History Characters / AmericanGirlsCollectionHistoricalCharacters

* AnimalLover: Owns two horses and a wild dog, which she adopted after befriending the dog's mother. Her collection also includes a bear, deer and rabbit. She's shown to care greatly for animals, [[AllGirlsLikePonies especially horses]].
%% * AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Her twin brothers, Wing Feather and Sparrow.
%% * BadassNative: Swan Circling, and Kaya to an extent.

%% * CanineCompanion: Tatlo.

%% * [[ABoyAndHisX A Girl and Her Horse]]: With her Appaloosa mare, Steps High. %% Add more context to describe their relationship and what effect it has on them. %%

%% * LanguageBarrier: Between Kaya and Two Hawks in the second and third books, and Hawk Rising in ''The Silent Stranger.''

%% * RejectedMarriageProposal: Jumps Back to Brown Deer.
%% * RiteOfPassage: Kaya's MeaningfulRename in her third book.

%% * SmallNameBigEgo: Kaya is prone to boast or brag to seem important.

%% *CoolHorse: Penny. %% Explain. %%

%% * ForbiddenFriendship: Lowkey with Elizabeth, especially as the war goes on.
%% * AFriendInNeed: When Elizabeth's father is jailed.

%% * [[ABoyAndHisX A Girl and Her Horse]]: Her beloved horse, Penny.

%% * KidHero: In several books, mainly when freeing Penny and saving Ben.

%% * OppositesAttract: With Elizabeth.

%% * PetsAsAPresent: Both her lamb Posey in her birthday book.
%% * PinkMeansFeminine: Her birthday dress is pink.

%% * RebelliousSpirit: She's free-spirited and rebellious for the time period.

%% * BestFriend: To Felicity.

%% * NiceGirl: A sweet-natured and giggly girl.
%% * OppositesAttract: With Felicity.

%% * KidHero: When saving her father.

%% * NiceGirl: Incredibly sweet and loving.

%% * CuteClumsyGirl: Shy and clumsy.

%% * ConstantlyCurious: Investigative.

%% * NaiveNewcomer: In ''Meet Kirsten'' and ''Kirsten Learns a Lesson''.

%% * UndyingLoyalty: Toward her loved ones, particularly her family.

%% * ChildrenAreInnocent: Used with Esther in the stories following the main series.

%%* GrowingUpSucks: Lowkey in ''Addy's Summer Place.''

%% * ToxicFriendInfluence: Harriet is a mean girl to Addy, and discourages her from making friends with NiceGirl Sarah.

%% * CatchYourDeathOfCold: Samantha gets stuck in long underwear most of the time to prevent this.

%% * SiblingTeam: [[spoiler:Her and Nellie in the mystery books.]]

%% * SiblingTeam: [[spoiler:Her and Samantha in the mystery books.]]

%% * PinkMeansFeminine: Her movie dress has a pink upper half.

%% * PinkMeansFeminine: Claudie has a pink Jazz Performance Outfit.

%%* TheBully: Classmate Roger.

%% * CoolOldLady: Aunt Millie.

%% * TheHeart: Between her friend group.

%% * ABoyAndHisX: Gender inverted with her and her dog Mele. The pair are close and she was frantic after the dog had disappeared for a bit after the attack. %% Add more context to describe their relationship and what effect it has on them. %%

%% * GrowingUpSucks: As she finds out once the war hits.

%% * TheSmartGirl: She knows a lot about science. %% How so? %%

%% * CompanionCube: Her beloved doll.

%% * SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: Kip's Savvy Guy to Courtney's Energetic Girl.

%% * ArtsyBeret: Has one in her meet outfit and likes to draw.

%% * CheeryPink: An optimistic girl clothed constantly in pink; it's her favorite color.

%% * KindHeartedCatLover: With her new cat, Buffy.

%% * BrainyBrunette: Though she dyes her hair later.
%% * CanineCompanion: With her new dog, Blossom.
%% * CoolBoard: A passionate skateboarder.

%% * HeroesLoveDogs: With her new dog, Blossom.

