How did everyone first get introduced to AG?

[thepidget]

Hi all,

I thought this would be an interesting question, especially since I'm pretty new here. How and when did all of you first get introduced to American Girls? Was it through a friend, the catalogs, the characters' stories, etc.? In one of my earlier posts, I believe I mentioned I found out about AG by reading one of Molly's books in elementary school. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Just curious! [img]graemlins/island.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/star.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/heart.gif[/img] [img]biggrin.gif[/img]

[Kenshinchan]

I have no idea how that first catalogue entered our house; I'd have to ask my mom. But she and I both fell in love with the beautiful products. I was very much into the Laura Ingalls series at the time, so I had to have Kirsten. And even though she was expensive, my parents bought her for me (I don't even know the occasion; I'm sure it was Christmas or my birthday). I didn't get all the books at once; in fact, I clearly remember buying one that I'd maybe had a hard time finding when we were vacationing. [img]biggrin.gif[/img]

But the catalogues used to be descriptive and detailed enough, they seemed to be almost as good as a book! I wish I'd kept some; I'm such a packrat I thought I would've, but they're nowhere to be found.

[thepidget]

Wow, I still love the Laura Ingalls Wilder book series. They're so much fun to read!! I was considering getting a brunette AGT doll to transform into a little Laura, hehe, but I wound up getting my lovely Molly instead.

By the way, your "dancing Kirsten" is cute. [img]smile.gif[/img] I can't believe she's trying to do DDR. [img]eek.gif[/img] I stink at it!

[Kenshinchan]

I still like Laura Ingalls Wilder's books too; many of mine are literally almost worn to pieces (and one or two have had a cover loved off ;P ). But I've probably read them all 10x apiece, so I've been trying to read other things instead. [img]smile.gif[/img] (I should probably buy "The First Four Years;" for some reason I never bought that one when I was small, so I didn't read it more than a couple times. I have all the others, though.)

And just because you bought Molly doesn't mean you can't dress her up! Although her bangs qualify as a "lunatic fringe", but meh, Kirsten has bangs too!

(Thanks; I like DDR so Kirsten had to try too. I'm passable at it; Kirsten's pretty poor, but she has style. If you bought your own fancy dance mats and several of the games and had played at home 30 minutes several times a week for a couple years, I'll bet you'd be better than I am, even though I did all that. [img]biggrin.gif[/img] )

[thepidget]

LOL. The same thing happened to my childhood Laura books--I kept reading them again and again, and over time they sort of became old and a bit battered. But I wound up buying a brand new set of the Little House books just last year so I could read them anew. [img]biggrin.gif[/img] I'm not a big fan of The First Four Years, however, which I believe tells the story of the beginning of Laura's marriage. Laura was supposedly too heartbroken to finish that book because Almanzo had died as she was writing it, so the book feels more like a series of notes than a real story (or least that's how it felt to me). It's not very fleshed out and doesn't have the same charm of her earlier books. [img]frown.gif[/img]

I was also thinking that I could sometimes pretend that Molly was Laura (it could be another "Halloween outfit" for her, haha). Her long brown hair and bangs would certainly make it work! [img]wink.gif[/img] Definitely a fun idea!

[Nethilia]

I kinda saw glimpses of the first thre when I was really young, but I didn't get introduced until I got a catalogue at my grandma's for Addy. And I was lost forever more.

[jlogemann17]

Fun topic- good idea!

We started with the books when the girls were 4 1/2 & 6 1/2- reading them at bedtime(I didn't even know about the dolls at first). I think it was a librarian's recommendation, but maybe a friend tipped us off. After we read all the books that were available at the time (it took us about 6-9 months to get through them [well the 6 year old read ahead, and she was done a little earlier]- Kaya wasn't out yet)- the girls got to choose their first doll to get for Christmas. We made them wait til the end because every time we'd be reading about someone, they were just SURE that this was their favorite. They got Kit and Kirsten that first year, then saved their money to buy an AGot about a year and a half later. Now about 2 1/2 years after the AGoT my almost 11 year old just bought herself Jess, and the almost 9 year old is waiting for Emily.
Jo

[AG Seamstress]

Way back in 1987, I was director of a latchkey program at our elementary school. It was a small group of kids, most days about 10-12. One of the girls brought in a catalog to show us the picture of her doll, Kirsten, that she had told us about. Her mother wouldn't let her bring the doll, so she brought the next best thing. She told us about getting the bed, and the special clothing, and everyone was in awe. That was the first time I'd ever heard about AG, and often think of that little girl having all original items, and wondering if she kept them. She brought me an extra catalog to keep, and I had it for several years, until somehow it got lost when we moved.

[gmommy04]

My sister-in-law and niece were coming to spend Christmas with us about 12 or more years ago. My sister-in-law was buying Felicity and some of her accessories for my niece Ashley for Christmas and asked if she could have them shipped directly to my house. Because AG had my name and address from that shipping, I started receiving catalogs---I tossed them the first few years, then, voila, took a REAL look myself---after that I was officially HOOKED!!

Karla

[3castles]

My husband's cousin started buying the entire collection for her daughters. (she has 3 daughters and money isnt' a problem) Well, we were over at his Aunt's at Christmas and the girls had just gotten Kaya. I believe she was the only historical they didn't have. We thought she was beautiful! Especially the horse and the teepee. (Yes, they got it ALL!) His cousin was telling me about AG and saying how my DD would love the books DD was 5 at the time. So I picked a book up at the library a few months later and the rest is history! I read the first books to her then as she learned to read she would go to bed with one and read it herself. We didn't allow her to get a doll until this past Christmas because we wanted to be sure she'd take care of it. Now we have 7 dolls since our big consignment store find! Yeah, we're hooked!