Meet Julie: An American Girl

In 2007, I was certainly too old for American Girl and had other things going on, like trying to graduate from high school. Nevertheless, AG had FINALLY introduced an Asian American character, albeit as the best friend and not lead for the 1970s period. There's since been an Amazon Prime adaptation of Ivy's standalone book, but to better understand her, I figure I should read Julie's books for context.

It's a little weird to have a historical character that's a decade younger than my parents, but at the same time it's surprising to realize things like Ms. as a widespread honorific and Title IX are relatively recent things within the last 50 years. Julie is also AG's proxy for talking to kids about divorce- something socially show more unacceptable in prior periods. I'm interested to see where this goes. show less

Meet Julie was a fabulous book. I loved reading this book not only because we have the same name or because I used to love American girl dolls but I loved Julie’s story. What I loved and what made this book interesting was Julie told her own story. Julie telling her story makes readers connect more with the story. Also what made this story, throughout this novel, was Julie going through many different obstacles. From her parents getting a divorce to Julie leaving her best friend and bunny to moving schools to not being able to be put on the boys basketball team, Julie has gone through tough times. The overall theme of this story is determination. Julie is determined to try everything she can to make herself happy. With being in a new show more school, without her best friend, Julie faces hard times. Her teacher is very strict and people at school already know about her problems at home so they make fun of her every chance they get. When she finds out that she loves basketball but the coach tells her there are no spots on the team for girls, she was determined to prove everyone wrong. She wanted to show everyone that girls are just as good as anyone else. From learning about title IX and getting 150 signatures on a petition, the coach still rejected her from the team. However, after Julie went to the principal, the coach finally let her play. She also is determined to keep a long distance friendship with Ivy. They are determined to make their friendship last forever and never let distance stop it. Nothing stops Julie and that is exactly what I loved about this book. show less

Okay, do I actually confess this? I spent Rudd money on an American Girl doll. How frivolous is that? Yes, I'm still a doll fanatic and the American Girl dolls are such great quality and have such nice clothes etc to go with them. They also seem to have defined a "standard" doll size so that loads of other clothes are made to fit dolls of that size.

I had to choose between an historical doll or a "Just like you" doll that you design according to your own hair and features etc. It was a difficult choice for me - I was stuck between Julie (1970s), Mollie (1940s) and Kit (1930s). I ended up choosing Julie - her style just amused me so much. I didn't realise until after I'd ordered her that I'd essentially chosen a "just like you" doll show more without even thinking! Malcolm pointed it out immediately - he says she looks just the way he remembers me when we were first going out (well, close enough to be amusing). As far as I can work out, she would be 2 years older than me... And clearly, like me, never made it past 10 years old!

The doll came with a "Meet Julie" book which I have to say I really enjoyed. Julie isn't anything like me in personality, but I really enjoyed reading about her. While it's a short book with not too much in it, the writing style is very engaging and the quality of the book is really beautiful. I love the illustrations and the historical context provided at the back was interesting and not too superficial. I might even be tempted to buy the next title. Not sure yet... show less

Julie Albright doesn't want to move away from her San Francisco neighborhood near Chinatown, even if her new apartment is just a few miles away. Moving means leaving her best friend, Ivy, and her pet rabbit, Nutmeg. Worst of all, it means leaving Dad, now that her parents are divorced. Julie tries to make the best of her new situation by joining the school's basketball team, but the coach won't allow girls to play. She learns that it's up to her to make positive changes in her new school - and her new life. The "Looking Back" section discusses the women's movement, divorce, and other issues of the turbulent 1970s.

While nothing earth-shattering happens here, the ups and downs of Julie's life will resonate as important to girls her age and her triumph in joining the basketball team is no small feat. The Julie series is the first of the American girl series to feature divorced parents and it has the most recent setting. In fact, other than some details like mood rings and the historical events mentioned (Vietnam, Title IX), the story doesn't feel like historical fiction at all. The book is clearly the start of a series and girls will want to read on to find out how Julie actually fares on her basketball team.

Each American Girl series focuses on a different historic time period and places strong girl characters in the middle of a story that draws heavily from the social-historical context. For example, Title IX, Richard Nixon, veterans' rights, and the title "Ms." are all woven into the storyline---some more effectively than others. I'm guessing there must be some requirement on the number of historic references included because the one on Richard Nixon seems particularly out of place in the storyline. A character repeats a Nixon quotation in order to motivate Julie to keep collecting signatures, and Julie remembers vaguely that her parents fought about Nixon for some reason. Readers will easily relate to Julie's concerns about the changes show more in her family and her desire to make friends and to fit in at her new school; however, some of the historical lessons seem a little clunky and forced---not all will resonate equally with middle readers.

This book is a good introduction to Title IX issues and women's roles in sports. It could be part of a unit on women's history (Women's History Month) or a unit on heroes, especially those in sports. The historic information in the back of the book could be used for mini-research reports where students (or groups of students) look up more information on one of the main people or events of the 1970s. The reports could be shared in class and even in the school library. show less

Meet Julie By:Megan Mcdonald
When I saw the book I decided to read it because I had read other other American Girl books in the past, so i thought it would be similar to the other ones.I thought it would be about Julie and her adventures in San Francisco.It was a little less what I expected it to be.It does not feel the same in some ways.Like they traveled a lot also Julie was a tom boy and liked basket ball.
This fiction book is about Julie Albright and all of her adventures when she moves away from her best friend Ivy and her bunny Nutmeg.In the end Julie wants to be on the basket ball team but there is only a team for boys.She tells her dad but he dosent like the idea. She than tells her mom who thinks it isn’t fair that she can’t show more play to.The reason I liked this book is because, I feel like Julie didn’t want to give up on trying to do what she loved.She is also a smart ciourious girl.She expresses herself in playing basket ball.I highly sugest that people who are about 12 and younger should read this book if they want to learn about chalenges and adventures in other peoples point of view. show less