Goodbye Molly.

Say it ain’t so!

The American Girl stories and dolls were an intricate part of my childhood. I read all the books, from all the girls, over and over again. So when an American Girl catalog showed up in my mailbox (some leftover mail from the previous resident) I poured over the catalog like I was six years old again.

Until I got to Molly’s page. I stopped when I saw “say goodbye to Molly.” American Girl is retiring the Molly and Emily dolls, or as they put it “sending them to the archives.” Six year old me was crushed.

Molly was my favorite. First of all, she wore glasses. I got my American Girl books around the time I got my first pair of glasses. I picked out my glasses to match Molly’s. She was always trying to get attention by doing things well. She’s obsessed with England. She gets picked on. In other words, Molly was a geek.

But beyond my own superficial ways of relating to Molly; her story, like all of the American Girl stories, helped what we were touching on in history class come to life. It became something people experienced rather than something that happened to people. Molly’s story was set during World War II, her father was away at war, and she had a friend name Emily from England.

I think that’s why I’m so surprised American Girl decided to retire the Molly doll. We’re at a point in history where so many kids have parents away at war. They’re missing birthday parties and Christmas. It seems like now we’d need a character like Molly more than ever.

On the plus side, American girl is keeping her books in print. So at least the stories will live on. But I feel for all the girls who won’t be able to get the doll for their favorite bespeckled American Girl.

Goodbye Molly, you will be missed.