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American Girl is an American line of dolls released in 1986 by Pleasant Company. The dolls portray eight- to eleven-year-old girls of a variety of ethnicities. They are sold with accompanying books told from the viewpoint of the girls. Originally the stories focused on various periods of American history, but were expanded in 1995 to include characters and stories from contemporary life. A variety of related clothing and accessories is also available. Pleasant Company was founded in 1986 by Pleasant Rowland, and its products were originally purchasable by mail order only. In 1998, Pleasant Company became a subsidiary of Mattel. The company has been awarded the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Award eight times. ==Dolls and accessories== The ''Historical Characters'' line of 18-inch dolls were initially the main focus of Pleasant Company. This product line aims to teach aspects of American history through a six-book series from the perspective of a girl living in that time period. Although the books are written for an eight plus target audience, they endeavor to cover significant topics such as child labor, child abuse, poverty, racism, slavery, animal abuse and war in manners appropriate for the understanding and sensibilities of their young audience.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Company History )〕 In 1995 Pleasant Company released a line of contemporary dolls called ''American Girl of Today''. In 2006 the product line was renamed ''Just Like You''; it was changed again in 2010, to ''My American Girl'', and in 2015 to ''Truly Me''.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=American Girl Unveils Truly Me™ Doll Line and Helps Girls Explore and Discover Who They Truly Are )〕 This line has included over sixty-one different dolls over the years. Each doll has a different combination of face mold, skin tone, eye color, and hair color, length, texture, and/or style. American Girl states that this variety allows customers to choose dolls that "represent the individuality and diversity of today's American girls."〔 A wide variety of contemporary clothing, accessories, and furniture is also available, and there are regular releases and retirements to update this line. Each year, a ''Girl of the Year'' doll is released who has her own special talent. For example, Mia St. Clair, the Girl of the Year for 2008, did ice skating, and Marisol Luna, the Girl of the Year for 2005, was a dancer. Bitty Baby is a line of baby dolls targeted to children aged three and older. They are half the price of full size American Girl dolls. The Bitty Twins line debuted in 2003 to represent slightly older toddlers and/or preschoolers. The Bitty Twins are the same size as the Bitty Baby dolls.〔 A reboot of the Historical Characters line dubbed as ''BeForever'' was launched in August 2014, complete with redesigned outfits, a two-volume compilation of previously-released books, and a "Journey Book" for each character, with players taking the role of a present-day girl who found her way to the past and met up with one of the Historical girls. The line also coincided with the relaunch of Samantha Parkington, whose collection was previously discontinued in 2008. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「American Girl」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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