Taryn, Brianne, Alexi and Jenna

Taryn in her box with outfits

Maplelea Girls

Avonlea Traditions, Inc.

The Maplelea Girls were debuted at the Canadian Toy Fair in Toronto in 2003 by Avonlea Traditions, Inc. According to company president Kathryn Morton, “Our characters are meant to be both an inspiration to, and a reflection of, Canadian girls from coast to coast to coast. Maplelea Girls are dolls to play with now, and to treasure forever.” Avonlea Traditions Inc. is a Canadian owned and operated company based in Newmarket Ontario. Founded in 1988, Avonlea began developing products based on Canada's ever-popular storybook character, Anne of Green Gables and has now expanded their product line to include porcelain dolls, play dolls and decorative items.

Given the success of American Girl, it's not surprising that a company has finally marketed a similar product for our friends to the north. These girls are all contemporary characters, most similar to the American Girl Today line. Naturally, the company wished the dolls to be compatible with the hugely popular American Girls, but they also wanted to make the doll look a little older, more like a 10-12 year old. So the doll's arms and legs are a little slimmer and her feet are more realistically longer. According to Morton, they also wanted the dolls hands to be able to hold objects and made their fingers less spread out so that they would be easier to dress. The result is that the dolls can share 90% of their clothing with American Girls, most notably needing a different size shoe. Their arms are a little longer than American Girl's (though not as glaringly as the Learning Curve Madeline doll) so some long-sleeved outfits are a little short on them.

The Maplelea Girls face was modeled on a real (and really cute) little girl from Aurora, Ontario and sculpted by a Canadian artist. I recently purchased Jenna, the green-eyed redhead shown in the close-up above, and I find her features very appealing in real life. It is difficult to capture her dimples and freckles with a camera and I thought her on-line catalog pictures made her look more "smirky" than she actually is. The lashes on Jenna's sleep eyes are soft and fine and nicely matched to her red hair. Her face paint is well done with realistic freckles and eyebrows. I find the lines drawn from the corners of her eyes to be a little dark and distracting, but the company informs me that this was softened in the second production run of the dolls. You can tell what year and production run a particular doll is from using the information coded into the number(s) stamped on the back of your dolls' neck. According to Morton, "2003-1 means that the first production run of this character was done in 2003. Subsequent production runs of the same character have an additional stamped number below the embossed number. For example the second batch of Taryn dolls are stamped with 2005-2 below the embossed 2003-1, meaning the second production run (or generation) was done in 2005.  There will always be the embossed original year of production, and the imprinted year and generation number of that particular doll. Collectors may be interested in knowing that we are currently shipping first generation Jenna and Brianne, and second generation Taryn and Alexi."

The quality of this doll's vinyl is top notch, as is her wigged Kanekalon hair. My only complaint is that her head is attached to her cloth body so tightly she can barely turn it. Her clothing is also nicely made though I, and more importantly my eight-year-old daughter, didn't find the styles that appealing. (However, with the discussion above about her compatibility with American Girl, her wardrobe possibilities are practically endless.) We were both especially impressed with the quality of her realistic-looking athletic shoes though disappointed that they were teal and not a more versatile white. Another thing my daughter noticed right away was the doll doesn't have underwear on! The box the doll came in is very, very good quality. It is extremely sturdy and makes a great storage box for the doll's outfits and accessories.

The dolls come with a nice, loose-leaf journal and I was pleased to see that it has both a "filled in" section introducing the doll's character and blank pages for the girl. (Some are fill-in-the-space pages similar to the AG Today book and some are blank pages for a diary-type journal.) You can print out additional blank journal pages from the website and you receive more pages (blank and with content) when you purchase outfits and accessories. The journal has pages in both English and French. The website also has Fun for Girls pages (also in English and French) including a Clubhouse section marked "Coming Soon" which requires registration after the purchase of a doll.  The website also has stories of the winners of the "Real Girls Doing Things that Really Matter" awards which celebrate kids who make a difference for important causes. Part of the award is a Maplelea doll, of course. I always love companies that encourage service with their marketing.

The original plans for the doll line included chapter books. This would be a nice addition, as would be dolls from more parts of Canada. I'd like to see a First Nations girl and (selfishly) a French Canadian girl from Quebec, where my ancestors are from. It would also be exciting and educational to see historic outfits and journal pages for the dolls as a way to help girls connect with their heritage.