* NunsNRosaries: Both girls are Catholic, as is basically everyone in the city--New Orleans, having been settled by the French and Spanish, was more Catholic than the Protestant-dominant east coast.

Historical Characters (and companions) from the Literature/AmericanGirlsCollection, listed in chronological order. Companion Characters ("Best Friends") are listed with the main character.

* HeartIsWhereTheHomeIs: The lesson Maryellen learns over Christmas, when she realizes despite traveling to see snow, the snow doesn't make Christmas, her family does.

* TheRoaringTwenties: Claudie lives in 1922 Harlem.

A middle child in a large family during the TheFifties in her suburban Daytona Beach, Florida neighborhood during the post-war boom in the US and the early part of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. Maryellen is a polio survivor and wants to stand out and find a way to be noticed as special among the crowd.

A shy quiet black character and the third black Historical Character, Melody is growing up in Detroit during TheSixties Black UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement. After news of a church bombing steals her voice, she eventually finds a way to speak up and help in her black community.

A tomboyish basketball player living in UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco during TheSeventies. Her parents have recently divorced and while her series initially focuses on the changes that come with it as well as [[YouGoGirl second-wave feminism]], it later pivots to cover other social issues such as enviromentalism, the Bicentennial, and the 1976 election.

A gamer who lives in the fictional Orange Valley (a fictionalized San Fernando Valley) during TheEighties. She lives in a blended family with a stepfather, stepsister Tina, and half-brother. She often dreams of her own unique character for a game, Crystal Starshooter, and is affected when her mother campaigns to become mayor and struggles to get along with tempermental Tina. The Challenger disaster affects her as she sees it live. Her second book focuses on her budding friendship with a fellow classmate, Isaac, who has HIV--and the prejudice faced with im attending school and the prejudice surrounding the disease.

* TheEighties: Courtney's era, and she embodies it visually. Her favorite game is ''Pac-Man'', is a ValleyGirl, has EightiesHair, and her signature collection is described as "totally rad", "ultimate", and "awesome".

'''Cécile Rey and Marie-Grace Gardner are different girls (a free Black girl of color and returning French immigrant from Boston) becoming friends during the multicultural 1850s in UsefulNotes/NewOrleans, Louisiana. The girls meet when Marie-Grace and her widowed father return from living in Boston, and bond during the crisis of the [[ThePlague 1853 yellow fever outbreak]]. Cécile and Marie-Grace were the first set of historical characters to be marketed as a duo (though sold with separae meet books, they shared the six-book series overall). They were released in 2011 and retired in 2014 as part of the depreciation of the Best Friends line and pivot to the [=BeForever=] rebranding for the Historical line. giving them the shortest availability for any Historical Character until Caroline.

* EarPiercingPlot: Courtney gets her ears pierced in her first book as part of a mother-duaghter bonding wit hher mother and stepsister Tina. [[FashionHurts She describes her ears as bright red and throbbing in the moments afterwards]] but they heal fine.

* GirlyGirlWithATomboyStreak: Courtney is into fashion, stuffed animals, discovers an interest in American Girl, and has items in her collection from ''Care Bears'' and ''Strawberry Shortcake.'' However, she is a gamer girl--which was considered boyish in the era--and her best game is Pac Man.

* IconicItem: Her Pac-Man video game set. Her sister Tina also has her favorite ceramic unicorn from her mother.
* IMissMom: Stepsister Tina's main angst throughout the first book is issues not only with Courtney living and sharing a room with her, but missing her late mother. This comes to a head during the [[spoiler:Challenger Disaster]] which reminds her of losing her own mother.

* NiceGirl: Sweet, helpful, cheerful, and accepting when she learns one of her new friends Issace has HIV straight away.

* OpenMindedParent: Courtney's mother and stepfather are all immediately accepting of Isaac and defend him when the town turns against his family. Her father isn't involved, but he takes her in for a while when things get too dangerous for her in town and helps her research everything they can find on HIV to spread correct information.

* TheQuietOne: Shy around everyone but her close friends. After standing up for her mother on live TV, her classmate states that he had no idea she could be so bold or loud.

