Barbie had Ken to pal around with a mere two years after her debut, but it’s taken 31 years for American Girl to release a male doll.
The Mattel-owned company recently introduced Logan Everett, a drum-playing sidekick to new Nashville singer-songwriter Tenney Grant. The doll is a welcome surprise for children hoping for a brother or buddy for their Samanthas, Addys and Josefinas.
“Logan, as Tenney’s bandmate and drummer, plays a key role in her stories, so it was a perfect opportunity to bring him to life via an 18-inch doll to provide additional playability options for fans to act out the music and Nashville storyline,” American Girl public relations representative Susan Jevens wrote in an email. “We believe many parents, girls and boys will be glad he’s joined our lineup.”
American Girl dolls are known for their hefty price tag—$115 for a new doll—and their seemingly endless cavalcade of complementary products, from movies to magazines to bicycles and teddy bears for the doll itself. Many of the characters are historical and have book collections that contextualize and bring the dolls to life. Since 1986, 29 million dolls have been sold, according to the company website.
Jevens says the company intends for the doll to spark interest in any child. “We’re hopeful Logan will appeal to both girls and boys. We’ve heard from many parents who want their boys to have the same type of quality doll that we’ve created for girls,” Jevens wrote. “We also know there are many girls who are interested in adding a boy doll to their own collections to help enhance the play experience.”
In 1998, company founder Pleasant Rowland sold what was then called the Pleasant Company to Mattel for $700 million. The Tysons Corner American Girl store, one of only 20 such stores in the country, carries the doll but is low in stock. And online, the doll is on backorder until April 7.
Several NoVA libraries host American Girl doll rental programs, including Arlington Central Library. Its program, which began in 2013 using private donations and funds from the Friends of Arlington Public Library, has 62 dolls in its catalog. Each comes with a case, clothing, a book, a journal and an Arlington history card that’s contemporary with the character’s history. The dolls have circulated 6,543 times since the program’s inception, says programming and partnerships manager Julia Karell.
Though the library does not yet carry the Logan doll, Karell says she would be interested in adding him to the collection and notes that girls are not the only fans of the library’s dolls. “The boys often check out the girl dolls and seem very comfortable doing so,” she says.
Bull Run Regional Library has offered a rental program since 2013 and has 21 historical dolls, and the Haymarket-Gainesville Community Library will launch its program this spring and has two dolls so far. Youth services supervisor Jennifer Sutter says she would be open to acquiring a male doll.
American Girl has no immediate plans to release more male dolls, Jevens wrote, but she notes the significance of this new direction for the company: “For boys, we know Logan can speak directly to them and give them something unique and special to call their own.”
