Central Series

The Central Series, as defined here, are the core six books about each Historical Character, covering the full initial story of each character over a span of approximately two years. Box sets include a full set of six books; when story collections were available, they included all six books in one volume. A character doll can also be purchased with a full set of her Central Series.

Cover Variations and Details
There have been many changes to the American Girl books through the years, going back to when they were first published. Not only have the covers evolved to match current styles, but the illustrations and internal layouts have evolved as well.

The covers of the Historical Books have had three major changes, with several other minor elemental changes. A collector can fairly accurately date a book by these elements.

First Cover Style: 1986-2000
1986
 * The first three characters were introduced with parchment-colored covers. They are distinctive for the off-white spines and parchmenty-looking boxes on the front and back. This general style was used through 1998.


 * Other elements that were used in each cover were:


 * A specific color was chosen for each girl and used for things like the year, her silhouette on the back cover, and the little symbol on the spine.
 * The year at the bottom of the front cover was split. So, for example, Samantha's would have "19" in burgundy on the left and "04" in burgundy on the right.
 * The back cover had a list of the different characters and then a short passage speaking to the way times have changed, but girls are very much the same.
 * The complete copy read:
 * The books in this collection tell the stories of three American girls who lived long ago:
 * Kirsten, a pioneer girl of strength and spirit who settles on the frontier,
 * Samantha, a bright Victorian beauty, an orphan raised by her wealthy grandmother.
 * Molly, who schemes and dreams on the home front during World War II.
 * You can share their worlds -- the friends they make, the struggles and successes they have in school, the excitement of their Christmas secrets, their birthday celebrations, and their summer adventures. You'll see that some things in their lives are very different from yours. But others -- like families, friendships, and feelings -- haven't changed at all. These are the important things that American girls will always share. These are the traditions that come alive in the American Girls Collection.


 * The list of the characters on the back cover had only three in 1986 - Kirsten, Samantha, and Molly. Each had her silhouette as a bullet, followed by a brief description of her character.

1988
 * Under the title and subtitle on the front cover, the book number was added. It was also added to the spines, just above the symbol.

1992
 * With Felicity's debut, the list of characters on the back cover grew by one. Felicity's green silhouette was first, since she was the earliest chronologically.

1994
 * Addy added a fifth character to the list on the back of each book. She had an orange silhouette. Also, the passage about the timelessness of girlhood was edited for length.


 * The new version of the passage read:
 * You can share their worlds -- the friends they make, the struggles and successes, their sad times and celebrations, their secrets and adventures. You'll see that some things about growing up have changed, while others -- like families, friendships, and feelings -- haven't changed at all. These are the important things that American girls will always share. They come alive for you in the American Girls Collection.

1998
 * When Josefina debuted, the back list changed altogether. Instead of simple silhouettes, each girl had a miniature portrait next to her description. Also, instead of being in a line on the left, the image of the girls alternated sides.

At this time Addy and Samantha's books were reillustrated and the cover art was changed.


 * The revised back copy:
 * Some things about growing up have changed, while others -- like families, friendships, and feelings -- haven't changed at all. These are the important things that American girls will always share. They come alive for you in the American Girls Collection.

Images:

Cover Style Two: 2000-2004
Kit's books introduced a much different cover. The style was also used for Kaya initially. Although the illustrations used the same themes and compositions, there were several changes. They include:


 * Cover illustrations with more detailed (though faded) backgrounds that filled the entire cover, rather than a small section.
 * The title, year, book number, etc. moved from the bottom of the front cover to the top.
 * The spine was colorized to match the colors assigned to each girl, rather than just using the color on the symbol on the spine.
 * The back cover stopped showing a list of all the girls. It then gave a description of the book and shows the other books in her series. The other girls are still represented in a small arch of their mini-portraits at the bottom, just above a brief description of "The American Girls Collection."


 * The new version of the copy:
 * What was it like to be a girl long ago? The American Girls Collection takes you inside the worlds of girls who lived during exciting times in the past. As you read their stories, you can imagine how different life was back then. But you'll also discover that their feelings, ideas, and dreams are just like yours.

Cover Style Three: 2004-Present
The covers are again changed dramatically with the release of Nellie's Promise. There is no longer a primary theme to the cover illustration, though some of them maintain an illustration similar to the original covers. Julie, Rebecca, Cécile and Marie-Grace, Caroline's series, and the Best Friends books are only available in the current cover style.


 * Not only do the characters have a unique silhouette, symbol, and color, but a special font that is intended to mimic their handwriting. This font is used in their names in each title, which now is printed over a stripe of color towards the top of the cover. Books no longer have the book number or subtitle on the front cover.
 * The spine is still colored with each characters special color, but the symbol at the top is gone and now only appears inside the book. Also, the girl's name is shown in its special script.
 * The back cover, again, is changed. The stripe at the front of the book is echoed on the back, but rather than a solid color, it is a crop of an illustration from inside. Below it is a description of the story, then an arch of the other books in the series and a blurb about the series itself. In the lower left-hand corner is the AG Inner Star logo with the Inner Star blurb that can be found on the website and other AG products.

