PROGRESS

American Girl Introduces Asian American Girl of the Year Doll

Corrine Tan is the first Asian American to lead the brand.

There’s a new American Girl “Girl of the Year” doll, and her name is Corrine Tan—the first Asian American to have the title, NBC News reports. The story of Corrine, who is of Chinese descent, is written by Wendy Shang—the author of “The Great Wall of Lucy Lu.” Corrine lives in Aspen, Colorado, and explores her family’s heritage while also dealing with the relationships of a modern and expanded family, and anti-Asian hate crimes. In 2020, the FBI reported a 73-percent increase in hate crimes against Asian Americans.

Ria Pretekin, a Filipino-American mom of two, told NBC that she enjoyed the books as a kid but could never really relate to the American Girl series because there were no characters who looked like her. “It would have meant so much to me to have a doll that looked like me,” Pretekin said. “It would have helped shape my idea of beauty to know that brown skin and black hair was also beautiful.”