Josefina is the quiet youngest daughter living on a rancho in New Mexico (when it was still part of Mexico). Her [[MissingMom mother died]] about a year before the stories leaving her, her three older sister, and their grieving father somewhat lost until her mothers's sister Dolores moves in from Mexico City and helps everyone work through their greif and changes coming with the arrival of Americans to the area. Josefina was released in 1998 and was the liast historical character distributed under the Pleasant Company brand.

* IntercontinuityCrossover: Isabel and Nicki enjoy playing on the American Girl website and Isabel has an American Girl Magazine subscription. Nicki collects Grin Pins, and Isabel owns a Miss AG Bear. During the new year's celebration at their father's coffee shop, they each wear an outfit from the (then-called) American Girl Today collection--the Year 2000 Outfit and Red Jumper Outfit--which were made aviliable in [[OfficialCosplayGear children's sizes]]. These outfits along with a t-shirt based on a late 1990s version were released for their collection in Fall 2023. Nicki also mentions reading ''Addy Learns a Lesson'' in her journal.

* DarkerAndEdgier: The pioneer life in the 1850s is not all picnics, barn raisings, and swims in the river. Deaths of children are discussed; [[[[spoiler:Marta dies of cholera on the way to Minnesota, and in ''Kirsten's Promise'' a little boy, Ezra, is orphaned while traveling with his mother and describes how he saw his own mother be crushed under a trunk that fell on her and slowly die in front of him.]]

* BearsAreBadNews: Kirsten and Peter have to face a black bear cub and her mother when they try to collect honey from a wild beehive in ''Kirsten Saves the Day.''
* BearyFriendly: At first, when Kirsten and her brother find a bear cub. Quickly inverted when his mother arrives.

* ForegoneConclusion: Poor Singing Bird; the books avoid discussing this directly by having her and her nation leave to search for food before Kirsten can find out what'll happen to them, and have her return shortly in the short story ''Kirsten on the Trail'' Only the year after the series take place, the Dakota nations were forcibly relocated towards the Mississippi River as their land was stolen further. Many indigenous people did not survive the journey.

* LimitedWardrobe: Both InUniverse and as a collection. Unlike characters released before her (who had [[UnlimitedWardrobe an outfit released for every book]] even if it wasn't logically plausible for their era, pajamas, and additional clothing) Kaya, being from a culture and time where the Nimiipuutímt didn't have huge wardrobes, only has a few dresses. In her stories, she's only ever in her daily deerskin dress with some accessories added, and once seen in her fancier dress when she's [[spoiler:considered mature enough to dig and harvest with the women]]. In the collection, she initially only had her everyday deerskin meet dress and a fancier adorned deerskin dress which was in the same style but with more decoration. However, she was also given many several modern pan-Native outfits such as a jingle dress, and later has one more outfit added to her set, but this is much less than rural Kirsten, who has at least eight outfits.

* BravingTheBlizzard: In ''Kirsten's Surprise'', she and her father walk through a blizzard partially to try and return home, but must stay in a cave until it passes.

* BearsAreBadNews: Kirsten and Peter have to face black bears when they try to collect honey from a wild beehive in ''Kirsten Saves the Day.''
* BearyFriendly: At first, when Kirsten and her brother find a bear cub. Quickly inverted when MamaBear arrives.
* BittersweetEnding: ''Meet Kirsten.'' The final chapter shows Kirsten arriving in Minnesota and becoming friends with her cousins that she'd heard so much about; the previous chapter has Kirsten [[spoiler:dealing with the death of her best friend Marta, who died just before their families arrived in Minnesota]]. Her next book does the same, as she's learned English and began to settle in to the point of choosing to stay rather than run away, but her new friend Singing Bird has to leave because the settlers have caused a food shortage for the native population (though, if a reader is familiar with the genocide against Native Americans that would occur in Minnesota the following decade, it may be less sad and more just averting InferredHolocaust, at least in sparing a named character).
* BravingTheBlizzard: In ''Kirsten's Surprise'', she and her father walk throug a blizzard partially to try and return home, but must stay in a cave until it passes.
* BreakTheCutie: When her friend Marta passes away from cholera.

