American Girl Author Valerie Tripp Interview #AmericanGirl #originalvideointerview

It was a great pleasure to interview Valerie Tripp, American Girl author, with my 9 year old daughter, Sage.  Valerie was one of their original authors and is still a prolific writer.   Her American Girl books about Felicity, Kit, Josefina, Molly, Samantha and others are well loved and read around the world.   Check out her insights on encouraging reading, her own writing process, and the historical figures she helped bring to life in the imaginations of readers world wide.  October 2012.

American Girl Author Valerie Tripp and #PricelessChicago With #Mastercard #greatgifts

American Girl tops ChiIL Mama's Great Gifts List.   American Girl has an impressive commitment to literacy and philanthropy.   They publish an exciting array of books that get girls interested in reading and engaged with history.   And of course the dolls and accessories are adorable, well made, and so much fun to collect.

Look Ma!   No lines!

We were given an amazing opportunity with Mastercard's Priceless Chicago perks.   The last weekend of October, we got to meet and interview author Valerie Tripp, shop at American Girl Place Chicago an hour before the store opened to the public, and have a fabulous brunch at the American Girl Cafe!   It was a priceless experience to share with my 9 year old daughter.   



Author, Valerie Tripp, was personable and wonderful.


Mastercard is offering another special early access/brunch for purchase by the public in December.   We'll have all the details as soon as they're available.   This one will be exclusively for Citibank Mastercard holders, so get your plastic ready, or apply today.   Highly recommended!

It was truly a treat to meet Valerie Tripp, one of the original American Girl book authors and personal, long time friend of company founder, Pleasant.   Valerie is a prolific writer whose American Girl books about Felicity, Kit, Josefina, Molly, and Samantha are well loved and read around the world.

Samantha, Sage, Caroline & Kanani share brunch at the famous & fabulous American Girl Cafe

Something Old/Something New:

We enjoyed a fabulous brunch in the American Girl Cafe with many press and blogger friends, their daughters and lucky members of the Mastercard holding public.   Before we went, my daughter Sage had trouble narrowing down just which American Girl dolls would get to come along on our adventure.



That morning she was elated to open her brand new historical character doll, Caroline, so of course she decided to bring her.   We had saved Caroline for the day of our Mastercard Priceless Chicago brunch and let the excitement and anticipation build. 



Then, of course, Sage also wanted to bring her Samantha doll and books for Valerie to sign.   So, we had one of the oldest, original Pleasant Company American Girl Dolls and the very newest of the collection on board.   Finally, Sage wanted Kanani--the Hawaiian girl of the year from 2011 along for a trip to the salon.   Her long, lovely hair does tend to tangle when the doll is well loved and played with often.   So she joined our special shopping day, too!   

Kanani's wearing a vintage American Girl Olympic Suit with a medal (from gymnast McKenna's 2012 collection) from our recent meeting with real Olympic Medalist, Aly Raisman, also at American Girl Place, Chicago, a few weeks before.   We also have McKenna, they gymnast doll of the year 2012, but Kanani resembles Sage more closely, so she chose to dress her as a gymnast instead.

Click here for our photo filled feature on our recent meeting with real life Olympic Gold Medalist, Aly Raisman

Before:



Although her messy buns were cute and matched Sagezilla's own gymnast buns, the doll was in need of some pro hair styling help!   We'd never been to the Doll Salon before and left quite impressed.  For $20, Kanani left with a super cool lattice style, two long fishbone braids, and patriotic ribbons to match her Olympic suit!

After:

Check back with ChiIL Mama like we vote in Chi, IL...early and often.   We will be publishing our original video interview with Valerie Tripp along with some footage of her brunch talk in the very near future.   We'll also have a big American Girl book give away up this month, an American Girl Cafe Birthday Party feature, and more.

If you've got a young, American girl in your life, this opportunity truly is a priceless day out together!

*Thanks again to Mastercard for brunch with Valerie Tripp, a $50 gift card to use during our fun day, and early access to the store.   Thanks to American Girl/Mattel for providing us with books, dolls & magazines to review and great giveaways for our readers over the years.   All opinions are our own.

Welcome American Girl Caroline Abbott: Book Review, Signings, Events & Give Aways

Here at ChiIL Mama, we were super stoked for September, because we got to welcome the newest American Girl historical Doll, Caroline.   But the fun doesn't stop there!   October brings Caroline book signings, cute Halloween doll costumes, Caroline's celebration dinners, a meet n greet with the author of the historical Molly books, a Caroline hero video contest, and so much more!

**We're very excited that the author of the Caroline books, Kathleen Ernst, will signing at the Chicago store October 13th from 1:00pm-3:00pm.**

We were lucky to catch an early sneak peek at her Meet Caroline book and eagerly raced through it.  This cliff hanger of a mystery drew us all in and left us wanting more.   We naturally had to pay a visit to our local, Chi-Town American Girl Place at Watertower and buy the sequel which we're enjoying now!

