Her name is Rebecca Rubin. She is 9 years old and lived on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1914. And she's causing a bit of a sensation as the newest American Girl, because she's also Jewish.
The new doll is part of a series of historical dolls manufactured by American Girl, a subsidiary of Mattel, and the first with an explicitly religious affiliation. Her backstory (the dolls all have backstories) was written by a local children's author, Jacqueline Dembar Greene, who lives in Wayland, and the company's local store, at the Natick Collection, is holding an event to promote the doll at 11 a.m. tomorrow (Sunday, May 31). The books tackle some central elements of the early American Jewish experience -- immigration, labor conditions, the celebration of Christmas in public schools -- as well as iconic locales, from Ellis Island to Coney Island, and the Lower East Side.
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