changes the life of Kit and her family.  Kit's family must turn their lovely house into a boarding house in order to keep it, and the family struggles in countless ways.  What happens to Kit's family parallels what happened to the country during the Great Depression.  As did those who actually lived through the hard times, Kit's family is forced to use their strength, determination and resourcefulness to carry on despite adversity.

Kit is also an aspiring reporter, which plays a big part in her way of relating to the changes in the world around her.  "Kit is a plucky, ingenious, hard working and brave," says author Valerie Tripp.  "Most of all, she is an observer--she pays attention to what happens around her.  And, she is a reporter.  I was inspired to make her so by all the hundreds of girls who have told me in letters and in person how much they love to write.  Through Kit, I'd like to encourage not only all those writers, but all of our readers to celebrate their creativity." 

As with all the other American Girl dolls, Kit and her clothes and accessories are themed to the books, and help tell Kit's story. Many of the accessories have aspects that make them wonderful learning tools that teach children about the time period the doll is from.  For more information on the doll's accessories, clothing and books, see Kit's World.

The Kit Can-Do Challenge

As a part of the introduction of the Kit doll, American Girl is promoting community awareness and the spirit of giving through Kit's Can-Do Challenge, a national food drive.  The food drive began on September 15 and will run through November 22. For this food drive, girls and their friends and family members are encouraged to donate at least five cans of non-perishable food to their local food pantries, with the goal of collecting one million cans of food nationwide.  "Kit's stories and Kit's Can-Do Challenge will help girls realize that there are people--even children--right in their own communities who do not have enough.  We'd like girls to see that the combined effect of their small efforts can make a big difference in their communities" said Julia Prohaska, brand director for American Girl.  

Where To Buy Kit! You can buy Kit at the American Girl Store online, or you can request a catalog from 1-800-845-0005. You can also buy Kit at the American Girl Store in Chicago.  Finally, American Girl books are available in bookstores nationwide.

To track the results, participants must complete and return a coupon to American Girl verifying how much food they donated.  The coupons are available in the current American Girl catalogue, and in the November/December issue of American Girl magazine.  You can also print out a donation coupon from the American Girl site online.  Certain bookstores around the country will also be drop-off points for food.  I strongly urge all of my About Doll Collecting community members to participate in this food drive, and to post a message on the Forum in the Kit Can-Do Challenge thread telling us about your experience if you do.  You dont NEED to have a child at home to participate--borrow a child of a friend, a niece or nephew, or a granchild if you have one, or participate on your own!

You can track the progress of the food drive at the Kit Can-Do Challenge official page.  The final results will be posted one week after Thanksgiving 2000.   As of September 24, at the very beginning stage of this charitable project, over 988 cans of food were already collected. 

See more of Kit in Kit's Home at the American Girl online store.

Go to PAGE TWO of this article for detailed information about Kit's wonderful books, clothing and accessories: Kit's World.

Discuss Kit in the Forum:  The New American Girl Doll! 

Meet Other Doll Collectors in chat!:

 

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©Denise Van Patten 2000
All Rights Reserved.
Photo of Kit courtesy of The Pleasant Company and ©The Pleasant Company.