It's this view below that makes me wanna move in and live at American Girl Place!   I've been a book lover since I was a child, and seriously wish my real house looked like this, with a cool, two story, "book tree house".



Sure, the collector dolls and all their adorable accessories and sets are fun.   But, the American Girl books make me happy as a mom.   I trust them to get the details right, and provide entertaining, educational, quality stories that encourage the qualities I encourage in my own young girl.





The historical girl books are well researched, in fact, Kathleen Ernst, author of the Caroline books worked as a curator for Old World Wisconsin so she's got a rich store of knowledge of the past!   She's even written an adult mystery series set there.   For loads of cool history and background info about the Caroline books and the year 1812, we highly recommend checking out author Kathleen's blog right here.



My American Girl at Old World Wisconsin with 3 generations of our family.

We paid a visit to Kathleen Ernst's former workplace this summer, and we'll have a photo and video filled adventure feature right here at ChiIL Mama in the near future.   Old World Wisconsin was quite impressive and highly recommended.

Sagezilla wrote her first book report of the school year on Meet Caroline, complete with a cool, slick presentation on Prezi.    Here's her take on the book, as a nine year old girl.



Sage Words:

caroline on Prezi

ChiIL Mama's take:

My daughter and I read Meet Caroline within days of each other and I was as engrossed in the story as she was.   It was fun to discuss the story together and speculate on how the tale continues.   Caroline's a smart, caring, brave little girl. She's got spunk and isn't afraid to speak up when she feels an injustice is going on.   When Caroline's father is captured by the British before they even got word that war had begun, the young girl finds herself at home with 3 generations of women.   She's relentless in her quest to bring her dad back home, and at the end of the first book she performs a selfless act and gives up something special and valuable to save her town.

At first I was a bit leery about the 1812 date, as choices and roles for women and girls were so much more restrictive then.   However, author Kathleen Ernst does a fabulous job of empowering her women and girls while still staying true to history.  After her father is taken prisoner, her mother steps up to run the shipyard and Caroline helps, despite some initial disbelief from locals that they could handle it.   Grandma, who lives with them, is wise and amazing, too, with valuable nuggets of insight for Caroline.

I was also a little concerned about the backdrop of war, but this series doesn't glamorize the conflict.   The focus is on the village and on worried people on both sides who fervently want peace.

We can't wait to read the rest of the series.   We just bought Caroline's Secret Message, the 2nd book.   As a mom, I'm thrilled my daughter's excited about reading and has found a strong role model in Caroline she can empathize with.   The historical American Girl books are a true gift, as they bring history alive, spark imagination, and personalize the past in a way that dry accounts and facts just don't do.   After reading Meet Caroline, my daughter is also now  jazzed to go to museums and historical sites to learn more about the early 1800's.   Works for me!

Click here for all the details

Have you ever had to be brave? Enter our contest by creating a video clip (up to 60 seconds) about a time you felt like an everyday hero. You can tell a story, re-create a moment, or even act out the scene with your doll. Ask your parent to upload your video here by October 31 for your chance to win.*

Then come back November 5 to vote for one of our six finalists and help choose the winner of our grand prize, which includes a trip for four to Washington, D.C.; an extra-special day at the American Girl store; a Caroline doll, books, and accessories set; plus a VIP tour of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History to learn more about life in Caroline's day.

SAVE THE DATES:

Check back with ChiIL Mama like we vote in Chi, IL...early and often.   We have a special meet n greet with author Valerie Tripp through Priceless Chicago and Mastercard on 10/23.    She wrote all the books in the Felicity, Josefina, Kit, and Molly series and three of the books in the Samantha series!   She lives in Silver Spring, Maryland and will be coming to town to have brunch with a lucky group of Chi-Town moms and daughters.   Check out more about Valerie Tripp here.     We'll have a photo filled feature for you after our brunch on 10/23.

We're extra excited to meet Valerie, since we just bought 4 American Girl DVDs and Sage has been using her own "helpful works money" to buy them.   We were pretty jazzed they were temporarily on sale for just $5 each instead of $15.    It worked out perfectly since $5 is exactly what she earns each week.   She just watched Kit, Samantha & Molly's movies and is now eagerly reading three Molly books, though Kit is her favorite.   Her grandparents still live in Cincinnati, where Kit is from, and her grandma grew up there during the late 1930's and 40's, not too long after the time Kit's books and movie take place.

We have lots of exciting American Girl features coming including book reviews, author interviews, a photo filled Cafe Birthday party feature, monster cake fun from the fall American Girl magazine, and much more. 

**Thanks to American Girl for sending us books, magazines and dolls to review and give away to our readers.    All opinions expressed are our own and we are not financially compensated.