Earlier I wrote about the website Dolls Like Me, featuring dolls, room décor, skin care products, puzzles and many other gifts for children of varying and mixed ethnicities. My first blog focused on the non-doll parts of the website. Here I will focus on some of the lines of other dolls I found there. I’ll focus on product lines that can be found on multiple sites and locations.
I should note first that American Girls dolls, in addition to dolls of the historical characters featured in the American Girl books, have a line of “just like me” dolls with about two dozen dolls in varying combinations of skin tones, eye color, round or almond eyes, and straight, layered or gently waved hair in various colors.
Vanange dolls are similar to American Girl and Karito Kids dolls in price and in being very realistic looking dolls. There are dolls from the Philippines, the Seychelles and other less-familiar places. Each doll comes with a book telling her story.
I found God’s Girlz Christian Fashion Dolls are relatively new and available from the Dolls Like Me website. One of these is African-American and one is Caucasian. There is also the “Hannah” doll, which the company says “represents multiracial children”; and the “Sarah” doll, which the company says is Hispanic. I would have to say these dolls look Caucasian to me. Both are light-skinned, with long wavy hair. Hannah’s hair is brown, and Sarah is a redhead. However, I have known multiracial African-American children who are blonde and at least one Latina with red hair and green eyes. Perhaps these dolls will be valued by families whose children have a cultural heritage which is less visible but which they still want to honor. Note that these dolls come dressed in T-shirts with Christian messages on them.
“Friends Forever” dolls feature a set of multicultural friends. Two neighborhood girls meet their new neighbor Reina (a Latina doll) and form a club. Their storybook comes with each doll. There is another Asian-American girl, Michelle, who comes with her own book about wanting a role in a play. Another African-American friend does not yet have her own story written—the original storybook comes with her purchase.
The “Groovy Girls” line of soft-bodied dolls has both girl and boy dolls of every ethnicity, including several dolls which look like a mix of various ethnicities.
Please see the following related blogs:
Gifts and Books for Adoptive Families
Toys and Dolls for Multicultural Families