The central story of Chrissa is one about her courage in the face of bullying from her peers at school. It’s the age-old story of the new girl in school coming into an established pecking order that was already causing hurt and alienation to others. You would think that 10 year-old girls would be too young to be affected by this or to engage in it. Unfortunately, it has been going on in that age group for a long, long time. I remember being aware of it growing up in the ’60s. And our oldest daughter felt it keenly when we moved her to a new school at the age of 9.
When asked about the subject of bullying, American Girl said they get letters and emails from thousands of girls that include experiences with bullies at school, in sports, and in other relationships. They realized how hard it was to stand up to bullies. They hoped, in writing Chrissa’s story, to show ways to handle difficult relationships and to inspire girls to do so.
Not an easy topic-but an important topic to read and talk about. A topic that could supply a young girl with the tools to combat and overcome her own difficulties with bullies.
I applaud American Girl for introducing the subject with this American Girl Doll of the Year, Chrissa.
When I was a young girl growing up in the ’50s, one of my favorite Holidays was Halloween. I loved dressing up in some home-made costume-usually a hobo because it was easy and warm (many layers) and running all over the neighborhood in pursuit of more candy than I could imagine and certainly more candy than was healthy. Our neighborhood, an outlying suburb to a big metropolitan city, was safe back then and my parents let me go with just a handful of friends. We raced along searching for just one more house to ply for more treats, feeling free and daring. My favorite house each year was the older gentleman who lived in what I thought was a mansion. He had bowls of all sorts of candy, and a bowl of nickles, and we could take one of each-truly the jackpot house and Halloween heaven for me. 
Some how the thought of getting all that free candy had a tremendous appeal for me, even though I was not the eat-it-in-one-sitting-and-get-sick type of kid. No, I made it last as long as possible-and at least until the end of the year. And I think I usually competed with my older brother for the honor of seeing who could make it the longest. It was all good, clean, innocent fun.
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