“They find out the most arcane facts for me like the cost of ironing a shirt in Cincinnati in December of 1933.” My husband asks if we’re opening a branch of the library!” In addition to her own resources, Tripp has at her disposal the Pleasant Company research department. “Books are piled up next to the bed, around my desk and in the car. Tripp’s favorite haunt is the stacks of her own Maryland public library, loading her arms with all the books she can carry. My grandmother took in boarders to earn extra money and my mother did the same chores Kit does.” He died the Christmas my mother was eleven. Her father lost his business because of the Great Depression. “My mother was exactly the same age as Kit in 1932. Tripp’s mother inspired the Kit books set in the Great Depression. Her favorite research tool is interviewing people who lived through the period and were the same ages as her characters. She listens to period music, watches movies and reads books and newspapers from and about the period, and studies catalogues and fashion trends. Prior to writing each series of books, Tripp immerses herself in the historical time period. But Tripp decides what each of her characters looks like, which ultimately determines the appearance of the doll. As a new character comes to life in Tripp’s mind, she finds that the historical period dictates hair styles, fashion trends, and some of the character’s personality traits. Sometimes the Pleasant Company asks Tripp to create a character for a specific period in history, like Molly and Felicity, but other times Tripp has a compelling story to tell, like Kit’s Depression Era story. Tripp has since created a series of books for five American Girl characters: Molly Felicity (from Colonial America) books four through six for Samantha Josephina (from 1824 New Mexico) and now Kit (from the Great Depression). According to Tripp, “I chose Molly because I thought it would be more of a challenge to make her time period matter to girls.” Pleasant Rowland is on the verge of launching her first American Girl dolls, and she asks Tripp to choose one doll to write about: Kirsten, a pioneer girl Samantha, from New York City at the turn of the 20th century or Molly, on the home front in World War II. Leaning back in their chairs, feet on desks, they’re brainstorming about writing books for girls, about girls, set during different historical periods.įast forward to 1984. Imagine Valerie Tripp and Pleasant Rowland (future founder of the American Girl Collection) taking a break from the reading program they’re creating for an educational publisher.

Meet Molly by Valerie Tripp