With just under a month left until I move into my dorm room, I have bought almost everything I need and have started to clean out my bedroom, deciding which things to bring and which things to leave in New Orleans. While doing so, I found my old American Girl dolls, which have been sitting on the top shelf of my desk since the last time I picked them up, when I was about twelve years old.

American Girl took over my friends’, my sister’s, and my life throughout elementary and middle school. The dark red and pink, star-printed boxes cluttered the shelves in my sister’s closet, and American Girl accessory toys lined the walls of my room. I would go to sleepovers, where it was more important to remember your American Girl doll than your toothbrush, and we would spend hours changing their clothes and braiding their hair. As I’m thinking about these things, I would just like to thank the American Girl company for the years of fun they gave to my friends and me.

Thank you for giving these girls a background.

I used to buy and read the books for many of the dolls, even the ones I didn’t own. Those books were the first stories I knew of completely different and incomprehensible lifestyles. The backgrounds and personalities that the creators gave the girls helped me relate to them and allowed me to dive deeper into their stories. The books were what helped me fall in love with the historical fiction genre, an appreciation that has stayed with me throughout middle and high school.

Thank you for allowing these girls to be personalized.

When my sister was in elementary school, she went through a phase where she accidentally broke at least two bones in her body each year. She wasn’t being careless; she was just acting like all other kids. The American Girl doll accessories I remember her playing with the most were the leg and arm casts, the crutches, and the wheelchair. Her dolls always had some sort of injury, just like she did. Now, I see ads for American Girl dolls that can be made with prosthetic limbs, hearing aids, or with no hair. By doing this, American Girl helps young girls that struggle with illness or disabilities feel noticed and special.

Thank you for not putting the girls into a category.

No girl could ever feel excluded with an American Girl doll; the makers made sure that there were a variety of races and cultures exhibited throughout the dolls, along with stories that were the background of each doll’s fictional life. Every American Girl doll had a hobby that she was passionate about and a struggle that she overcame, making them very well-rounded characters and role models for young girls.

Lastly, thank you for the years of imagination you gave to my friends and me.

Some of the best days of my childhood were playing and dressing up these dolls. And, yes, my sister and I did sometimes wear outfits to match our dolls.