Gurl, Santa.

...maybe.

I had all four Little Women Madame Alexander dolls when I was little! I LOVED them.

I still have those, plus Marmee and Laurie. My grandmother gave them to me over three years of birthdays and Christmases.

Actually, I think I had a wee Laurie, too. For some reason, I had them in two sizes -- Jo and Meg were bigger, maybe 12 inches, and Amy and Beth and Laurie were smaller, maybe 8 inches? Something like that. I did not have Marmee! I'll have to chastise my mother.

I think I still have at least some of them somewhere. Some of them I gave to my niece before Sara was even an idea, sadly.

I have the 8" ones and my sister has the 12" ones, although I have no idea where she's stuffed hers.

Someone take eBay away from me right now.

Someone take eBay away from me right now.

Sorry, I'm bad at that. (And thanks to eBay and Amazon I now know that Gund has made a plush doll of Count von Count from Sesame Street! Dear Santa, I have been really, really good this year. Please bring my one of my favorite vampires from my childhood?

Gurl, Santa. ...maybe.

Gurl, I ain't got money to buy it anyway right now. Just excited to know it's out there.

I am an Atwood fan, but never really thought of keeping her likeness. would definitely want a little O'Connor to sit by my desk.

I've been reading some American Girl books from the library. I loved these when I was a kid, and since one of the newer characters is a Jewish girl living on the Lower East Side in 1914-1915, I figured I'd check those out.

After reading the last book, I'm kind of amazed that no one has launched a "These books are indoctrinating our children into Socialism" protest yet. Basic plot of the book is that Rebecca's uncle and cousin, who work in a factory with the sort of horrible conditions you'd expect from a factory in 1915, go on strike. Rebecca and her other cousins are told to stay home, away from the strike, because it's too dangerous for kids (Rebecca is 10), but they decide that they should help out and go anyway. While they're there, they first see some "thugs" come and beat up the workers. Then some police come, and Rebecca says, "It's the police! Now they'll arrest the goons and protect the workers!" But the police join in with beating up and arresting the workers. Then Rebecca tries to stand on a box and make a speech, and someone throws a rock that hits her on the head.

Throughout the book, they talk about a strike leader named Clara Adler with a sort of awe and reverence. I'm nearly certain that Clara Adler is based on Clara Lemlich. Clara Lemlich was a Communist.

At the end of the book, there's a history section that gives some background about what was going on then. Most of it is fairly straightforward stuff about why people went on strike, and what they wanted to accomplish, and bit about the Triangle Shirtwaist fire. The last paragraph is,

Jewish people have always deeply valued fairness, equality, and opportunity. In Rebecca's time, when millions of Jewish immigrants settled in America, they brought these values with them into the workplace and into American society. Like Rebecca, they were willing to stick up for the underdog and speak out for what's right. Many of their children and grandchildren went on to become leaders in the fight for people's rights.

And then there are photos of Gloria Steinem, Bella Abzug, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

I was pretty surprised to see all this in an American Girl book. Some of the Samantha books did deal with political issues, but they were about child labor (10-year-old working in a factory) and women's suffrage, which I think are generally considered settled issues from a long time ago within the US. I guess I'd expected that, since a lot of the American Girl doll accessories and clothes and other things have become so much like they're trying to appeal to everybody by making things as nondescript as possible, I'd figured the books would have become much more non-controversial, too.