Dizzy Dollers discuss American Girl dolls

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Nine members of the Dizzy Dollers recently met. Each lady told about her summer, several members attended auctions and garage sales, along with summer travel, where doll purchases were made. A few had entered items at the Red Willow County Fair and received top honors.

The lesson was on the American Girl and Heidi Ott dolls.

Heidi Ott is a Swiss doll artist, for a few years in the 1990s she made a 18-inch soft body play doll with vinyl head, arms and legs called "Faithful Friends" that were distributed by Target stores.

These particular dolls were made in China and the doll was made to be enjoyed at an affordable price and quite similar to other $200-600 handcrafted dolls. Each of the dolls came with a historical fiction book. The books were set in the year 1896 on the Illinois prairie.

The American Girl collection by the Pleasant Company was created by founder Pleasant T. Rowland, educator and author of children's reading and language art books used by schools.

American Girl first introduced a line of historical characters that came to life through extraordinary books. These nine-year-old fictional heroines lived during important times in Ameria's past, providing "girl sized" views of significant events that shaped our country and they brought history alive for millions of children.

For younger girls (age 3 to 6) they introduced the Bitty Baby and the Bitty Twins, lines of soft, huggable baby and toddler dolls that encouraged nurturing behavior.

Examples of these dolls were brought to the meeting, such as "Ellie," one of the "Faithful Friends." Ellie was an African American daughter of a preacher. Some of the Amerian Girl dolls brought were Josefina, Kaya, Julie, Addy and Caroline.

The next meeting will be at the Horizon Bank at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 10 The lesson will be on fancy dolls, possible Victorian. Anyone interested in dolls or collecting are invited to attend. If you have any questions, feel free to call Rita at 345-7348 or Erma at 345-5469.