Happy Birthday, Valerie Tripp!

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Born September 12, 1951. Author of many American Girl books, including the Molly, Josefina, and Felicity series.

Five Fun Facts: 

• Valerie Tripp, Janet Beeler Shaw, and Susan Adler were the authors of the first American Girl books, published in 1986. 
• Valerie Tripp learned to read by playing school with her sisters.
• Valerie Tripp was one of the first women to graduate from Yale University. 
• At Yale, Valerie Tripp wrote her thesis based on the stories the children told her at the daycare center where she worked. 
• Whenever Valerie Tripp writes about a new American Girl character, she gets to decide what that character will look like as a doll.

Quotation: In the old days, before Jill turned fourteen and got stuck-up, Molly used to be able to count on her make a big fuss over things like turnips. But lately, Molly had to do it all herself. Jill was acting superior. This new, grown-up Jill was a terrible disappointment to Molly. If that's what happened to you when you got to be fourteen, Molly would rather be nine forever. (Meet Molly, p.4)

Katie Says: When I was a kid, all my friends loved Samantha, but I was a Molly fan all the way. This was partly because of her braids and glasses, and partly because of all the girls in the American Girl series, she was the most likely to still be alive in 1990, (which is when I turned the magical age of 8, which meant I was old enough to have an American Girl doll.) I didn't like the thought of a character who had lived so long ago she would now have to be dead. I was excited to find out, when I was researching this post, that Valerie Tripp actually lives not far from me, in the same county.

Visit Valerie Tripp online at her website, valerietripp.org. Find out more about the various American Girl characters at americangirl.com.

Sources: 

• "Central Series." American Girl Doll Wiki. Web. 17 Aug. 2012. <http://americangirl.wikia.com>
• "Meet Valerie Tripp." Children's Literature. Web. 17 Aug. 2012. <http://www.childrenslit.com/childrenslit/mai_tripp_valerie.html>.
• Tripp, Valerie, and C. F. Payne. Meet Molly: An American Girl. Madison, WI: Pleasant, 1986. Print.
• " Valerie Tripp." 2004. Books & Authors. Gale. Gale Internal User 17 Aug 2012 <http://bna.galegroup.com/bna/start.do?p=BNA&u=gale>
• "Valerie Tripp." Web. 17 Aug. 2012. <http://www.valerietripp.org/>.