Kaya 2014 Mini Doll

I have been somewhat obsessed with American Girl dolls since I was a girl in the late 80's and had the first five dolls. I never had a mini and wasn't that thrilled with them based on their on-line photos. Recently, though, I have acquired quite a few through various thrift store purchases and sales and they have won me over. We have way too many full sized dolls and don't know where to put them all, but my dozen or so minis all fit in a shoe box. I have several in the old style with the soft bodies, and while it is neat they are like the big dolls, I actually prefer these newer hard body versions. The clothes are lovely and soft and very detailed. I also love the remade faces, especially Kaya's. We're going through the books for the earlier dolls as part of homeschool history, and I could not resist a mini Kaya for the section on her. My daughter is just as charmed with her as I am. The mini book is sweet and can be read if you really want to, but the print is super tiny. It also ends right at the most suspenseful part, so it isn't really a great stand alone. We have all the big versions of the books, so we just use the mini books as books for our full sized dolls anyway. Still, the kids think they're neat. I actually have the old version of the Meet Kaya book before they switched to the BeForever books. It was hardback with a dustcover and included the illustrations and was much nicer. This is just a black and white paperback with words. Still, the dolls aren't picky, and it isn't enough to take a star away. The doll is the most important part, and she is definitely five stars. (Bonus: Kaya is currently a few dollars cheaper and free shipping on Amazon than from the official site.)

Very cute. I like the smaller size of this doll.

My soon-to-be 7 YO has 3 other mini American Girl dolls, but this is the first from the new 2014 mold. We originally fell in love with the books over the dolls. They are educational and very girl-friendly. And we really enjoy these little dolls. My daughter and her friends prefer them over the big ones (and so do their parents' wallets ;) ). While we have a couple Barbies residing in the dollhouse (I'm hoping to get a couple from the Fashionista line), I really appreciate how American Girls are actually children. When they are on sale they can be very reasonably priced, too—especially for the quality you get, and there's fantastic educational value when they are paired with books (which we often check out from our library). Onto 2014 Kaya: We've only had the older versions of the mini dolls so far. They have soft bodies and pretty much look like tiny scaled-down American Girl dolls so I was a little concerned my daughter may not like the newer versions as much. The face on 2014 Kaya is more narrow, doesn't have the typical toothy American Girl "smile," and the body is plastic instead of soft. So these dolls are no longer tiny replicas of the big dolls, but actually closer (and more individualized) representations to the characters in the books. However, they are still very high quality. The tiny clothing is highly detailed and well-stitched. The doll 's plastic skin feels very smooth, and she still has very soft, thick hair. The Kaya we received has darker skin than she appears in the picture here (about 1-2 shades). I'm guessing American Girl changed her skin shade after people complained (excellent). She's a wonderful doll, but those who are buying these as display/collector's may be initially disappointed. However, for our purposes that didn't matter. She's actually my daughter's favorite mini doll now, and my daughter said she prefers the new looks over the older mini American Girl dolls (pointing out how Kaya looks closer to the character of the book) so for play value this is an improvement.

These dolls are not cheap and quality wise it shows. The plastic is very thick and hard. The hair is super soft. The downside is that the mini books are way too small! I can't read them

Our 6 year old granddaughter loves Indian history that she learned about in school. She wanted the large Kara doll from the American Doll Store but the price is very steep. This miniature doll is exactly like the bigger doll and even came with the mini book as with the larger doll. It is an exact replica and greatly loved by our granddaughter.

It's beautiful, I'm so pleased with it.

I am extremely pleased with this order. My daughter is 6 years old and inspired by the characters story. I hope to get the books soon. We got this doll because I plan to collect a variety of American girl stories and wanted her to have the dolls to go with them. For us this size is more convenient. She has slept with her every night since and take her to sleep overs. The books isn't legible and very small so be aware of this when purchasing.

The doll is great - just don’t expect to actually read the mini book (it is literally miniature). The photos are exact to scale and made me laugh when I saw it.