HotmailAmerican Girl welcomes Jewish doll into group
Rebecca Rubin, a Jewish Russian immigrant from 1914, goes on sale May 31
 Tony Cenicola / The New York Times Rebecca Rubin, a Jewish Russian immigrant, is the newest historical character doll to be released by American Girl. |
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NEW YORK - The American Girl doll company is adding a new character to its multiethnic lineup. She’s Rebecca Rubin, a Jewish-Russian immigrant girl living on Manhattan’s Lower East Side in 1914.
Jewish leaders who’ve seen the Rebecca doll and read the accompanying books say they’re generally impressed.
“It’s not offensive. It’s sensitive,” Abraham Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League, told The New York Times. “How about that? Most of the time these things fall into stereotypes which border on the offensive.”
The 18-inch doll features hazel eyes, brown hair, a red coat and white boots. The character is a 9-year-old girl who lives with her parents, siblings and a grandmother known as Bubbie.
For the books, the company hired Jacqueline Dembar Greene to pen Rebecca’s stories. Greene had previously written a young adult historical novel about Jewish immigrants set in 1654.
American Girl spent years getting every detail of Rebecca just right, from her appearance to her background to the marketing strategy. The research group fretted over Rebecca’s looks because a Russian-Jewish descent allowed for a range of physical characteristics, Megan Boswell, director of design and development, told The New York Times.
And hair color was debated for years. Rebecca's hair started out being dark auburn, then went to dark brown, Boswell revealed. Then the company worried dark brown would be too typical and predictable.
“In the end, after many discussions weighing out the advantages of both approaches,” Boswell told The New York Times, “we created what we felt was an optimum combination and gave her a new mid-tone brown hair color with russet highlights.”
Though Rebecca may be making news, she is not the company’s first Jewish doll. American Girl featured Lindsey Bergman as its “Girl of the Year” in 2001 for its contemporary series; the doll was available for 12 months.
When Rebecca goes on sale May 31 to coincide with Manhattan’s Israel Day parade, she’ll join the Middleton, Wis.-based company’s other dolls, such as Addy the escaped slave and Kaya the Native American. The books hit shelves June 1.
American Girl dolls cost about $95 each. American Girl LLC was bought in 1998 by El Segundo, Calif.-based Mattel Inc., the nation's largest maker of toys, including Barbie dolls. The company’s products are incredibly popular among 7- to 12-year-old girls.
The Associated Press and The New York Times contributed to this report.
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