American Girl Doll Of The Year Inspired By Olympic Surfer Girl

HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA —Joss Kendrick, American Girl of the Year 2020, is a surfer girl hailing from Surf City, U.S.A. She is the latest doll to hit the shelves, but as with all American Girl dolls, she has a story to tell in the hopes of striking a chord with girls just like her.

Joss loves surfing, wants to be a cheerleader, helps wayward sea lions and has hearing loss.

The minds behind the American Girl brand at Mattel developed Joss's backstory (that of a surfer girl from Huntington Beach's Surf City, U.S.A.) with the help of 17-year-old surf prodigy Caroline Marks. Marks is a member of the first-ever U.S. Women's Olympic surfing team and has a little sister who loves American Girls, as well as surfing.

"I'm so excited to be a part of the Joss launch and share her message that passion and hard work can really take a girl places—even to the Olympics," Marks said.

The young surfer with golden dreams helped set the tone for Joss's attitude and style.

Joss's clothes are modern SoCal surfer girl-style. Her accessories include a cool woven bag, keys, bracelets, cell phone, credit card, and cash. She pals around with a bulldog who wears a life vest.

Doll lovers can order Joss's cheer practice equipment, surfboard, swimsuit, and competition cheer outfit along with the doll online or at stores. Still, it is the ability to donate $1 - $10 to the Hearing Loss Association of America, which adds to the beauty of Joss's story.

The company donated $25,000 to the Hearing Loss Association of America, the nation's leading nonprofit representing people with hearing loss, a spokesperson told Patch. They will collect those fan donations for the whole of 2020 on Joss's behalf, through their store.

Creating Joss's character and realistic accessories required a team of experts:

• Crystal DaSilva—Women's Deaf Shortboard champion and winner of national and world titles
• Sara Jo Moen and Julie Peterson—Owners of Fury Athletics in Madison, WI, a training gym for competitive cheer teams
• Dr. Sharon Pajka, Ph.D.—Professor of English at Gallaudet University and a specialist in portrayals of deaf characters in adolescent literature
• Jennifer Richardson, Au.D.—Educational audiologist and founder of Hearing Milestones Foundation
• Bianca Valenti—Professional big wave surfer and co-founder of the Committee for Equity in Women's Surfing

Though Joss is an avid surfer, she longs for a spot on the cheer team.

It is harder than it looks, as the character is "hard of hearing, and often misses the count," American Girl says. "She's determined to prove herself as a cheerleader and a surfer girl and realizes that an all-in attitude and an open mind might help her fly higher than ever before."
The doll is 18" tall, with brown hair and eyes.

The sun, of course, has added streaks of blonde, and she carries a brush to keep it sand-free. She comes with a hearing aid and carry-case with a back-up hearing aid in case hers goes missing.

Sher wears a bathing suit under her outfit, of course, and should never go for a swim herself, Mattel says. The doll is not waterproof. Joss also wears a zip-up hoodie and denim shorts.

Reviewers rave about her "new face mold" giving Joss a 100-percent fresh appeal.

Others say that the hearing aid, while cool, needs work as it is not secure.

A mother of a daughter with hearing loss, just like Joss, left a review saying, "thank you, through happy tears."

"The case for the hearing aids and little cleaning tool is perfect," she says. "Thank you for representing my American Girl, my daughter, Jenna," she wrote.

This spring, American Girl, in partnership with Volkswagen Accessories, will debut Joss's Volkswagen Surf Bus.

The VW bus comes fully stocked with more than 50 components, including a storage bench that folds into a bed, a pop-up stove, and a fold-out table. The surf bus also features working headlights, turn signals, windshield wipers, a radio, and sounds for the horn and ignition.

Joss's story is one of overcoming, and we are most interested to see how she interacts with the sea lion pup!

American Girls retail from $98.