The DK publishing American Girl: The Ultimate Visual Guide is out and my copy arrived today!
Here’s a bit about what you can expect in the book.
There are fun facts about the development of American Girl products. Below you can see the various outfits that were considered for Saige.
There is a timeline several pages long that covers the company’s beginning to present day.
There are four pages for every historical doll, and two pages devoted to historical friends.
Historical dolls who are also part of the BeForever line are shown in original and BeForever clothing, with perhaps a slight edge for BeForever (especially in the case of Samantha).
All Girls of the Year are represented as well as their friends (Gwen, Sonali, etc). The pages devoted to the GOTY characters vary based on collection size.
The TrulyMe line is organized by activity/season/theme. Here you see the layout on the topic of “Sports”. Some of these pictures will be familiar from the catalogs.
There is some fun trivia in the book, such as “tallest item sold” and “item with the most pieces.” Would you like to take a guess?
Finally there is information about some of the American Girl development team.
The book is not a complete guide to everything ever produced. I’d like to have one of those! This book will best be enjoyed by those newer to American Girl, and definitely kids! The large, hardcover book retails for around $20.00.
The Dolls Between Us 
I so need this book. It’d make a great reference book for when making coloring pages!
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I neeeeeeeeeeeeed this….where can I get it?
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Amazon… But it should show up at Barnes and Noble and other booksellers. It was just released today.
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Hooray! *sets aside money*
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I always get Barnes coupons in email…. Might be worth a try!
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Oooooo! Will remember! 😉
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Do you have to be a member to get those coupons from Barnes? (I’m not) Do you think it’s worth the $20? It doesn’t look to me like the TM outfits are named (flower power outfit, coconut cutie, etc) am I right?
I do really like the pictures and the little informational tidbits. I’m guessing they left out a lot of TM stuff but did they leave anything out of the historicals?
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I am not a Barnes and Noble member… I just get their emails non stop. Let me dig deeper into the book tonight and I’ll reply to your other comments.
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Is the item with the most pieces Grace’s bakery? Or maybe the new kitchen? Is that even in the book? All I can come up with for the tallest is Saige’s hot air balloon but I don’t think that’s right.
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You are correct on both counts! 😃
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Wow!
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The book includes Lea and Melody.
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The new mix and match stuff is in the book but not the new kitchen, or any of the holiday dresses! They should have done a page of all the holiday dresses! I wish they would have put the kitchen in it! But melody is in it so that’s cool. I got the book at the beginning of August because it was a sample. I love this book so much and it’s definitely worth the $25 price tag!
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I’m enjoying it too, even though it’s not designed to be comprehensive… It’s fun!
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What a neat idea!
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I like the idea of having the retired characters available to kids who can’t do Internet research, and it sounds like the books will be re released with new adventures for some retired GOTY?
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I purchased the Costco ‘Expanded Edition’ for $14.99, which is 208 pages. Different cover with a thick glossy ‘jacket’ over hard cover (same as cover photo, but when removed opens into a poster on the back featuring every BeForever & Girl of the Year doll. Eight bonus pages are: Creating a Character, Interview with Valerie Tripp, Doll Care; BeForever Timeline. “Press-out pet show” on inside back cover. I thought I’d seen that ‘stickers’ came with the book, but I’m not sure; mine doesn’t have any (unless under back piece, but I’ve not removed it or the ‘pet show press-out’. I put the Item # into Costco.com, but it’s unavailable online. I’ve since done a web search for this book and found one for $9.98 w/$5.99 shipping for 1 book/no tax (depending on your State).
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Very nice! I like that there is a poster and other fun items for girls.
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I actually didn’t realize there was any difference, but knew Costco was going to carry the book. Id forgotten about it and just happened to see them, so it was pure luck that day!
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