What a Doll

Kanani Akina is Girl of the Year 2011—according to American Girl, at least. (Coincidentally, she’s also the Girl of the Year 2011 Whose Name Uses the Fewest Number of Unique Letters, as well as Girl of the Year 2011 Whose Name Seems To Be a Palindrome But Is Not.) She’s the girl pictured waving by Olivia during our stop at an American Girl store this May, and she’s the doll our daughter chose to spend her hard-earned cash on during that visit.

The fact that Kanani runs a shave-ice stand in Hawaii is music to Beni’s ears—the shave-ice part; Hawaii, not as much—and her efforts to rescue baby monk seals appeal to my eco-senses, but there’s this one thing about her that gives us pause: her hair. Her locks are sublime, but they are as long as a Mennonite woman’s, and so upkeep—and an updo—is a challenging matter.

Olivia, known for her own hair battles, is undeterred by her newest doll’s oft-tangled coif. She painstakingly combs out the knots before creating some elaborate hairstyles. Here’s a recent example: