Finally, after begging for years, we’re pleased to learn there’s going to be a boy doll from American Girl Doll this Thursday!
His name is Logan Everett, and he plays drums alongside his friend, Tenney Grant, a female singer-songwriter from Tennessee. It’s actually not clear just yet if he’s the “sidekick” or they’re trying to market them as an equal team, but we will see.
Logan is part of the 2017 collection of new American Girl Dolls (can we even call it that anymore? Is it now just AG Dolls?) — which happen to include several more diverse figures, including Girl of the Year Gabriela McBride, Korean-American Z Yang, and a historical Hawaiian girl named Nanea.
Related: Great baby dolls for boys, in honor of Free to Be You and Me, and William
Now of course, Logan is not going to please everyone. It’s a great start that there’s finally a boy for kids to play with that go with their other AG favorites. But of course he’s, well…white. And blond. And blue-eyed from what we can tell.
But hopefully Logan has a compelling backstory and an interesting book of his own. And with some luck, he heralds a whole crew of AG boys with the same growing diversity as the girl dolls, so that every child can find a doll that reflects the person they see in the mirror and around the lunch table at school.
Logan isn’t available yet, but look for this first AG 18″ boy doll on Thursday at the American Girl Doll website.
h/t Huffington Post
As the mom of boy, and the owner of several american girl dolls from the time the company was owned by Pleasant Rowland, I am not sure this is a move I agree with. The dolls were meant to empower girls and tell historical stories. I learned so much history through these books. WWII, VIctorian/Suffragette history, midwestern settlers, colonial/revolutionary life, and later free black history. I was upset when the company came to focus on the “girl of today” because that left behind so much of the original intent of these dolls, and now this moves them further away. I see value in the male doll, but maybe this isnt the right venue for it.
Rachel, thanks for your feedback. I can only speak on behalf of my own daughter who haaaates that her AG dolls don’t have any boys to play with. I love that it enables more opportunities for creative play for her, history lessons aside. I guess the thing about all dolls is they become whatever your kids want them to be, not what they are intended to be by the manufacturer — as any of us who ever died our Barbie’s hair green back in the day can attest, ha.
Though from the kid’s outfit looks like he’s from TN in the 90’s? We will see!