Now this series may be more popular in the doll collectors circle, but I’ve always been more into books than dolls and read each trillogy assigned to each doll that tells a little about what it is like for ten year olds back in their respective time periods.

1. Shannon: This trilogy follows a young Irish girl, Shannon and her family after they travel to San Francisco to meet with her father and pursue the 1850s American dream complete with a real house that has a balcony and everything. This one gets to the number one spot because it has a little more substance than the others as she deals with xenaphobia and anti-Irish prejudice. She also fights against anti-Chinese prejudice on behalf of her friend who she saved from indentured servitude.
2. Kai: Kai is part of the Igbo tribe who spends her days spying on her tribes sculptors. But it’s mens work or so she thinks when she’s sent to another tribe for help with the harvest and learns about women artists. I put this one second partially due to nostalgia as being the first I read and partly because I found it educational and interesting since their kingdoms are so unlike any others usually studied in Europe.
3. Juliet: Taken place in the medieval era, Juliet shows the creepy superstitions, power plays and romantic revels of the era as she helps her older friend begin her life in court. It gets third because while it has some interesting plots like Juliet helping what she perceives to be a friendship rival get her father out of the prison of a corrupt sherrif. But it is also pulled back from the interesting plots to a more mundane fixing her mistake when she accidentally lets loose a prized falcon. So potential but feels like it focused on more typical plots.
4. Marie: This one comes in last because it feels like it has the least content within it. It’s simply slice of life and even though it takes place in 1775, this is long before the French Revolution so readers don’t even get the excitment of brewing political ideals just hints of it. It’s more general stuff like fitting in ballet class, finding money and appreciating annoying baby sisters. Things one can find in any early reader just with a historical setting.

There’s also a 13th book about a Peruvian girl named Isabel but there’s only one instead of a trilogy so who knows why it’s shorter than the others.