Changes: Jess McConnell

Revision as of 00:06, 2 January 2015

"Jess" redirects here. For the doll, see Jess McConnell (doll). For the book, see Jess.

Jess Akiko McConnell was the fourth Girl of the Year released by the American Girl Doll company. She was released in 2006.

Family

Mother, Mom: Of Japanese descent. An archaeologist.
Father, Dad: of Scottish-Irish descent. An archaeologist.
Heather: Jess's older sister.
Jason: Jess's older brother.
Grandma Emi: Jess's maternal grandmother.

Facts and Personality

Jess Akiko McConnell is the ten-year-old daughter of two archaeologists from Michigan. Her father is of Irish and Scottish descent and her mother is of Japanese descent, although both sides of the family have lived in the USA for several generations. She is the "baby" of the family.

In her book, she goes to Belize on a dig with her parents. She is uninterested in the actual archaeological work, although she likes to learn about and imagine the lives of the Mayan people whose artifacts her parents are studying. Jess is in fourth grade--she is home schooled on the trip to Belize and was not expected to go.^[1] She sends her assignments to her teacher via a laptop. She studies the guitar and loves to play soccer. She initially spends the book making lists and journal entries about her time in Belize, but later is caught in an archaeological exploration.

Her best friend in Belize is a girl named Sarita Bol, who is of Mayan descent. She and Sarita take an eco-tour of Belize together, foster a baby parrot they name Pippi, and stumble on a historical treasure underground. Jess likes animals as well as playing soccer; in her book, she states that she may want to be a professional soccer player when she grows up.She also suggests being a professional snowboarder when she grows up. Jess is described as energetic and adventurous.

Book

Jess by Mary Casanova

Doll

See: Jess McConnell (doll)

Face Mold: Jess Mold
Skin: Light
Brows: Feathered
Hair: Dark brown with red streaks
Eyes: Dark brown

Meet Outfit

Orange embroidered halter top
Tie dye orange and pink skirt
Sandals
White underwear

Collection

See: Jess's Collection

Trivia

Jess is the first explicitly biracial character, with a Japanese mother and Scotch-Irish father. She was followed by Kanani Akina.
Jess was the first Girl of the Year to have an official middle name, followed by Chrissa Maxwell.
As of 2024, Marisol Luna, Jess, Sonali Matthews, and Kanani Akina have been the only Girls of the Year of color.
Jess was the first Girl of the Year to explicitly carry the label of "Girl of the Year."
Jess was the first character whose story doesn't take place in the United States or a location that will later be part of the United States; Belize is in Central America.

References and Footnotes

↑ Jess, pg 2: [Jess's parents] hadn't planned to take any of [their] kids out of school for this trip[...].

Girls of the Year
2001 Lindsey Bergman	2003 Kailey Hopkins	2005 Marisol Luna	2006 Jess McConnell	2007 Nicki Fleming
2008 Mia St. Clair	2009 Chrissa Maxwell with companions Gwen Thompson and Sonali Matthews	2010 Lanie Holland	2011 Kanani Akina	2012 McKenna Brooks
2013 Saige Copeland	2014 Isabelle Palmer	2015 Grace Thomas	2016 Lea Clark	2017 Gabriela McBride
2018 Luciana Vega	2019 Blaire Wilson	2020 Joss Kendrick	2021 Kira Bailey	2022 Corinne Tan with companion Gwynn Tan
2023 Kavi Sharma	2024 Lila Monetti

[1] Jess, pg 2: [Jess's parents] hadn't planned to take any of [their] kids out of school for this trip[...].

[1]

@@ Line 57: / Line 57: @@
 * Jess is the first explicitly biracial character, with a Japanese mother and Scotch-Irish father. She was followed by [[Kanani Akina]].
 * Jess was the first Girl of the Year to have an official middle name, followed by [[Chrissa Maxwell]].
-* As of 2015, [[Marisol Luna]], Jess, [[Sonali Matthews]], and [[Kanani Akina]] have been the only Girls of the Year of color.
+* As of {{CURRENTYEAR}}, [[Marisol Luna]], Jess, [[Sonali Matthews]], and [[Kanani Akina]] have been the only Girls of the Year of color.
 * Jess was the first Girl of the Year to explicitly carry the label of "Girl of the Year."
 * Jess was the first character whose story doesn't take place in the United States or a location that will later be part of the United States; Belize is in Central America.