What HSH is missing

[kamakajr]

Watching my daughters playing with Hallie and the Activity Board tonight, it finally dawned on me what would make the HSH line complete: a Miss Sparks doll. People have been speculating about which of the kids will be coming next. But Miss Sparks is such an integral figure in all the stories, AG would be remiss if they overlooked Miss Sparks (teacher).

[lieu2]

I actually think that is a great idea. I think the teacher would set this apart from their other doll lines. Instead of the child in herself playing the adult, as in Bitty and Bitty twins, a Mrs. Sparks doll would make it a complete school set. I actually like this set a lot. I think it is unique from the other doll lines that they have. I think it has a tremendous amount of play value and captures a very important transition in a child's life. But I am still hoping the boys come too.

[lieu2]

Ok, here is an email that I sent them.
I have just purchased the Hopscotch Hill School set for my daughter. I had two questions. The first is, will you be making Lindy? Because we are Asian and I like to purchase Asian dolls for my daughter. The second question is, will you making Mrs. Sparks? Because I think there would be a lot of interest in this doll. I also think it would separate this doll line from other doll lines. Because the child would no longer be acting as the adult. There would be an adult doll in place of that. I really think that would help sell this doll line and high light it as a separate and unique product. A lot of people have told me they think this doll line is strange because of the smile and the eyes that don't close. I actually think this is a charming product that fulfills a very special need in girls ages 4-6. But I do think making all the children and Mrs. Sparks would be beneficial. Thank you for your time

[dianasmama]

Diana has the complete set of Madeline school house and the small-ish dolls from the Madeline that looks like Polly pocket. Miss Clavell is included and Diana thought that was fabulous! (this is one toy though that I regret having, those Polly pocket toys make me nuts!) But I know, girls just love them.

Laurie

[lieu2]

I love the whole Madeline series. I actually read these books in French as a child. But I am a little weary of jumping in and purchasing the Madeline series until Kaitlin expresses an interest. I will probably buy her the stories this Christmas. She does not really pay attention to full length books yet. She mostly likes to flip through the card board books where she can turn the page herself. I try to read her stories but she usually flips the page before I finished the first sentence. She seldom gets to a second or third sentence per page. I am just weary because of Lynet's experience with Nicole and the Madeline doll house. But I love that doll house. Much more so than the FP ones or the other general one's on the market.

[lieu2]

Here is there response:
Thank you for your e-mail expressing your interest in adding an Asian
American doll to our Hopscotch Hill collection. Since the Hopscotch
Hill School(TM) collection is so new, we do not yet know which products
may be added in the future.

Our Product Development Team is kept very busy creating exciting new
products for all our collections. The ideas on their drawing boards are
kept a secret until the items are actually available for purchase.
Please watch our Web site and catalogues for new products as they are
introduced.

Thank you again for taking the time to write, and for sharing your
enthusiasm for the Hopscotch Hill School product line. Your comments
and requests are important to us, and we thank you for taking the time
to share them.

Sincerely,

[dianasmama]

Lieu,

I agree with you that you should hold off on purchasing anything from the Madeline series, not because they're not adorable or anything, but you just don't know what you dd will like to play with.

One trick that we've used a lot is to go to the toy stores, even TRU, that has toys out on display. The higher end stores have a lot of this, we have Learning Express in our area and they are wonderful for toy set ups. Zany Brainy was good too, but they've all left our area. Anyway, just take her in there "to play". You'll see then what she is attracted to and be able to go from there.

Sadly though, our Learing Express quit carrying any of the nicer Madeline toys or any at all, now that the marketing rights have also gone to Target, etc. I chose the Polly pocket sized set to go with the FP Sweet Streets houses that we have, they are all about the same in size.

Madeline also has wonderful videos that Kaitlin would probably enjoy because there's lot of music too. I bought a group of 5, new in package from ebay last year for only like $10! Don't beat yourself up too much over video time either! [img]wink.gif[/img] In particular with the Madeline stories I think it reinforces the books when you sit down and read those too.

Laurie

[lieu2]

I found it interesting that Lynet said Nicole likes the Madeline books and videos but not the play sets. I would have thought they would go hand in hand. I guess if Kaitlin is not into any of the AG play sets like Angelina Ballerina and HSH, then I will resell it on ebay. But I think she will like them but I do not think they are exactly like the other AG dolls. I think they are more on along the lines of exclusive high end play sets. Not dolls that form lasting relationships. But hopefully I get my $600 worth. I swear each set costs about $300 when you add it all up. It is sort of frightening when you think about it. It is funny that I think about a LP play sets costs about $50 with all the accessories and I think she will get about as much equal play time with those as she will with Angelina and the HSH stuff. Oh well, older children more money. But I have heard that the high quality play sets are better than a thousand $10 toys. You know, the kind we all give at birthday parties. Kaitlin is going to one next week. I bought on large plastic Mc Donald hamburger thing with fake McDonald's food inside and the similar one to the plastic shake. I can totally see it being lost and disregarded in a week. But the mother said her daughter wanted it and frankly the price was right.

[dianasmama]

OK, sorry to all here, I know it seems like Lieu and I can just volley back and forth on posts sometimes, but hopefully some of you with younger girls will also find it relevent! [img]wink.gif[/img]

Diana knows to take "better care" of her AG's because of the value of them, but believe me, that doesn't stop her from loving every one of those darned McDonalds or Burger King kid's meals toys, and I had to laugh at your last post. Diana BEGGED me to get her that McDonald toy that you described. She loved having her play Kid's meals and those awful looking chicken nuggets are currently all over my sewing room floor! At least the french fries are molded togehter!

So, we've gotten her high-end toys like the AG's and Thomas the Tank Engine, but she also has the lesser quality items too and loves them all!

Laurie