American Girl's 2014 Doll of the Year is Isabelle, and while I've never owned an American Girl doll (I wish I had that kind of money) I am always very impressed with the books that go along with them.
Isabelle is a ballet dancer living in Washington DC with her older sister (also a ballerina) and her museum-curator/fabric-artist mother and hospital administrator/jazz-musician father. Despite her skills in costume and fashion design, Isabelle feels like she's shadowed by the dancing talent of her older sister Jade, and also struggles with a classmate who is prickly and meanspirited.
All read June 25, 2014
Isabelle
ISBN: 9781609583712
Introduces the character as she practices for a school recital, performing choreography that is proving difficult to master.
Designs by Isabelle
ISBN: 9781609583729
Chosen as part of the cast of a modern-day Nutcracker, Isabelle helps her older sister adjust to a growth spurt, and uses her design talents to help improve the costumes, but her own part in the show is causing her trouble.
To the Stars, Isabelle
ISBN: 9781609583736
After mastering her role in the Nutcracker, Isabelle is thrilled when her dance idol chooses her as part of a small outreach program to perform in nursing homes and hospitals, but performing in impromptu locations proves to be a challenge, and Isabelle needs her sister Jade's support to feel inspired.
These three are written by the award-winning (and very good) author Laurence Yep, and he does a very good job within the obvious strictures of the extremely socially-conscious American Girl framework. With him at the helm, obviously-included mentions and characters almost seem like grace-notes, and less like a rigid requirement. Doubtful that younger readers will even notice, making these nearly-seamless inclusions even more important.
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