Kansas City gets its first American Girl doll

• Her story weaves Mexican American culture into KC's growing Latino community, a rare national spotlight on the city's diversity.

The big picture: Raquel is American Girl's 2026 Girl of the Year, and her story mixes hometown pride with old-school nostalgia.

• Her mom is a descendant of Samantha Parkington, one of the brand's first dolls, from 1986 — a character a lot of us can remember spotting in those glossy catalogs.
• Kansas City author Angela Cervantes wrote Raquel's book, which takes her from helping her family's paleta shop to a family reunion on the East Coast, where she uncovers Samantha's childhood diary.

Flashback: KC once had its own American Girl store inside Oak Park Mall, where kids could pierce their dolls' ears or grab matching T-shirts. It closed in 2020.

💭 Abbey's thought bubble: I had Kaya'aton'my growing up, and that kind of representation mattered to me as a Native kid. I love that Latino kids in KC can now feel that same connection with Raquel.

The bottom line: Raquel isn't just the 2026 Girl of the Year. She's Kansas City's American Girl.