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"Marisol" redirects here. For the doll, see Marisol Luna (doll). For the book, see Marisol.

Marisol Luna is the third Girl of the Year. She was released in 2005.

Personality and Facts[]

Marisol Luna is a Latina--specifically, Chicana--girl who, at the start of her stories, lives with her parents Hector and Elisa in the very Latino-influenced neighborhood of Pilsen (a neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois). She is bitterly disappointed when they choose to move away from her neighborhood to the suburb of Des Plaines as not only will she be leaving her home, but her new neighborhood does not have a dance studio for her to practice at.

Marisol is an aspiring dancer. She primarily dances in the Mexican tradition of ballet folklorico, but at the start of the story has recently started ballet; she has only had a little jazz and tap training. (Despite this, American Girl marketed her collection more with modern dance and ballet items; nothing about ballet folklorico was included.) Marisol is lively and resourceful.

Both her teacher and her principal say Marisol is their best student, and she often tries very hard to be good in her dance classes even though she finds ballet more difficult for her than folklorico and jazz. She is very competitive, and enjoys competitive sports (excluding football) as well as dance. She often has a stash of candy with her. She has a cat named Rascal, whom she adopted off the street when she was seven years old.

Family and Friends[]

See also: Minor Characters in Marisol's Story

Family[]

  • Hector Luna: Marisol's father
  • Elisa Luna: Marisol's mother

Friends and Other People[]

  • Sara: Marisol's classmate and best friend
  • Victor: A boy who lives nearby Marisol in Pilsen
  • Karen Johnson: Marisol's new friend in Des Plaines
  • Gloria Mendoza: Marisol's neighbor's daughter, and a fellow dancer.

Book[]

Doll[]

See: Marisol Luna (doll)
Marisoldollface

The Marisol doll.

Collection[]

See: Marisol's Collection

Trivia[]

  • Marisol was the first Girl of the Year to have a Starter Collection; Kailey and Lindsey did not have large enough collections to justify a separate Starter Collection.
  • Marisol's release was somewhat controversial. In the book, Marisol's parents explain that they are moving from Pilsen to Des Plaines because they feel the neighborhood is dangerous and that there is no place to play. Residents of the area and the Latino community protested the doll and book, citing that the story gives a negative portrayal of their neighborhood. Stephanie Spanos, senior public relations associate for American Girl, responded as such:
We feel that this brief passage has been taken out of context in the book...In the story you'll see that Marisol's parents want to have a house and a yard, and a place for her to play. As well as [those], there are some other reasons, too, that they are talking about moving."[1]

See Also[]

References[]

  1. Marisol in the Middle: 'American' Doll Upsets Latino Neighbors. Originally posted on news.ncmonline.com; re-accessed via Internet Wayback Machine on Jan 16 2022.
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

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