Patterns in the Central Series
The patterns within the books were perpetuated with the covers. Each type of story had a specific cover style which varied only by the character and era. This continued through the 2000 revamp of the covers, but was discontinued with the 2004 changes. Currently, covers generally show a larger version of an illustration inside the books with the exception of Meet Books, which have a large image of the character.

Meet Books

 * See: Meet Books

Each meet book establishes the character, their family, and the setting and era of the series. In each, the characters have a conflict of some sort. These range from the small (such as Molly's Halloween war with her brother) to significant (such as Addy and her mother making it to freedom) These books are always packaged with the Historical Character dolls when they are sold.

Meet Cover Design: The character was initially viewed sideways, walking in front of a stoop or gate of some sort, with her head turned towards the viewer. She wore her meet outfit and at least some of her meet accessories. Updated covers did not change this much, except for Molly McIntire who was changed into her Halloween Hula Costume.

When Kit was released, a set of all seven Historical Characters' meet books was available for a short time.

School Books
Each school book takes place in the fall, soon after the events of the Meet Book. The main character starts school (in many cases for the first time) and, if she has not already met their "Best Friend" in the first book, meets them here--an example being Kirsten and Singing Bird. During the course of the book, the character learns a lesson outside of the classroom. Sometimes, in a small way, the lesson reflects or is influenced by a larger historical event.

School Cover Design: Also viewed sideways, the character sits at her school desk, wearing her school outfit and with some of her school accessories. The background consists of items from a school-room setting, according to the historical era.

Holiday Books
These books take place around the Christmas holidays. The main character has something disappointing happen to them, but their sadness is resolved by the end. The main character is surprised in some way near or on Christmas by events or actions of some form. They are all given a doll of some type as a gift.

Holiday Cover Design: The character holds something special from her holiday story and wears her holiday outfit. She is viewed from the front, with a holiday-themed background of some type (such as a tree)

Birthday Books
These books are set in the spring; this resulted in all the characters having spring or early summer birthdays (the earliest being Josefina Montoya in mid-March and latest Kirsten Larson in mid-June ). A pet animal is usually featured prominently. The pet usually belongs to the character but not always (e.g. Addy, whose "pet" actually belonged to her neighbor, M'dear). They each learn a lesson about growing up and maturing during the events of the book. Most of the birthday celebrations happen at the end of the book (the notable exception being Samantha, who has her party at the beginning); only Molly's is not actually seen.

Birthday Cover Design: Viewed from a slight angle, the character sits in one of her chairs with something from her birthday in her hands or at her feet. She wears her birthday dress and her pet is at her side, and her table, dishes, and party treats can be seen in the background.

Summer Books
These books are set in the summer. Many of the characters go on some sort of trip or vacation to a new location. (The notable exceptions are Kit Kittredge and Addy Walker.) At some point in the book--generally near the end--the character "saves the day" in some way. The event that causes the saving can be the focus of the book (as in Molly's, where the plot was winning the Color War) or it can be an accessory to the central plot of the book (as in Addy's, where "saving the day" was chasing the thief, but the main was Addy's compassion towards Harriet).

Summer Cover Style: An "action" shot, where the character in her summer outfit re-enacts a scene from the book. (Example: Molly's rowing her canoe, Addy is chasing the thief at the fair, Samantha is in the boat in the storm, and so on.)

Changes Books
These books are set in the winter or early spring--due to the time span of the books, this is about one year after the events of the holiday book. Some profound change happens with the main character's life. These books served at the time of original publication to wrap up the characters' stories; later Historical Character Mysteries and Short Stories continued to expand the storyline. All of these books have some sort of happy ending for the characters involved.

Winter Cover Style: Similar to the 'meet' cover, the character walks sideways but is turned to smile at the viewer. She wears her winter gear and waves. She may be holding or wearing one of her winter accessories, and if additional clothing can be seen, it is usually one of the extra outfits in the collection. For example, Felicity wears her work gown under her cloak.

Kaya
Kaya's stories do not follow the traditional patterns or titles set by the first seven historical characters. This is because Kaya's history does not set a standard pattern. While she does have several alike events, such as a winter festival, she does not have the traditional lifestyle of the prior characters and so has a different pattern.

Julie
Julie's series, like Kaya's, does not follow the set title pattern given by previous characters. Whether this was due to the fact that the original pattern was being ignored post-Kaya or due to the varying events present in Julie's series was unknown until Rebecca's release. The main stories, however, are loosely equivalent--they just simply are not titled in the same format. With the exception of the first book, the subtitles of the stories were also removed.