* CanineCompanion: The family dog, Caro.
* TheChiefsDaughter: Singing Bird's father is noted to be the chief of her village.
* CountryCousin: Kirsten hadn't met her uncle's family prior to their immigration as they lived on a separate continent. For obvious reasons, they're more suited to farm life.
* CuteKitten: Missy's unnamed kitten that Kirsten adopts.
* DarkerAndEdgier: The pioneer life in the 1850s is not all picnics and swims in the river. Deaths of children are discussed, and in one of the mini-books, a little boy is orphaned, describing how he saw his own mother be crushed under a boulder and slowly die in front of him.
* DeathOfAChild: Kirsten’s best friend Marta, who is the same age as her as and immigrates with her family from Sweden, dies from cholera on the second to last leg of their journey to the frontier.
* DeathByChildbirth: Kirsten is afraid of losing her mother this way when one of her schoolmates, Mary Steward, tells her that her own aunt died giving birth. Luckily, her mother survives the birth and her sister is fine.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: In ''Kirsten Learns a Lesson,'' when Kirsten learns that the nearby Dakota tribe are normal people like her, and then learns about how terrible their life has become because of the encroachment of white settlers. She begins to question everyone's fear of them and the treatement they are recieving. The fact that readers know that Singing Bird and her people are doomed to a DownerEnding doesn't make this better.
* DeterminedHomesteader: Like her brothers and cousins, Kirsten is steadfast when problems come up in the series, even braving a blizzard to seek shelter in a cave.
* FishOutOfWater: When she and family first migrate to America, Kirsten feels like she will always be a foreigner.

* ForegoneConclusion: Poor Singing Bird; the books avoid discussing this directly by having her and her nation leave to search for food before Kirsten can find out what'll happen to them. Only the year after the books take place, the Dakota nations were forcibly relocated towards the Mississippi River as their land was stolen further. Many indigenous people did not survive the journey.

* HeroesLoveDogs: Her family owns both a dog and a cat.

* HouseFire: In ''Changes for Kirsten;'' Kirsten raccoon knocks over a oil lantern and their cabin burns down, taking almost all their belonging.

* IntrovertedCatPerson: A shy and culture-shocked girl with several barn kittens.
* KindHeartedCatLover: Ends up adopting one of the barn cat's kittens, and is often pictured in promotional photos holding the baby cats.
* LanguageBarrier: Firstly between her and her classmates, as she only speaks broken English. She eventually learns more and becomes more fluent. She and Speaking Rain also have a barrier, but start learning words in each others' languages as they become friends.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: When Kirsten brings a raccoon kit into the house rather than letting it go, the raccoon ends up setting their cabin on ''fire.''

* PinkMeansFeminine: Wears a pink (well, red gingham) bonnet in her default outfit, and has a pink dress for her birthday. She also states that pink is her favorite color.

* TextileWorkIsFeminine: Kirsten becomes interested in quiltmaking after seeing her teachers Miss Winston's quilt, as quilting is not something Swedish women did (blankets were instead woven). She helps make a present for her teacher, not knowing that her and her friends are actually working on what will be ''her'' birthday present.
* ToyBasedCharacterization: When Kirsten's family has to store their things in a warehouse for a few months, one of the things that has to be put away is her doll Sari. When Kirsten misses Sari, she creates a makeshift doll from an old stocking filled with milkweed floss and calls it Little Sari. Besides the dolls, Kirsten and her cousins also have toys made from things in nature, like doll cakes made from dried mud and doll beds made from woven twigs.

* YouCantGoHomeAgain: To Sweden. Sweden is going through a massive famine and restrictions on farmland, and Kirsten's family are traveling across the ocean to another continent and then going far inland, in 1854. Them going back home is all buyt impossible and they know it, and Kirsten doesn't expect to see her grandmother or relatives in Sweden ever again. Also implied with Singing Bird's village, who were driven out of their home due to the encroaching white settlers.

* InterclassFriendship: Cécile is from a respected, rich family, while Marie-Grace and her father are poor.

