Prycer Consulting

I saw this post on the National Museum of American History’s blog when it first came out.  Entitled “My Tweenage Historical Bookshelf,” I got all excited.  And then I read the post and I was no longer as excited.

My roommate sent me a link to the post earlier this week and we had the following conversation via e-mail:

L:   A short blog post from the Smithsonian – seemed like a subject you might enjoy.  I haven’t read any of the books she lists, but I didn’t scroll through the comments – there may be some there that were my favorites too.

Me: I saw this back when it was first posted.  In my opinion, the entire quality of the post is diminished when she mentions the American Girl books.  Those books are terrible!

L: I have to admit, I can be pretty snobby about them too.  But they’re SO popular.  Sigh.

Me: They’re like a gate-way drug to real historical fiction.

L:  This made me laugh.   But I think maybe they’re just bad like drugs – real historical fiction is good-for-you/rehab, maybe?

So, what are your thoughts?  Are we complete book/history snobs? 

And a note: I’m just talking about the American Girl books, not the dolls.  As a kid, I would have killed for one of those dolls but thought the books were incredibly boring.  Heck, as an adult, I would probably still kill for a one of the dolls.