Dolls of Our Lives

Josefina: you know her, you love her, and at this point, you wish she could just catch a break. In book four, we find Josefina learning healing practices, both losing and then gaining a goat, and getting shortchanged on her first double -digit birthday. Though most of this book is about Josefina learning to do emotional labor and herbal medicine, Mary and Allison took this opportunity to examine w...

Surprise! We are three books into the Josefina series and everyone in the Montoya household is still super sad. As Mary and Allison continue their exploration of Josefina’s colonial world, they find her Christmas story to be both deeply moving and riddled with Catholic guilt. As the sisters continue to grapple with the loss of Mama, their grief is eclipsed only by Dolores’s drive to work. While ev...

In Episode 10, we explore Josefina Learns a Lesson, the second book in the Josefina series. One lesson we learn right away is never to judge a book by its (beautifully illustrated) cover. Though this book promises a school story, what it delivers is a story about a family being schooled by their once-absent aunt, Tia Dolores. Following a disastrous flood, Tia Dolores seizes her chance to inflict h...

In episode nine, we turn our gaze to the American Southwest & the youthful, plucky Josefina Montoya. Our analysis of Josefina’s books begins with two powerful questions—first, given the place and time, is this the story of a colonial girl? Second, just how many references to Tejana queen Selena will we make per episode? While representations of imperialism in early American history are hard to...

If we've said it once, we've said it at least a dozen times: if Felicity was good enough to launch Shailene Woodley’s career, it is more than enough for this podcast. In episode eight, we consider Woodley’s turn as a spunky colonial frenemy in Felicity: An American Girl Adventure (2005). Along the way, we ask important questions about its team of producers, which was mysteriously led by none other...

Upon completing the six canon Felicity books, Mary and Allison turn to fan fiction. In addition to reading some fans’ stories that fall within the Valerie Tripp timeline, they investigate alternative narratives, including a Men in Black II crossover. Inspired by the wild world of Felicity fic, the hosts pick up their own proverbial quill and imagine a few other Felicity plots. This episode also in...

If times are a changin, why does so little happen in this book? During this final Felicity saga, friendships are tested, grandfathers and town frenemies fall ill, and a foal is born. While reflecting on this journey we’ve taken with Williamsburg’s fave redhead, Mary and Allison question not only her development arc, but the redemption of Jiggy Nye and the absolution of Felicity’s grandpa. Last but...

In book five, it’s the summer of 1775 but the spirit of 1776 is heating up along with the temperatures in colonial Virginia. Mrs. Merriman is pregnant, Mr. Merriman is having financial troubles, and Felicity is her usual spirited self - so the family of course takes a road trip to grandpa’s. But this journey through the woods includes a lurking Ben, who’s broken his apprenticeship and leg. Felicit...

Typically the magazines we talk about are Us Weekly and People but in this episode, Mary and Allison get into the Williamsburg gunpowder plot of 1775. Book four features Felicity’s birthday and the knowledge that as she enters her double digit years, she’s fully prepared to blow the whistle on loyalists. As we explore Felicity’s new 10-year-old level interests (gardening? the guitar!?) we weigh wh...

There’s a governor’s ball and Felicity WILL dance (and cry along the way) if she wants to in Felicity’s Surprise. In unpacking this third installment, Mary and Allison discuss the extent to which the title character’s surprise is not just a new dress or doll but the extent to which “woke” Ben wants her to be domesticated. We also trace the feverish dots between Mrs. Merriman’s illness, The Yellow...

Loose lips may sink ships, and in Felicity Learns a Lesson, we learn how loose tea and teeth can bring down an empire…or just a bratty imperialist. In this episode, Mary and Allison question Felicity’s bonafides as a friend, whether Ben Franklin was an influencer, and the importance of the Yorktown tea party. We also connect the Fyre Fest debacle to colonial politics and ask a vital question: who’...

In their very first episode, Mary and Allison talk about their origin story, attending American Girl Live! as thirty-somethings, and Valerie Tripp’s masterwork Meet Felicity. While exploring the world set out in the Felicity books (1770s colonial Virginia) they question the title character’s exclusive devotion to freeing a local horse named Penny. Last but not least, they address an important peti...

Join historians and friends Allison Horrocks and Mary Mahoney as they relive the American Girls series one book at a time. New episodes every other week. Debuts March 1st.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.