* MasqueradeBall: Both girls' first stories feature their arrival at race-segregated Masquerade balls, where they utilize the masks and low lighting to switch and see what each other's dance is like.

* MinnesotaNice: She lives in Minnesota with her family, and she’s a very caring girl who treats her family, friends, and pets with kindness.

* PhenotypeStereotype: She has blonde hair to indicate her Swedish heritage.

* InterclassFriendship: Cécile is from a respeected, rich family, while Marie-Grace and her father are poor.

* NunsNRosaries: Both girls are Catholic, as is basically everyone in the city--New Orleans, having been settled by the French and Spanish, was more Catholic than the Protistant-dominant east coast.

A returning immigrant from Boston back to New Orleans, who is moving back with her father, a doctor. She and her faltehr left after the death of her mother and younger brother.

* TheMedic: Marie-Grace often helps her father who is a doctor, and has shown herself to be good at healing others.

* SpiritedYoungLady: A proper lady who also hs bold ideas, a desire to travel, and a creative streak. She is outspoken, and will directly call out the racist white Americans around her (who, coming from the West and Slave-heavy South, assume every black person ''must'' be a slave).

* ThePioneer: The story is set during the 1850s during the pioneer era, specifically on the Minnesoat prairie.

* TextileWorkIsFeminine: Kirsten becomes interested in quiltmaking after seeing her teachers Miss Winston's quilt, as quilting is not somethng Swedish women did (blankets were instead woven). She helps make a present for her teacher, not knowing that her and her friends are actually working on what will be ''her'' birthday present.

* DIYDisaster: Isabel decides to cheer herself up after being called babyish and her friends turning on her by completely redoing her and Nicki's room in pink, glitter, and sparkles, going as far as to tear down Nicki's posters and stuff her comforter away to put a pink one on Nicki's bed. Nicki sees what was done without her input and angrily tells Isabel she wasn't even considered in the makeover--and Isabel doesn't know Nicki's likes at all. Isabel makes it up later by doing a proper makeover as a gift to Nicki for Chrismas, that incorporates both their interests rather than just Isabel's--or done in hopes of impressing others.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: While not as obvious, Nicki Hoffman shares several similarities to the 2007 Girl of the Year Nicki Fleming. They both have the same name (down to the spelling) brown hair, blue eyes, anxiety about friends (though Nicki F's is about losing one while Nicki H's is about making any at all) and a love for dogs. They're also both the oldest siblings in their family; however, Nicki Fleming has a younger brother and twin younger sisters, while Nicki Hoffman is the oldest of twins by only six minutes. Also Nicki Fleming was a Girl of the Year and her collection hasn't been available since 2005.

* MultiEthnicName: "Alice Nanea Mitchell" as she is both Hawai'ian through her mother and Scottish through her father. Her siblings are David Kekoa and Mary Lou Noelani. [[TruthInTelevison Historically accurate]], as in 1860 then-ruler Kamehameha IV signed the Act to Regulate Names, which forced all Hawaiians at the time to take their father's first name as their last and made all children have English first names, with Hawaiian names only allowed as middle names--a law that wasn't repealed until 1967.

* GirlyGirlWithATomboyStreak: Isabel is the more girly twin who loves pop music, pink, the Powerpuff Girls, and fashion. She gets the tomboy aspect--very lightly--when she starts to play tennis with her new friend Olivia.

* TomboyWithAGirlyStreak: Nicki is the more tomboyish twin with a love of skateboarding and dislikes of almost all of the "girly" stuff that Isabel likes. However, Nicki's favorite color is purple, which can be considered a more feminine color, and she watches the ''Powerpuff Girls.'' She also lets Isabel dye her streaks purple for a special occasion and wears a nice dress--albeit vinyl with dark accents--for the Millenium celebration.

* NiceJewishGirl: Rebecca practices Judaism and is extremely kind-hearted.

