Meet the Dolls

Islandshire is an imaginary home for our American Girl dolls (owned by Mom, Elizabeth and me) -- more than 40 of them named so far!

Here are some photos and short introductions for each doll (in no particular order), which I hope will help keep names straight for readers of the Gazette.

Originally, I thought it would be easiest to introduce them in order of arrival, however, as the page scrolls down, the dolls are not necessarily in order. Addy and Kirsten arrived for Christmas of 1995 (when Elizabeth and I were eight years old). Felicity and Samantha showed up one year later for Christmas of 1996, and Josefina came for Christmas of 1997. Three years went by before a catalog arrived in the mail announcing the arrival of Kit. She was the first historical girl with short hair . . . so, Elizabeth and I took the proceeds we made from a garage sale and ordered two of them.

That was the extent of our collection until the end of March 2018. In fact, the dolls had been put away in their boxes and a dresser for years --- until March, when we decided to go through the closet. Originally, our idea had been to sell them off, but seeing them again --- well, we couldn't. We have parted with a few of the originals, but that is merely because we now enjoy looking at some of the newer dolls and prefer a number of others. ​So, here goes . . .

Trudy (TM #58)

It's only fitting, being the one-and-only reporter for the Islandshire Gazette, that Trudy start off the group here. She joined the crowd in early Summer of 2018 and was actually going to be one of Mom's dolls. We didn't actually unpack her until August, and (while we were holding her and letting the wig come down after so many months in a hair net) I started "playing" with her personality. Mom had decided that she would be a reporter, and I took it from there --- adding some sassy personality, making her little curls bounce when she walked and giving her some interesting comments to "say" while Mom paged through eBay results of adoptable little girls (used American Girl dolls, that is). After two days of me "playing" with Trudy, Mom decided that she should belong to me! I couldn't believe it. Ever since, she has become one of our favorite characters, because she hardly feels like a doll. That's how serious we are about our dolls here on Islandshire! So, Trudy helps us find adoptable little dollies and stands on a soapbox against real little girls who abuse their dolls and marker on them and put glitter makeup on their eyes! She has lots of other thoughts, too, so she needed this blog to share with others.

Nanea

One of the most special additions to my doll family came just four days after our first-ever trip to the Columbus American Girl​ store, but it had started while we were still there a few days before. Elizabeth had fallen in love with the Sonali face mold, so she was busy choosing a #62. I decided to go back up to the front of the store and look at the historical displays again. Mom joined me, and we went back to Nanea's display. When we had arrived, I couldn't stand the doll herself, but the whole color palette of her outfits and accessories is just so totally appealing . . . well . . . after a few hours, the doll didn't look so bad anymore. But I still had no interest in owning her.

Then it happened. While we were standing there admiring Nanea's collection, a lady came up to photograph the display. She started telling us how excited she was to see this doll. Her own daughter had one of the older AG characters, and they'd originally gone to the New York AG store to buy accessories. Now, that daughter is married to a Filipino gentleman and has a daughter of her own. The family lives in Hawaii, and the granddaughter (now seven years old) is so sad, because no one ever makes a doll that looks like her. And Nanea looks exactly like her! (Tears rolling.) So, the grandmother was texting her daughter to find out about buying the doll. I certainly hope she did get it, because that granddaughter will be so happy! All of a sudden, the doll looked pretty beautiful to me.

So, we went home, and I kept thinking about Nanea. I thought about her all evening, and by the next day, I decided to look her up online and see some pictures. Plus, I started going back over the pictures that I had taken at the store of the many different Nanea dolls on display (there are at least twelve of them). I talked it over with my sister and Mom, and they laughed and said that they knew I'd be wanting one. I guess they just know me too well!

I thought about it, and by Friday evening I knew I would need to have my own Nanea. She would look like an adorable little sister for Josefina . . . and when something sticks in my mind like that, I know I won't change it later. So, when we set out on Sunday afternoon to visit the store again, I took Josefina along to see how she would look with Nanea. So cute!! Elizabeth says she knew that I'd be coming home with one. :)

I couldn't be happier with my Nanea doll. She is SO beautiful, and her hair is the nicest wig ever!

Benny (customized Nanea)

Ever since Nanea arrived, I had a hankering to customize a Nanea doll with a short-haired wig. I was really hoping that it would be possible to make a brother for her, but the face mold seemed to look so like a girl, that I was not sure it would work. What a thrilling day it was when somebody on a forum listed a TLC Nanea doll who was wigless and had had eyes swapped to brown with the eye makeup removed. I tried all kinds of wigs on it, but the Monique Johnny in dark brown was the winner. Dress him up with a straw hat and a polo shirt, and there was Benny (Nanea's twin brother)!

Harold (aka Logan)

Harold is named in honour of an adopted uncle who was a gunner on B-17s and B-24s in WWII. Little Harold takes his job as the only pilot on Islandshire very seriously and dresses in full flight clothes almost all the time . . . just in case he might need to go flying! In his spare time, though, Harold enjoys being part of the Islandshire Drama Club, where he loves to play one of Robin Hood's Merry Men.

Zaida (customized Lea Clark)

Zaida (pronounced Zie-duh) is a re-wigged Lea Clark doll. While it took a while to find the right wig for her (having tried her as a totally different character with another wig), she looks amazing with a dark brown Kemper Tyler wig. She is best friends with Elizabeth's doll, Bessy, and is named for a very special cousin from Cuba on Dad's side of the family. She has a little dog named Valentino, but she calls him "Vale" (vah-lee). All of her clothes, and even her pajamas, feature Coconut illustrations, because he looks just like Vale!

