We begin our first foray into the world of juvenile chapter series and the American Girls specifically with the young Swedish immigrant Kirsten Larson. Kirsten was one of the original three dolls released by Pleasant Company, the company that first created American Girl, and in this episode we cover all six - yes, that's right six - books in Kirsten's original series. In this episode, our hosts explore the not-so-great representation of indigenous people, expose the great doll conspiracy baked into the books, and ask whether Kirsten was really quite sorry enough for [spoiler alert] BURNING DOWN HER WHOLE HOUSE. And the bees thing. Plus, our community expert, Dr. Amy Klion of the National Institutes of Health, tells us just how accurate the cholera scene that traumatized all of us as children really was.
These Books Made Me is a podcast about the literary heroines who shaped us and is a product of the Prince George's County Memorial Library System podcast network. Stay in touch with us via Twitter @PGCMLS with #TheseBooksMadeMe or by email at TheseBooksMadeMe@pgcmls.info. For recommended readalikes and deep dives into topics related to each episode, visit our blog at https://pgcmls.medium.com/.
We mentioned a lot of topics and articles in this episode. Here’s a brief list of some of them if you want to do your own further research:
Minnesota Historical Society, for more information about Minnesota's history: https://www.mnhs.org/
Information about the two tribes who lived on what is now called Minnesota: https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Indigenous_Peoples_of_Minnesota#:~:text=Two%20major%20Native%20American%20tribes,once%20had%20reservation%20land%20there
Information about Swedish immigration to Minnesota:
https://www.mnopedia.org/swedish-immigration-minnesota
More information about Kirsten's bangs: https://americangirl.fandom.com/wiki/Kirsten_Larson and their historical inaccuracy: https://www.vice.com/en/article/qvddqq/a-short-uneven-history-of-bangs
