Kirsten Larson is a pioneer girl of strength and spirit growing up in Minnesota in 1854. After a long, dangerous voyage with her family from Sweden to America, Kirsten finds it difficult to get used to a new country and a new way of life. But as she makes friends and discovers what her new land has to offer, she learns the true meaning of home - and that love is the same in any language. Along with Samantha and Molly, Kirsten was one of the three American Girls that launched the collection in 1986.

Meet Kirsten	Kirsten's Baking Outfit	Summer Outfit	School Dress with Shawl II
Apron Dress	Work Outfit	Saint Lucia Gown	Winter Outfit (Blouse, Skirt & Hair Ribbons)
Housecoat & Sockor	Nightgown	Flannel Underwear

Kirsten's Accessories	Kirsten's Holiday Treats	Saint Lucia Wreath	Knit Woolens
Kirsten's Doll	Snowshoes	Friendship Quilt & Quilt Kit	Pioneer School Lunch II
Slate bag & Supplies	Mama Cat & Kitten	Hair ribbons	Carpetbag
Nighttime Necessities	Red Boots	Two-Tone Boots	Shoes & Socks
Mini Kirsten Doll and Book

Kirsten's Trestle Table & Chairs II	Trestle Table & Chairs I	Single Pine Chair I	Bed & Friendship Quilt
Washstand	Trunk

Kirsten Book Collection	Meet Kirsten	Kirsten Learns a Lesson	Kirsten's Surprise
Happy Birthday, Kirsten	Kirsten Saves the Day	Changes for Kirsten	Welcome to Kirsten's World
Kirsten's Paper Dolls II	Kirsten's Magnetic Mini World	The Runaway Friend: A Kirsten Mystery by Kathleen Ernst	Kirsten Story Collection II

Kirsten, along with Sam and Molly are clearly the most popular historical American Girl dolls and so few items have been retired. Kirsten's 1997 Special Edition outdoor outfit was a skating outfit. Around 2002, Kirsten's Dirndl dress and Kerchief was discontinued along with the Winter Pastimes and Fourth of July Fun accessory sets. The snowshoes from the winter set are now available by themselves.

Originally, the mother cat and kitten available as Kirsten's pets were black colored, but in the Holiday 2000 catalog they were replaced with the current gray mother cat and kitten. That same year, the material that Kirsten's school dress was made from changed. Also, Kirsten's lunch tine (tee-na) was redesigned in 2000 with a more elaborate decorative design. There have been two versions of Kirsten's Saint Lucia Christmas Tray. The original tray had handles that stuck out from the tray, and the new tray, which appeared in Summer 1995 and which is still available, had handles that stuck up along the sides.

In July 2004, Samantha, Molly, Kirsten, Josefina, Addy and Kit's "Stories & Outfits Collections with Caddy" were all retired. January 2006 saw the retirement of Kirsten's Plaid Dress & Shawl. One month later, in February 2006, all of the historical girl short story books were retired including all five of Kirsten's short stories. In December of 2006 Kirsten's Midsummer's outfit and her School Bench were retired. With the exception of the black cats which are hard to find, the rest of Kirsten's retired items are readily available on Ebay and their going prices are fairly reasonable.

In 2007, a number of items of Kirsten's collection were retired including her Recess Set, Saint Lucia Tray II, Fishing Set, Pottery Set, Party Treats, Kirsten's Story Collection book, Short Story Collection and both posters.

Swedish Dirndl & Kerchief	Skating Outfit & Skates	Checked Dress	Plaid Dress & Shawl
Midsummer Outfit (Dress, Bouquet, Basket & Flowers)	Kirsten's Recess Set (Wool Coat, Hat, Beanbag Toss Target & Three Beanbags)	School Dress with Shawl (original dress material) until 1999	Winter Pastimes (Paper Dolls & Thaumatrope) & Snowshoes
Fourth of July Fun	Pioneer School Lunch I (Bread, Sausage, Cheese, Apple & Napkin)	Saint Lucia Tray I	Saint Lucia Tray II
Fishing Set	Pottery Set	Party Treats	Mama Cat & Kitten (Black Cat & Kitten) Until 1999
School Bench	Kirsten's Scenes & Settings	Kirsten's World Map	Pastimes (Contains Theater Kit, Paper Dolls, Craft Book and Cook Book)
Kirsten's TheaterKit	Kirsten's Paper Dolls	Kirsten's Craft Book	Kirsten's Cook Book
Kirsten Story Collection	Kirsten on the Trail	Kirsten and the New Girl	Kirsten and the Chippewa
Kirsten Snowbound!	Kirsten's Promise	Kirsten Short Story Set (Trail, New Girl, Chippewa)	Craft Book & Kit
Kirsten's Short Story Collection (Hardcover) [ISBN: 1593691211]	Kirsten's Meet Poster	Kirsten's Reading Poster	Kirsten's Stationery Set
Doll Dress Patterns (Spoon Bag, School Dress & Shawl, Apron Dress, Flannel Underwear and Nightgown)	Kirsten's Stories & Outfits Collection with Caddy

These products are appropriate for children 8 and over. The American Girls Collection and The American Girls Collection logo are registered trademarks of Pleasant Company. Copyright 2001-2013 Pleasant Company. All rights reserved.

Email: cdanhauser@yahoo.com