Bessy (TM #62)

One really fun thing about getting into these dolls again is the fact that we learned about there being an American Girl store in Columbus! After living here all these years, we'd never heard of it. Well, as soon as the weather turned nicer, we decided to go down one afternoon in May. We went on a Wednesday and spent more than four hours in there . . . plus, I took 307 photos! While we were there, Elizabeth fell in love with Truly Me #62. She is a medium skin, brown eyes, dark brown hair doll with the Sonali face mold. She just had to come home with us, and -- after looking at every #62 available at the store -- Elizabeth found her Bessy. She is named for a very special cousin on Dad's side of the family who is from the Honduras and has a little Yorkie pup named Gigi. Bessy is best friends with my doll, Zaida, and they run the pet-rescue shop on Islandshire.

Nachito (TM #77)

Nachito was one of the first boys to move to Islandshire, so he really had his pick of professions -- but he doesn't like anything too strenuous, because he doesn't want to take away time from his fishing. So, Nachito is the owner of the island's only Fishing Tackle and Bait shop. You can rent any kind of fishing pole you want, and he's always got a cooler of bait ready. And, if you don't know the best spots to fish, Nachito will take you to them!

Eloy (customized TM #28)

A whole section of the Islandshire crew come from Cuba (pre-Castro, of course) and run a large Cuban market in the center of the Island. Josefina started it, but lots of her friends have joined her now! Eloy (along with his sister, Leonor) actually help run the place. Eloy does a lot of the unloading and heavy lifting . . . being the strong fellow that he is!

This doll was lots of fun, because we got an older #28 doll that definitely needed a new wig. It took us quite a while to find his real personality, but the minute we tried a dark brown Monique Dutch Boy wig on him, well we knew!

Eliot (aka Logan) and Harriet (customized Marie-Grace)

Eliot and Harriet are brother and sister (Eliot is the oldest) and come from Cornwall, England. They are very rich, and Eliot is the heir to an earldom. In fact, he owns Islandshire! When they are tired of the grey clouds of their home county, Eliot and Harriet like to visit Islandshire and ride around on Eliot's tropical scooter!

They love studying their family history, and they are each collecting costumes for their costume racks. Every costume represents one of their relatives.

Mateo (customized Kanani)

Mateo is the cousin of Benny and Nanea. He came from the Philippines but has been in Islandshire for a long time. He's very outgoing and loves to swim, so he manages the Dive Shop and Rentals for Zale. He is a customized Kanani doll who was simply re-wigged with a Monique "Johnny" black wig.

Mina (customized Marie-Grace)

Mina is the little "Miss Fix-It" of Islandshire. She has a workshop and workbench where she fixes anything and everything. If it's broken, she can fix it! Her little sister, Daalny (Wellie Wisher Kendall), helps out --- together they keep everything on Islandshire in perfect running order.

Mina is a Marie-Grace doll with an American Girl CYO "black, natural curly, long" wig.

Jill (aka Grace) & Masami (aka Jess)

Jill and Masami love to cook and bake, so they decided to open up a Fruit Smoothie and Snack shop on Islandshire. They have a pet Toucan and all kinds of fruit! The girls couldn't be happier than when they're serving their friends. They like to make all kinds of things, but each one offers an occasion special: Jill makes French bread, and Masami makes little vegetarian Spring Rolls.

Eydie (customized TM #47)

Another culinary entrepreneur on Islandshire, Eydie owns and manages a upscale restaurant and shop called "Eydie's Gourmets" --- and yes, her favorite singer happens to be Eydie Gourmet! She loves to cook and bake, and she tries out all kinds of recipes for her friends. You can walk into her shop and find everything from lasagna to cinnamon rolls.

Eydie is a TM #47 who now wears a TM #31 wig.

Lauren Elizabeth (TM #11)

She is a very special doll, because Elizabeth and I fell in love with her back at the time of her release in  1996. It took twenty-two years before we found her, but we had named her back then (after actress Lauren Bacall and Queen Elizabeth)! She jumped right into the Islandshire spirit of "adopting poor little girls" (aka: dolls) and took on a job as Treasurer of the "Adoption Fund".

Billy (customized Chrissa)

Billy is named for our great-grandfather who was a fireman in Cleveland, Ohio. ​Like our grandfather, Billy has his own little pie wagon where he sells the delicious (though somewhat resin-like) pies that he bakes himself! He hands out brightly coloured tokens to all of his friends, and they are allowed to turn those in for a slice of pie. In his spare time, Billy plans to take up some major re-enacting as Almanzo from Little House on the Prairie.

Billy is a customized Chrissa. Elizabeth repainted his lips and eyebrows, and his wig was changed to a Kemper "Tyler" blonde wig.

Nancy (customized Julie)

Nancy shares a love of mystery and adventure with her heroine and namesake, Nancy Drew. She doesn't live on Islandshire, but she visits quite often and probably even solves a case or two while there. She keeps all of her case dossiers and memorabilia in a big old duffle bag that she carries with her everywhere she goes. When it comes to movie watching, Nancy definitely prefers mysteries!

Nancy is a customized Julie (2014 body tag). She is wearing an AG CYO "long, red, wavy" wig.

Jemima (TM #26)

Jemima hasn't actually developed a personality that fits into the Islandshire group . . . yet. I was thrilled to buy her from someone on one of the AG doll forums, and she makes a beautiful friend for my Addy. So far, she stays in this historical dress. Her hair is amazing! She is named for a British Countess, by the way --- not the pancake syrup.

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More dolls to be added soon . . .