Huh. I followed the link to the photo of the "pint-sized Sex in The City foursome happily toting shopping bags larger than their own torsos" and was bemused to note that of the three "American Girl Place" locations, only the photo accompanying the Los Angeles store shows girls who are not all lily-white with nary a shopping bag in sight. I'm not sure that that's an accurate reflection of the cultural differences between the West Coast and Chicago/New York but it was a little bit heartening to see.

My daughter is in her 20's and I still display her American Girl doll. It was expensive, but she spent many hours in creative play with the doll and books. We created accessories together, and bought doll outfits at craft fairs. There's a huge aftermarket for American Girl doll dresses and furniture. It is a quality product compared to all the junky things I bought while she was growning up. I hope it becomes a family heirloom.

$1,740. That's almost two months worth of my entire personal budget, and I'm not that bad off.

One sunny day last summer I was sitting in Madison Square Park in Manhattan. Two obviously privileged white girls walked by with their well-heeled moms. Both of the children toted an American Girl Doll. Neither of the dolls was white. I felt this was a good thing. It helps people of different races not seem so "other" as they grow up. I hope so anyway.

Buying "ethnic" American Girl dolls seems more token than anything but certainly demonstrates the whole idea that so many Americans seem only capable of expressing their politics through purchases rather than meaningful action (which sometimes requires making no purchases at all).

I don't know if it's really realistic to expect (or hope) that an entity that exists solely to make money would see an enormous potential market and not go for it because it doesn't want to encourage consumerism in young girls. We do live in a capitalist society, after all.

I think the best we can ask of the makers of the American Girl dolls is that they sell a product that presents images of girlhood and womanhood (and person-hood, I guess) that we'd want our daughters to see-- and they seem for the most part to be doing that.

The real problem here lies with the parents-- they are the ones who are instilling the value of consumerism in their children. More than $1,700 in one weekend on toys? Just think of what an awesome learning opportunity for that child it would have been if her mother had spent, say, $200 on toys and they had together researched and chosen a charity that meant something to the daughter to receive the rest?

Parents need to take more responsibility in the education of their children-- a child's value system should come from his/her parents and we should not foist that off on corporations, television, etc.

And, P.S., if adults didn't take their kids to these over-the-top megastores, guess what? They wouldn't exist! (And if adults didn't buy those disgusting Bratz for kids, those wouldn't exist either and wouldn't that be lovely!)

Sorry, but I completely don't buy into the idea that somehow American Girl dolls are "good" or "positive" for little girls, while Barbies or even Bratz dolls are somehow "evil". That shows a real ignorance of how children play with dolls, and what they think about them.

First of all, I am immediately suspect of any doll that costs $87+ as the American Girl dolls all do. This is egregious price gouging -- this crap is all made in China, at slave wages, so the mark up on these AG dolls is just pure piracy. Furthermore, this kind of pricing makes sure that these dolls are only ever going to end up in the hands of very privileged, mostly white children -- and so what, if a couple of the dolls represent "ethnics minorities"? They sure as heck as going to be played with by any "ethnic minorities", LOL, not at those prices! And any close examination of them shows that they all share the identical, Caucasian face fold, just sometimes they tint the vinyl a bit for an "ethnic" doll. If they did this for Barbies (who have had ethnic dolls for decades, and a huge variety of face molds), people would be screaming foul play!

American Girls are also badly made dolls, with stuffed cloth bodies that can't be posed or stand on their own, or even sit properly.

Also, American Girl dolls are symptomatic of a kind of "pre-programmed" play that is the antithesis of what dolls are supposed to do for children, which is unleash the imagination. They all come with factory-generated "storybooks", and the doll and her elaborate clothes and gewgaws are all the items in the books. So you supposedly read the book, and then you act out the story with the expensive doll and items! This is barely even play, it's like some kind of "Stepford Kid" experiment.

In comparison, it is a rare Barbie or Bratz doll that costs much more than $20 (most are considerably less), and this usually includes a lot of clothes and "swag". There are only a few, very half-baked manufactured storylines or books, so you can act out any book or film or fantasy or make up your own stories, as children have since time out of mind. (Yes, I know moms hate this sort of doll because they represent sexy teenage girls, but they are denial of what play really is -- imagining the future -- no child really fantasizes about staying a child.)

In other words -- Barbie/Bratz = egalatarian and imaginative.....American Girls = elitist, over-priced, exclusionary. That's not what I'd want for myself, for a daughter or granddaughter, or for any child.

I think it's perfectly reasonable to ask a company to put out products that have a positive and 'wholesome' effect on girls. However, I think it's perfectly unreasonable to ask a company to not only put out good products but to then to not encourage girls to buy said products.

Last I checked, the limit on girls buying stuff is money and parents.