The Care & Keeping of Me: Millennial Girls’ Coming of Age Story
By: Janine B. Napierkowski
Citation: Napierkowski, Janine B. “The Care & Keeping of Me: Millennial Girls’ Coming of Age Story” The Coalition of Master’s Scholars on Material Culture, August 27th, 2024.
Photographer Sydney Rose Paulsen (@5hensandacockatiel), uses American Girl dolls to recreate cover of the The Care & Keeping of You.
I recently revisited the pre-teen cult classic The Care & Keeping of You: The Body Book for Girls after meeting the author, Valorie Lee Schafer. The book, first published in 1998, was written for The Pleasant Company’s American Girl Advice Library imprint. Though the book’s tone, and its cartoon illustrations, is appropriate for an audience of young girls, I found comfort in returning to it throughout my teens to help me process matters around body image and self respect. I even still use a relaxation method from the book to help me fall asleep. Self-help books may not usually hold places of honor in a girl’s heart, but the memory of the feeling of empowerment along with the materiality of my dog-eared copy ensures that it continues to have a place on my bookshelf alongside my Girl Scout handbooks.
You may know the name American Girl from the 18” vinyl dolls depicting historical fiction characters first made by The Pleasant Company, then Mattel. The mail order dolls and accessories gained a following in the 1990’s that has waned for girls today but has resurfaced for Millennials as memes and stop-motion YouTube videos. The Pleasant Company and The American Girls Collection was founded in 1986 by Pleasant T. Rowland when she could not find dolls that she liked for her niece’s Christmas presents. Ms. Rowland was inspired to combine her love for American history and background in writing educational curriculum after a visit to Colonial Williamsburg. There were originally three dolls, Kirsten, Molly, and Samantha, with Felicity being added in 1991, Addy in 1993, and Josefina in 1997. Initially, the company was mail-order only, producing colorful, oversized catalogues featuring the dolls, storybooks, and associated items such as games, trading cards, and stationary sets. Each doll’s collection included outfits coordinated to the stories, accessories, furniture, and even miniature imitation foods.i
Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA) is the largest and longest running national girl-focused organization in our country; GSUSA was founded in 1912 and has fifty million alums. The first troop was made up of girls who shared a sense of curiosity and a belief that they could do anything. At a time when women in the United States could not yet vote and were expected to stick to strict social norms, encouraging girls to embrace their unique strengths and create their own opportunities was innovative. That small gathering of girls over 110 years ago ignited a Movement across America where every girl could unlock her full potential, find lifelong friends, and make the world a better place.ii From 1997-1999 American Girl had a license with Girl Scouts to make an official doll uniform with the trefoil logo. In fact, GSUSA owned the trademark for The American Girl and used it for magazines and books between 1920-1979 with the subheading “for all girls.” Most of the magazines’ articles were not specific to Girl Scouts but were original pieces like serialized fictional stories, poems, recipes, monthly national and international news columns, and artwork. The covers of the magazine usually depicted images of girls doing various activities, with animals or in nature. Girls could interact with the magazine by writing to the advice columns, which were later re published as volumes in book form as The American Girl Beauty Book (1954) and The American Girl Book of Teen-Age Questions (1963). These magazines may sound familiar to girls who are Millennials and parents who are Baby Boomers.
The Pleasant Company started publishing their version of American Girl magazine in 1992, then Mattel continued publishing it after they bought American Girl until 2019. Originally, this American Girl magazine aimed at promoting the company’s products, but it also had many parts like Girl Scout’s magazine of the same name including advice columns, arts and crafts projects, short stories, and interviews with real girls. Both American Girl and Girl Scouts published fiction books with stories about girls of their times, and non-fiction books containing advice, self-help tactics, and activities. The Care & Keeping of You was not the first book for girls about puberty, but it is the one that Millennial American girls remember best. As the daughter of a nurse, I was well-aware of puberty books for girls, but many were clinical and cold. When compared, Girl Scout’s The American Girl Book of Teen-Age Questions and The American Girl Beauty Book could be seen as forerunners to The Care & Keeping of You, as all were compilations of columns published in their respective magazines. Ms. Schafer shared that “American Girl magazine was flooded with letters from girls who were some combination of curious, distressed, anxious, excited and confused about the changes ahead”.iii A 25th anniversary updated edition of the book was released in 2023 with fresh illustrations and new information, while maintaining the tone of a cool knowledgeable Aunt.
As a Lifetime Girl Scout interested in material culture, I have copies of GSUSA’s teen books from the 1960’s, in which the advice now feels quite dated. Coming of age books and Girl Scout handbooks may not traditionally be heirlooms, but The Care & Keeping of You feels like it should be. There is a feeling of trust and inherent value in a slim, printed volume that digital publications cannot seem to replicate. Child development has been a subject studied by educators, physicians, and psychologists for over a hundred years before American Girl was founded, iv and coming of age stories, along with self-help and advice books from earlier decades existed. Girl Scout’s American Girl books, and Pleasant Company’s The Care and Keeping of You are guiding stars for girls of their era, like Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume (1970), Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery (1908), and Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (1869) were lessons in growing up to girls of their times. I find the thought of a girl in any period curling up with the weight, feel, and smell of a printed book seeking knowledge about her body from a trusted source comforting.
Endnotes
i Our Story.” https://www.americangirl.com/pages/our-story.
ii “Girl Scout History.” https://www.girlscouts.org/en/discover/about-us/history.html
iii Napierkowski, Janine B. Interview with Valorie Lee Schafer. Personal, June 20, 2023.
iv Mintz, Steven. Huck’s Raft: A History of American Childhood. (Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2004).
Bibliography
“Our Story.” https://www.americangirl.com/pages/our-story.
“Girl Scout History.” https://www.girlscouts.org/en/discover/about-us/history.html Napierkowski, Janine B. Interview with Valorie Lee Schafer. Personal, June 20, 2023.
Mintz, Steven. Huck’s Raft: A History of American Childhood. (Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2004).