About Islandshire

Hi! My name is Sarah, and I'm the identical twin sister of Elizabeth. We received our first American Girl dolls for Christmas 1995, when we were eight years old. We've always been crazy about dolls and have collected not only American Girl dolls but also Gene Marshall and a number of others. Having been blogging about our AGs on my personal blog, it feels like it's high time they get their own online space.

Elizabeth (left) and Sarah (right)

Islandshire is the imaginary home of most of our AG dolls. It is a tropical island paradise, sort of a cross between old Cuba and Hawaii! There is a large Rainforest House there (home to Nanea and Benny), a Cuban store manned by Josefina and friends, a rescue-pet stall belonging to Zaida and Bessy, a workshop under the direction of Mina, a fishing dock where Nachito rents fishing poles to tourists, a fruit and smoothie stall belonging to Jill, a huge drama club and more. Islandshire is also the vacation spot of choice for many travelling dolls who live elsewhere but just can't resist a visit every now and then.

Someone needed to take charge of recording the comings and goings in the Islandshire world, so my doll Trudy (#58) became the one and only doll reporter for the Islandshire Gazette! Together we bring all kinds of fun doll news to this blog. (Hint: If Trudy wrote the article, it will always begin with "Trudy here.") Other guest columnists may appear from time to time, but Trudy's the voice of the AGs in our house. She's very outspoken and opinionated, so the reporting profession suits her well.

Elizabeth and I are joined by our Mom in this fascination with 18" dolls, and -- between the three of us -- there are more than 40 named AG dolls in the house! We have a real heart for "rescue" dolls, and spend as much time as we can in fixing up poor little dollies who were abused by former owners. Trudy gets very incensed on their behalf and is planning a full expose on the "meanness of little girls who should be grounded for a month and spanked every day" for the way they treat their dolls. Like I said, Trudy is a passionate little thing who speaks her mind. And her hair bobbles up and down in the cutest way during her outbursts . . .

There is always something fun happening here in the Islandshire world, so check back often, follow the blog and feel free to comment or contact us!