Be Prepared

The “fancy” historical dolls are the popular toy of choice among Vera’s peers. They are fictional representations of American Girl dolls, which were popular among 9- to 13-year-old girls in the 1990s. Like real American Girl dolls, the historical dolls in the graphic novel come with clothes, pets, and household items of their own. In Be Prepared, these dolls serve as symbols of “typical,” and in Vera’s case aspirational, American girlhood. At Sarah’s birthday party, every gift is somehow connected to her historical doll, Complicity, and after presents and cake, all of the girls retreat to Sarah’s bedroom to play imaginative games with their dolls. Vera does not own one of these dolls, as they are too expensive, but she longs to play the same games as her peers. In much the same way, she wants to be considered a regular girl just like her classmates. These dolls are so intimately connected to girlhood that Vera is too ashamed to admit she doesn’t have one. Instead, she lies and says she left her doll Maria at home. Later, she retreats to the kitchen where she looks at one of the doll catalogs alone. The expense and accessibility of the historical dolls thereby demonstrate that American-ness and the items associated with being an “American girl” are often unattainable for certain groups based on their class, ethnicity, and/or cultural background.