Can't afford an American Girl doll? Then borrow one

Hey Guys it's me Kanani and Georgia and half me just read this awesome story on http://blogs.babycenter.com and I wanted to share this American Girl story with you below! Just look down to read! I hope you enjoy like we did!

  Ten years ago, the American Girl Doll company donated Kirsten Larson, one of the original pioneer girls, along with some books, to the East Village branch of the New York Public Library.


According to the New York Times , the doll was considered too valuable to be shared with the young patrons and collected dust on a storage shelf for several years until an resourceful children’s librarian, Thea Taube, decided to put it on her desk.
“I thought, ‘Well, we loan out books that are that expensive, so why can’t we lend her out too?’” said Ms. Taube, who hoped the doll would attract more children to the branch, leading them to read the doll books.
  

As you might imagine, it didn’t take long before young patrons spotted the beautiful doll– too offensively expensive for many families– and started asking questions about her. What happened next was the unofficial lending of Kirsten, as if she were a library book, to anyone who wanted to take her home for a while.
Kirsten was unofficially in circulation. All lending and returning was done without the use of library cards or identification. This arrangement was the honor system at its most faithful.
Many years later, all that little-girl love has left Kirsten feeling a bit shabby. So her next trip will be to the American Girl Doll Hospital where she will get a complete dolly makeover.
Her shabbiness is hard earned. She has seen the inside of dozens of little girl’s homes, been dressed in many different outfits, including a school uniform, and enjoyed various different hairstyles, including dreadlocks. Though she still wears her original dress today, she’s “lost” most of her other accessories during her travels.
What’s a doll for, if not to be vigorously loved? And what an example of the true meaning and benefit of a community library. I could imagine something like this happening in our tiny, rural public library, but am surprised, pleasantly, to hear how it has worked out in a city as big as New York City.
   

Ms. Taube said Kirsten exemplified the library as a community center that offered diverse services and lending materials.
“I tell the kids that the library belongs to them,” she said. “And I think that any child who could not afford that doll will remember the time they were able to borrow it from the library. 

 Wasn't that totally awesome and such a sweet story! I like it and I hoped you did to! I also hope you are having a good Hawaiian, Sunny day! We aren't but we are inside!

              Aloha, Kanani