American Girl’s Journey to the Lower East Side

(NYTimes) - WHEN Abraham Foxman met Rebecca Rubin, he was impressed.
“I’m surprised,” said Mr. Foxman, the director of the Anti-Defamation League, as he gazed at Rebecca, a brown-haired doll who was sitting on his desk last week, her hazel eyes locked unwaveringly onto his.
Ms. Rubin, all of 18 inches tall, is the newest historical character doll to be released by American Girl, the company in Middleton, Wis., whose products have a rabidly devoted following among the female 7- to 12-year-old set. She is a 9-year-old girl living on the Lower East Side in 1914 with her Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, siblings and a grandmother known only as Bubbie. Continued

Photo: Molly McIntire from the American Girl doll series (Hustvedt/Wikipedia).