"Corinne" redirects here. For the doll, see Corinne Tan (doll).
Corinne Tan is the twentieth Girl of the Year. She was released in 2022.
Personality and Facts[]
Corinne is a ten-year-old Chinese-American girl living in a townhouse in Aspen, Colorado with her mother Judy, stepfather Arne, and younger sister, Gwynn. The two sisters spend weekends with their father, David Tan. Corinne is in the fifth grade and speaks both Chinese and English.
Corinne worries a lot about things, but does not voice her concerns, worries, or discomfort often. She is initially nervous to be moving into Arne's townhouse, as the bedrooms are very pristine like hotel rooms and the house is so clean--unlike their apartment that has toys on the floor and Gwynn's art on the walls--and has different rules. She also is reluctant to talk to people she doesn't know and worries what they might think about her. When subjected to anti-Asian prejudice (regarding the ongoing pandemic) Corinne is hurt and upset and doesn't know how to react the first time, and later avoids confrontation with the boy that was racist towards her; she is also emotionally hurt when a man implies that their pet dog Flurry would be cooked as food in her mother's restaurant. She is frustrated that Arne at first does not appear to understand the racism she is dealing with as a white man. Her anxieties build up and come to a head at Gwynn's competition, and she panics and runs away, getting lost in the woods; she is able to remember how to stay safe and wait for rescue, but still has unpleasant thoughts about not being found until she is.
She is still initially nervous and sad that her parents have separated and much more nervous about initially being in a blended family; she assumes that there is more awkwardness about her blended family than there is. She makes up a rule to not speak about Arne in front of her dad and vice versa, assuming this makes things uncomfortable, and discourages Gwynn from doing so, feeling that her father is more upset than he lets on; she is upset by Gwynn's innocent discussing of what Corinne feels are awkward topics such as Arne around their father or vice versa. The plan for a small city hall wedding pleases her as she feels a small, quiet ceremony makes her feelings more manageable than if there was a big, out in the open wedding. Later, she understands that her stepfather and father truly do not have issues with each other and her blended family is not as awkward as she feels they are.
Corinne is sometimes annoyed by Gwynn's energy and antics. She is still very supportive and does her best to help keep Gwynn happy. While she does not initially believe in Gwynn's idea of a "sister brain," she first pretends to for Gwynn's sake, actually does for a moment during Gwynn's skating competition, and fully does after she is lost in the woods.[3] After encountering a search-and-rescue trainer, Corinne decides that she wants to train a search and rescue dog-specifically, an avalanche dog--and the family adopts Flurry, both as a family pet and for her to train. She also finds a way for the three hearts on her and Gwynn's necklace to mean their whole family: one for those no longer there, one for those in the present with them, and one for future people they haven't met yet.
Corinne enjoys skiing, but does not want to take private lessons as she skis for fun and the enjoyment of being outside--one of her favorite places is outside, and she likes to identify the pine trees around her and enjoys being on the mountains, even when she was little. She doesn't care for coconut, and one of her favorite foods is zongzi--rice and other foods wrapped in bamboo leaves tied with string. She (and everyone in her family except Arne) are lactose-intolerant and have to take dairy pills before eating ice cream.
Family, Friends, and Others[]
Family[]
- Judy: Mother
- Arne: Stepfather.
- Gwynn Tan: Younger sister.
- Mr. Tan: Father.
- Blix Yong: younger half-brother.
Friends and Other People[]
- Cassidy: Corinne's best friend.
- Zach: A friend of Mr. Tan's helping Corinne train Flurry.
Books[]
Film[]
Doll[]
- See: Corinne Tan (doll)
The Corinne Tan doll.
- Face Mold: Corinne Mold
- Skin: Light
- Hair: Black with turquoise streaks
- Eyes: Dark brown
Collection[]
- See: Corinne's Collection
Trivia[]
- According to information in Corinne to the Rescue, her address is 1219 Farnam Street, Aspen, CO, 81611.. The phone number, like many in fictional media, is false and consists only of 5s; however, the area code 970 is accurate to the Aspen area.
- Corinne is the first Girl of the Year to be of East Asian background without being white biracial; however, her stepfather is white.
- Corinne is the second Girl of the Year since Chrissa Maxwell to have a companion as part of the collection, in her sister Gwynn.
- Corinne is the most recent Girl of the Year to introduce a new face mold; the first two were Jess McConnell and Joss Kendrick.
- Corinne is the third American Girl character who is stated to have divorced parents after Julie Albright and Courtney Moore, and the only Girl of the Year.
- As of 2025 Corinne is the last Girl of the Year to have multiple full books, as well as not include a character journal as a meet book.
References[]
- ↑ Corinne to the Rescue, page 97: Cassidy stopped walking and looked at me. "Corinne Mei-Ling Tan. Your mom and Arne love you. You know that, right?" See more on Western names used as middles names by Chinese Americans on Wikipedia under Western Names and Chinese names.
- ↑ American Girl Instagram, Comments.
- ↑ Corinne to the Rescue, pg 2: "We call it sister brain--knowing what the other person is thinking without saying anything."
| Girls of the Year | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 2003 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | ||||||
| 2008 | 2009
Chrissa Maxwell |
2010 | 2011 | 2012 | ||||||
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||||
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | ||||||
| 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | ||||||||