A major exception is that Julie's holiday book focuses more on Chinese New Year instead of Christmas; however, her holiday collection focuses on the tea with her father.

Rebecca
Rebecca's series also does not follow the traditional titles; this was a confirmation that traditional titles and patterns would most likely no longer be used. Her holiday book focuses on Hanukkah as she is Jewish. The main stories are loosely equivalent to the original series, with the same pattern, and like Julie's series, do not have the subtitles with the exception of the first book.

Cécile and Marie-Grace
Cécile and Marie-Grace's series do not follow the traditional titles; as an intertwining series their books are intended to serve as a diptych and a parallel to one another. Additionally instead of covering many years, the Central Series only covers approximately one year in the two girls' lives.

Caroline
The main stories of Caroline's series loosely follows the pattern seen in previous Historical Characters' series, in terms of seasonal setting. A major exception is that Caroline does not have a proper birthday book; her birthday is celebrated at the end of Caroline's Secret Message, her second book.

Box Sets and Story Collections
Box sets include all six books in the central series. With characters that had Best Friends released, for a short time it was possible to purchase a seven-book set that included their book as well. Recently box sets include a small fold out board game on the back.

Story collections, when available, included all the Central series, but only included the Looking Back section of the "changes" books, if that.

Kaya

 * Meet Kaya: An American Girl
 * Kaya's Escape: A Survival Story
 * Kaya's Hero: A Story of Giving
 * Kaya and Lone Dog: A Story of Friendship
 * Kaya Shows The Way: A Sister Story
 * Changes for Kaya: A Story of Courage

Felicity

 * Meet Felicity: An American Girl
 * Felicity Learns a Lesson: A School Story
 * Felicity's Surprise: A Christmas Story
 * Happy Birthday, Felicity!: A Springtime Story
 * Felicity Saves The Day: A Summer Story
 * Changes for Felicity: A Winter Story

Caroline

 * Meet Caroline: An American Girl
 * Caroline's Secret Message
 * A Surprise for Caroline
 * Caroline Takes a Chance
 * Caroline's Battle
 * Changes for Caroline

Josefina

 * Meet Josefina: An American Girl
 * Josefina Learns a Lesson: A School Story
 * Josefina's Surprise: A Christmas Story
 * Happy Birthday, Josefina!: A Springtime Story
 * Josefina Saves The Day: A Summer Story
 * Changes for Josefina: A Winter Story

Cécile and Marie-Grace

 * Meet Marie-Grace: An American Girl
 * Meet Cécile: An American Girl
 * Marie-Grace and the Orphans
 * Troubles for Cécile
 * Marie-Grace Makes a Difference
 * Cécile's Gift

Kirsten

 * Meet Kirsten: An American Girl
 * Kirsten Learns a Lesson: A School Story
 * Kirsten's Surprise: A Christmas Story
 * Happy Birthday, Kirsten!: A Springtime Story
 * Kirsten Saves The Day: A Summer Story
 * Changes for Kirsten: A Winter Story

Addy

 * Meet Addy: An American Girl
 * Addy Learns a Lesson: A School Story
 * Addy's Surprise: A Christmas Story
 * Happy Birthday, Addy!: A Springtime Story
 * Addy Saves The Day: A Summer Story
 * Changes for Addy: A Winter Story

Samantha

 * Meet Samantha: An American Girl
 * Samantha Learns a Lesson: A School Story
 * Samantha's Surprise: A Christmas Story
 * Happy Birthday, Samantha!: A Springtime Story
 * Samantha Saves The Day: A Summer Story
 * Changes for Samantha: A Winter Story

Rebecca

 * Meet Rebecca: An American Girl
 * Rebecca and Ana
 * Candlelight for Rebecca
 * Rebecca and the Movies
 * Rebecca to the Rescue
 * Changes for Rebecca

Kit

 * Meet Kit: An American Girl
 * Kit Learns a Lesson: A School Story
 * Kit's Surprise: A Christmas Story
 * Happy Birthday, Kit!: A Springtime Story
 * Kit Saves The Day: A Summer Story
 * Changes for Kit: A Winter Story

Molly

 * Meet Molly: An American Girl
 * Molly Learns a Lesson: A School Story
 * Molly's Surprise: A Christmas Story
 * Happy Birthday, Molly!: A Springtime Story
 * Molly Saves The Day: A Summer Story
 * Changes for Molly: A Winter Story

Julie

 * Meet Julie: An American Girl
 * Julie Tells Her Story
 * Happy New Year, Julie!
 * Julie and the Eagles
 * Julie's Journey
 * Changes for Julie

American Girl of Today
In the early years of the American Girl of Today line, 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.