KAELI CHANG: “We got matching outfits and I love to match with my doll. And it makes me feel kinda cool because I have a friend just like me.”

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: We spoke with Kaeli and her mother Liane Whalen-Chang at the American Girl store in Tysons Corner, Virginia.

KAELI CHANG: “I have nine American Girl dolls all together ‘cause my mom’s an awesome shopper.”

LIANE WHALEN-CHANG: “What I like about it is that it kind of brings back the innocence of the kids. They grow up too fast. And so the American Girl allows her to just be a little girl a little bit longer."

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Kaeli got her first American Girl doll just after she was born. That was the beginning of her collection.

A single American Girl doll sells for one hundred dollars. Extra clothing can increase the cost. Valerie Tripp has written more than thirty American Girl books. She loves writing for eight-year-old girls.

VALERIE TRIPP: “We wanted to speak to girls who were eight, nine, ten years old and say whatever your passion is whatever you’re interested in right now, you know, hang onto that.”

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: She says, most of them are reading by themselves for the first time.

VALERIE TRIPP: “The ability to walk in somebody else’s shoes is a wonderful life skill. And if you can read about someone who lived in a different time and kind of walk into her world, isn’t that a wonderful way of, you know, learning?”