Prince Stephan by Carpatina

Despite the overwhelming popularity of 18-inch play dolls, boy characters in this scale are still pretty scarce.  My Twinn will make a custom boy doll for you, but they seldom have any available for purchase in the Adopt-A-Friend section.  Paola Reina America has one boy, Unai, in their Every Girl collection, and Harmony Club has a few cute boys.  There are also some adorable young lads in the Extra Special Dolls collection--in fact Ian is one of my favorite dolls from that company.  Kidz 'n' Cats probably has the best selection of 18-inch boys dolls right now, with at least one new character released every year.  All of the Kidz boys have gorgeous faces and fun outfits that match the age level and charm of the girls.  American Girl does not offer an American Boy, but there are a lot of customization artists who are very good at transforming the girls into boys.  My Froggy Stuff has a nice (short) tutorial on how to approach this process, as does GiGi's Doll and Craft Creations.

It's been a long time since I reviewed my first Carpatina doll, Erin.  As you might recall, that review was inspired by my brother-in-law's comments about the Carpatina boy dolls...who look a lot older and more angular than their female companions.  I really like my Erin doll, but have to admit that the Carpatina boys have never tempted me.  So, when Nadine alerted me to the new boy at Carpatina, I had to immediately run and take a look at him.  When I saw the handsome, happy, young-looking Prince Stephan on the website...I had to immediately buy him:

Carpatina's Stephan ($108) and Erin ($69).

Kidz 'n' Cats "Evita" Doll by Sonja Hartmann for With Heart and Soul

Kidz 'n' Cats are slim, articulated 18" play dolls designed by Sonja Hartmann for the German doll company, With Heart and Soul.  These dolls were first introduced in 2009 with a small collection of seven dolls bearing two different face molds.  Since then, three new faces have been added and a total of 37 dolls have been released.  The collection is named for the fact that most of the dolls are accompanied by a small plush cat dressed in a matching outfit.

I have been interested in these dolls since 2009.  I have always appreciated the fact that Sonja Hartmann designed an 18" play doll with multiple joints, offering a welcome contrast to the relatively inflexible dolls like American Girl, Carpatina and Magic Attic.  I also admire the realism in the Kidz 'n' Cats features.  These dolls do not have exaggerated proportions like large eyes or huge heads, but rather strive to accurately represent the features of real children.  I also enjoy the funky, wholesome way that Kidz 'n' Cats dolls are dressed.  They come in a colorful variety of multi-piece outfits made from an array of eye-catching, differently textured fabrics.

I purchased Evita back at the beginning of last summer during one of Samantha's Doll's incredible 40% off sales.  The dolls cost around $150 at full retail, but great sales like this can occasionally be found.  Of the five possible Kidz 'n' Cats face molds, Evita's is my least favorite.  I selected her because she was one of only a few dolls in stock at the time, and also because I couldn't find very many real life pictures of her and was curious about how her open-mouthed features would look in person.  I should admit that I wasn't thrilled with the pictures of Evita's stock outfit, either.  Basically, Evita was an odd choice for me, given that two of my favorite things about Kidz 'n' Cats (their faces and their outfits) did not seem to be well-represented by this particular doll.  After a week of ups and downs with Evita, I am ready to share my mixed emotions:

Kidz 'n' Cats "Evita," by Sonja Hartmann.

A Girl for all Time's "Clementine, Your 1940s Girl"

I have been pulled in so many different directions this past week, it's been a whirlwind.  I even felt torn about which doll I should review.  I was happily ensconced in my A Girl for all Time Clementine review when Ever After High Ashlynn Ella and Hunter arrived in the mail (eeee!), and so I have been hopping back and forth between two photo shoots like a happy ping pong ball, trying to decide which review to finish first.  Clementine eventually won because I have been waiting for her the longest, and she is an interesting contrast to the My Salon Doll that I reviewed last week.

A Girl for all Time is a British doll brand designed and marketed by the Daughters of History, Ltd. and made in China.  The dolls represent young girls from different generations of the fictional Marchmont family.  Each doll is dressed and styled according to her particular time in history.  There are three dolls in the collection so far, Matilda, Amelia, and Clementine.  Matilda is from the middle part of the 16th century, Amelia is from the Victorian era, and Clementine is from the late 1930s and early 1940s, during World War II.

The dolls are made out of vinyl and stand approximately 16.5" tall.  They are sold for $134.99 on the Girl for all Time website.  Each doll has three or four beautiful outfit sets and accessory packs that can be purchased separately.  There are also three short novels that tell a story from each girl's life.  The books do not come with the dolls, but can be purchased on the Girl for all Time website for $9.99 and also on Amazon for slightly less.  I have been admiring A Girl for all Time's Matilda doll for quite a while, but after Char from Doll Diaries told me that the next girl in the Marchmont family tree would be a green-eyed redhead, I decided I'd better wait and let Clementine be my first Girl for all Time.  She is a perfect doll to review at this time of the year, because her eyes and hair match the rapidly changing foliage here in the Northeast in an uncanny way:

"Clementine," by A Girl for all Time.

My American Girl #29

I bought my very first American Girl doll at the beginning of the month when I visited the amazing American Girl store in Natick, Massachusetts--near Boston.  I went to the store with every intention of purchasing the historical girl, Rebecca, but the overwhelming array of options scrambled my brain and then led me to My American Girl #29.

The first order of business was that this doll needed a suitable name--something other than Number 29.  I love naming things, but can get hung up on the process because I need to pick a name that is just right.  I have been this way ever since I was a kid.  As a brief aside, if you like names as much as I do, check out the unbeatable Baby Name Wizard site, created by an incredibly neat friend of mine.  Anyway--I didn't need the Baby Name Wizard for this doll because I had Andrea.  Thank you, Andrea (and everyone else who had great name suggestions!) for helping me name Miss Keira:

My American Girl #29
Keira Sofia