American Girl Dolls Nominated for Toy Hall of Fane

An article on Yahoo has announced the nominees for this years Toy Hall of Fame, and American Girl Dolls were included. They face competition from the spinning top, Super Soakers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and several games.

Congratulations to all the finalists. You can read the article here.

Disney Fairytale Designer Collection

I was visiting a Disney Store while on vacation and they had a display of upcoming Disney Collector edition dolls. The sets are captioned Happily Ever After meets Happily Evil After and includes a hero or heroine and the antagonist of their story. They are scheduled to release one a week on Tuesdays starting the last Tuesday of September. The sets include Snow White with Hag, Ariel with Ursula, Peter Pan with Captain Hook (with a tiny Tinker Bell), Elsa with Hans and Rapunzel with Mother Gothel. According to the sales associate they will be $129.99, limited to one per person with an edition size of 6000.

Which one is your favorite?

New Doll Items In Stores

While on vacation we decided to stop by a few stores and see what they have versus what we have available at home.

Below are pictures of some of the goodies we saw today.

Disney Toddler Cinderella based on the movie (Toys R Us)

Disney Princess and Me Cinderella based on the movie (Toys R Us)

 

Journey Girls Italia Holiday Doll

Royally Ever After Apple White (Toys R Us)

Royally Ever After Apple White 

Journey Girls 2 Pack 

Ever After High Heartstruck C.A. Cupid

Ever After High Rosabella Beauty

Monster High Loves Not Dead 2 Pack

Ever After High Alistar Wonderland 

Monster High Boo York Nefera de Nile

Monster High Boo York Nefera de Nile

Little Charmers Lavender and Posie

My Life As Desk and Accessories

American Girl Mental Floss

Mental Floss did a very interesting article on the history and evolution of American Girl dolls.

http://m.mentalfloss.com/article.php?id=68375

What did you think of the article?

Toys R Us Hot Toy List

It looks like retailers are already gearing up for the holiday shopping season. Ijust received an email from Toys R Us with their hottest toys for the holidays. http://m.toysrus.com/shop/index.jsp?categoryId=10811023&camp=CME:TRU:EM090915D_HotToyList&csep=058442e4-c903-440f-bd0c-3fc29fabc07b&dtm_em=a706210e7c2876248d7eede483f9553f

I'm excited to see a new holiday Journey Girl doll and I'm also excited about the inclusion of the Mc2 dolls that come with a science project.

Song of the Mockingbird Book Review

Song of the Mockingbird is the title of American Girl Josefina's new (released August 27) Journey book. American Girl Journey books have you go back in time to meet the character and from there you decide how the story goes. At certain plot points you are asked to chose between two situations each leading to a different outcome.

Now for the fun stuff:

Title: Song of the Mockingbird

Length:198 pages total

Author: Emma Carlson Berne

Main Characters: Josefina and 

Synopsis: The reader is given the role of a girl nicknamed Birdy, whose family just moved from Chicago to Santa Fe. She is having a hard time adjusting, misses her friends, and is upset that the rest of her family doesn't seem to miss Chicago. While out on a walk she finds a bird shaped clay flute that seems to have been made in the mid 1800s. When she plays the flute she goes back in time to New Mexico in the early 1800s. A girl her age comes out of a house and runs to her speaking Spanish, the girl introduces herself as Josefina. When Birdy speaks she realizes she is speaking Spanish and Josefina thinking she is lost takes her inside the rancho. 

From here you get to choose your adventure which could include encountering a mountain lion, or visiting Santa Fe. At the end Birdy learns to appreciate her new home for what it is.

Final Thoughts: Anyone who has ever moved can relate to Birdy's struggle to adapt to a new place. The adventures are fun and you can always go back and pick the other option to see how that adventure would play out. A good read with good lessons.