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Meet Books

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File:SamanthaMeetBook.jpg
The Samantha doll with Meet Samantha, an example of a Meet Book.

A Meet Book is a fandom term that refers to the first (or in some cases, only) book that comes bundled with a character doll at purchase to introduce the character.

Overview and Details

A meet book of some kind is always bundled with named character dolls at purchase. When a character is retired or archived, the books are generally left available for separate purchase for some time afterwards.

Historical Characters

Meet books for Historical Characters were originally titled Meet [Name]: An American Girl. Historical meet books generally establish the setting, character, era, and background of the character, setting up the story that is expanded on in later books. In the Looking Back section, the topic of discussion is always America at the time of the series, and details about the pressing details that will serve as a theme through the series--for example, Meet Kit discusses the causes and lead up to the Great Depression, while Meet Caroline discusses the lead up to the War of 1812. This helps place historical context for the stories and characters. While Cécile Rey and Marie-Grace Gardner share a series, they are both given meet books; Cécile's discusses the lives of free blacks in New Orleans while Marie-Grace's discusses New Orleans specifically. Nicki Hoffman and Isabel Hoffman as twins share a meet book, but have individual character meet journals.

There were several sets that included all the released Historical Characters' meet books together, so as to introduce a purchaser to several characters at once. This was discontinued with Kaya's release.

With Best Friend Characters, the books are still considered unique meet books although the titles are unique; their books serve to show a unique angle for the character not previously detailed in the main Historical Character's central series, with books either set in the midst of or after the Historical Character's central series.

With the launch of BeForever, the Central Series were rebundled into two volumes and the current historical dolls came with Volume 1 of their Classic Series, which includes the full text of the original stand-alone book as well as the next two books. With the depreciation of the BeForever branding in 2019 and the abridged versions being released, the books and stories were abridged and the meet book may be partially contained in the new volume with sections removed. The exception is Samantha Parkington, whose first volume was completely rewritten as Samantha: The Gift; the rewrite removed the majority of Meet Samantha's events and story and only one chapter was kept intact.

Modern Unnamed Dolls (Truly Me)

In the early years of the American Girl of Today, dolls came with a six-book set that mimicked the Central Series, and came with writing guides that were intended to prompt the purchaser to create a central series of their own. These were later discontinued.

Starting in 2019, Truly Me dolls started coming with a copy of Friends: Making Them and Keeping Them, which was later removed.

Girls of the Year, Contemporary Characters, and World By Us

With the Girls of the Year and Contemporary Characters, the meet book is frequently titled with just the character's first name.[1] The meet book establishes the location and characterization in a modern location, as well as issues faced by the character and, if applicable, locations traveled to.

Initially Girls of the Year only had one book available to tell the entire story for a character. Starting with Nicki Fleming, characters had multiple books; the first book still establishes setting and character. Kavi Sharma comes with a journal and her meet book was released and sold separately, and this has been the pattern going forward with Girls of the Year that there is one main book and an accompanying journal.

The World by Us characters each have a meet book; all three books tie the characters together and occur in an observable chronological order.

Terminology

Because the first books for the Historical Characters were titled Meet ____, this became the fandom term for several items. The initial outfit a character wears is labeled the meet outfit and the initial accessories are referred as meet accessories; the outfit shown on the cover matches what the character doll is (or was) dressed in at purchase. When Felicity's meet outfit was changed from the Rose Garden Gown to the Traveling Gown, her book covers were changed.

Exceptions:

Historical Characters and Best Friend Characters Meet Books

Kaya:

Felicity Merriman:

Elizabeth Cole:

Caroline Abbott:

Josefina Montoya:

Cécile Rey:

Marie-Grace Gardner:

Kirsten Larson:

Addy Walker:

Samantha Parkington:

Nellie O'Malley:

Rebecca Rubin:

Claudie Wells:

Kit Kittredge:

Ruthie Smithens:

Nanea Mitchell:

Molly McIntire:

Emily Bennett:

Maryellen Larkin:

Melody Ellison:

Julie Albright:

Ivy Ling:

Courtney Moore:

Nicki Hoffman and Isabel Hoffman:

Girls of the Year Meet Books

Contemporary Characters Meet Books

World by Us Meet Books

See Also

References

  1. ↑ Exceptions include Kanani, Lea, Z, Kira, all Girls of the Year starting with Kavi, and all the World By Us characters.
  2. ↑ In Spanish, the title was Así es Josefina: Una Niña Americana ("Here is Josefina: An American Girl")
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