Girl of the Year 2014: Isabelle Palmer

My 9 year old daughter couldn’t imagine that an American Girl, Girl of the Year could get better than last year’s Saige…then she met Isabelle.

We are a one doll family so each year’s Girl of the Year announcement brings with it the promise of new reading material rather than another doll to add to a growing collection. Last year my daughter, Emma, loved the Saige stories – Saige and Saige Paints the Sky – and she treasures the autographed copy of Saige I was able to bring home from BookExpo America. Emma loves art class at school and spends much of her free time at home in the craft room, painting, drawing, and writing stories. She could see much of herself in the character of Saige, and enjoyed reading about Saige’s artistic adventures.

This year’s Girl of the Year, Isabelle, is another character perfect for our family. Like my daughter, Isabelle is a dancer, and her stories focus not only on dance but on clothing design related to dance. Emma has already read the first book in the series, Isabelle, which introduces Isabelle as she’s starting her first year at the Anna Hart School of the Arts. Not only is Isabelle a dancer like Emma, but she also lives in Washington, D.C., the area my family calls home.

After reading Isabelle, Emma said her only regret was that she didn’t have the other two books to be able to keep reading. She says, “As a dancer, I know what it feels like to be in a performance. The author described really well what it feels like to be in a crowded, excited room right before the show.” The second and third books, Designs by Isabelle and To the Stars, Isabelle, are already on her birthday wish list for next month.

To learn more about Isabelle, visit AmericanGirl.com.

The book, Isabelle, was provided for review. All opinions are my own and those of my daughter. No other compensation was provided.