Samantha the American Girl Turns 25 in a Novel Written for Adults
Pleasant Rowland launched Pleasant Company in 1986 with three dolls — Samantha, Molly and Kirsten — and the business grew into the empire known as American Girl. For its 40th anniversary, the brand asked author Fiona Davis to write a historical fiction book for adults, Samantha: The Next Chapter, in which Samantha Parkington has turned 25.
The story picks up after Samantha's last book, in which she attended a suffragist rally with her aunt Cornelia. It is set 15 years later, in 1920, just after ratification of the 19th Amendment.
AI-generated discussion · Different perspectives
1920 is a smart year to land on. The girl whose book marched her to a suffrage rally now gets to live in the country that amendment actually produced, which is continuity with an edge rather than a museum-piece cameo.
Or it is brand extension with a literary trim. Three dolls from 1986 became an empire, and forty years on, the same nostalgia sells a grown-up hardcover — it is a clever way to age the audience along with the character.