Dolls of Our Lives

Just over 100 years ago, W. E. B. Du Bois created a magazine just for children. The Brownies’ Book: A Monthly Magazine for Children of the Sun reached thousands of children in the early 1920s...including (the fictional) Claudie Wells.

For this month's episode, we reviewed a 2023 tribute to The Brownies' Book curated by a team of scholars and artists. Their Love Letter to Black Families includes material from the original B...

This episode, we're going to a place where the lights are bright, the music is dim, and everything smells vaguely like cookies, pretzels, and overpriced lotions. That's right, we're going to the mall. Despite many predictions of near death, the mall is alive and well in many parts of the USA (and parts of the world). For this episode, we discuss Alexandra Lange's 2022 book Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the ...

There may be a timeline where we do not cover Britney Spears's new autobiography. But this is not that timeline--and in this universe, our  December 2023 Patreon episode is all about The Woman in Me. We talk about the highlights from Britney's book that have already gotten the most media attention (namely, a boy band member's indiscretions). But we also dive into the less discussed, yet profound and surprising insights Bri...

You asked and we answered! This month’s Patreon episode features your burning questions about our book, Dolls of Our Lives: Why We Can't Quit American Girl, out this month. What part of the book changed the most? Which topics required the most research? We cover these topics and more.

This book would not exist without all of you, so this episode is also another chance to say thank you for your support!

Original air date: ...

For this year's October Patreon, we chose a topic that can be truly scary: revisiting high school.

A lot of people have turned to sitcoms to see what their teenage years might be like. With her latest book, journalist Thea Glassman makes a case for the importance of teen dramas such as Dawson's Creek, Glee, and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. In revisiting seven hit shows from the late 1990s/early 2000s, Glassman pulls from i...

For this episode, Mary and Allison bravely took on a pair of brand-new Tamagotchi digital pets. It's true what folks say: the days are long, but the Tamagotchi years go very fast (especially when you hit the reset button). Learn about the origins of digital pets and hear our cautionary tales about the care and keeping of virtual creatures, including Neopets.

Original air date: August 23, 2023

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In anticipation of the Barbie movie coming out this July, we took a dive into the corporate history of America’s (smaller) doll.

Join us for a review of Barbie and Ruth: The Story of the World's Most Famous Doll and the Woman Who Created Her. Robin Gerber’s dual biography charts the rise of Barbie under the leadership of the ruthless girlboss Ruth Handler. Her book shares fascinating information about the culture of Mattel...

In preparation for our upcoming Melody episodes, this month’s feature is Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop (2022).

Shine Bright is Danyel Smith's love letter to the important musicians in her life. A prominent music journalist, Smith has sat across from some of the biggest names in pop over the past few decades. In a series of biographical chapters, Smith shares her experiences with singular talen...

Is this novel about a lavender haze or smoke and mirrors? How about both? In Lev AC Rosen’s Lavender House, a family of soap makers tries to keep their side of the street clean. There’s one big problem: someone in the Lavender home probably committed murder. Set in the Bay Area in 1952, Rosen’s novel imagines a home where queer love makes a chosen family—-and a poisonous mother tries to tear it apart. We discuss recent boo...

For this monthly, we read Judy Blume’s iconic novel about faith and girlhood. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret may be from the 70s, but we found it to be a relevant and fun read as 90s girls. Protagonist Margaret is a curious and thoughtful pre-teen who has recently moved to a new suburb with her parents. Throughout the book, Margaret navigates questions about religion and her body while talking privately to god. Retur...

Imagine leaving your home in Washington, D.C., and moving to Hawaii mere weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Barry Denenberg takes on this thought experiment and a world of family conflict in one of his offerings to the Dear America series. In this episode, we cover the absolute whirlwind that is Early Sunday Morning: The Pearl Harbor Diary of Amber Billows, Hawaii 1941. Released on October 1, 2001, Denenberg’s novel ...

Writer Kaitlyn Tiffany is a smart culture critic, podcasts host, and longtime fan of One Direction. All of these things are almost equally relevant to our episode this month. Her new book, Everything I Need I Get From You, offers insight into the idea of the screaming female fan, from Beatlemania to the present. Tiffany, a longtime follower of 1D, asks important questions about the internet and what it means to be a fan. W...

The Princess Diaries is a novel about an ordinary teen, Mia Thermopolis, who discovers she is actually heir to a throne in a distant country few people have even heard of. In addition to the challenges of math class, Mia has to decide if she would like to be the ruler (someday) of this small, fictional foreign nation. We discuss this classic coming-of-age story and the enduring allure (or fear) of being a princess. Since t...

What does your family tree say about you? Maud Newton tackles this question in her new and powerful book, Ancestor Trouble. Through this project, Newton asks probing questions about a number of her ancestors, questioning family myths and stories along the way. Using her talent as a researcher, Newton uncovers the true stories of relatives whose lives were or are complex, fascinating, and at times, troubling. As we go along...

Would you befriend a ghost? Better yet, would you leave the 1990s to spend time in the 19th century? Young Zoe, the protagonist of Stonewords, decides she's cool with doing both. From a young age, Zoe develops a bond with a girl named Zoe Louise. The relationship is rocky, and one of their main issues is that Zoe Louise is dead (or half dead, depending on the chapter). We go on a journey with Zoe to try and prevent her BFF...

Earlier this year, Selma Blair published her memoir entitled Mean Baby. Described as “mean” in her early years, Blair has been searching for labels that fit for decades. A self-described seeker, Blair has looked to psychics, fellow celebrities, teachers, and writers to figure out how to write her own story. In this book, Blair talks about some of her more famous roles (Cecile in Cruel Intentions, Vivian in Legally Blonde) ...

The Birchbark House has finally moved off the Patreon TBR list. This beautifully written novel by Louise Erdrich has been much requested by you, our listeners! Set in 1847, The Birchbark House is a story about an Ojibwa girl named Omakayas. Throughout the book, we spend several seasons with Omakayas and her kin as they weather a smallpox outbreak. Omakayas learns more about her own history and starts to see herself as a he...

With so much recent discussion about the ideas and intentions of the "founders," we decided to watch the film version of the musical 1776...so you won't have to. Clocking in at 2 hours and 45 minutes, this performance will give you more questions than answers as to how the Declaration of Independence was actually written. We talk about Mr. Feeny's (a.k.a William David Daniels's) turn as John Adams, what's really going on w...