* UnwillinglyGirlyTomboy: Kit is much more of a tomboy than other historical characters, including her best friend Ruthie. She loves baseball, Robin Hood and action stories as opposed to fairy tales, and even goes by Kit because her real name, Margaret Mildred, is too "flouncy" for her. When she first hears about Sterling coming to stay (without knowing he's DelicateAndSickly), she deliberately makes sure to have her baseball glove and the copy of Robin Hood with her when he arrives so she doesn't get mistaken for being the "boring" kind of girl. She also dislikes the color pink and fancy, flouncy, girly things. She wears various dresses as she's expected to given the 1930s time period when pants were not acceptable public wear (especially given her mother) and has several feminine outfits in the movie and her collection--in part due to her mother's ideas of [[WantedAGenderConformingChild how she should dress as a girl]], but Kit resists as much as she can for her era.

* GirlyGirlWithATomboyStreak: Nanea is feminine and graceful, but is active in her daily life imply by dint of living where she does.
* GracefulLadiesLikePurple: Nanea wears a long purple dress on the cover of "Hula for the Home front" and it has a {{pink|MeansFeminine}} floral pattern.
* GrowingUpSucks: As she finds out once the war hits.

* InnocentlyInsensitive: Accidentally alienates Lily for a time after failing to recognize the seriousness of Lily's father being jailed for his heritage.
* MiddleNameBasis: Her full name is Alice Nanea Mitchell. She has an English first name as she was born after the law passed in 1860 decreeing that Hawaiian royal subjects had to take their father's name as their last and have Christian (i.e. English) first names.
* MovingAwayEnding: Her first book ends with one of her best friends Donna, having to leave Hawai'i as non-essential, being sent to Oregon.
* MultiEthnicName: "Alice Nanea Mitchell" as she is both Hawai'ian through her mother and Scottish through her father. Her brothers are David Kekoa and Mary Lou Noelani. [[TruthInTelevison Historically accurate]], as in 1860 then-ruler Kamehameha IV signed the Act to Regulate Names, which forced all Hawaiians to take their father's first name as their last and made all children have English first names, with Hawaiian names only allowed as middle names--a law that wasn't repealed until 1967.

* NothingIsTheSameAnymore: Nanea feels as if her entire world has changed since the attack, as symbolized by her seeing her burnt school and the damage to her grandparents' store.

* SweetAndSourGrapes: She starts out yearning to be seen as more mature, then the island is attacked and the War starts, which forces her to take on more responsibilities and be lauded as more grown-up. But she now has to face the prospect of being separated from friends [[spoiler: and her brother]].
* TeachersPet: Gets upset when her teacher gives anyone else accolades.

* ThisIsMySide: Shares a room with her sister, Mary Lou.

* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Her and her "kittens" always order the same shave ice when they go to the beach– strawberry for Nanea, lemon for Lily, and orange for Donna. Dixie also likes shave ice. Her favorite flavor is grape.
* TraumaButton: After seeing the attacking planes fly overhead, Nanea is jumpy around loud noises. Her mystery book opens with her terrified that someone is attacking again, only to settle when she finds out it's just her sister and friend dancing downstairs. After the attack, her best friend Lily also hates the sound of sirens.
* TropeyComeHome: Mele goes missing the night the Pearl Harbor attack happens, which understandably stresses Nanea out a lot. She later finds and saves her.

* YoungestChildWins: She is the main character and the youngest of three, but the first half of her story focuses on how she tries to get her parents to see her as not a baby anymore.

* RetroactiveRecognition: In her film, she is played by Creator/AnnaSophiaRobb in her first lead role. The next year, she would break out in ''Literature/BecauseOfWinnDixie'' and ''Film/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'', then later in ''Literature/BridgeToTerabithia'', ''Film/RaceToWitchMountain'', ''Film/SoulSurfer'' and ''Series/TheCarrieDiaries.'' In October 2022, Robb dressed again as Samantha for Halloween.

** Averted with Samantha’s locket; it has her parents’ picture inside, and she wears it often. However she still has other family and a warm and loving (and-well-off) home, and she knows how her parents died, it serves no real plot significance other than to have an image of her parents.
** However, in ''Samantha Saves The Day'' Samantha finds a sketchbook her mother made of watercolor scenes, when she (around three) and her parents visited Teardrop Island. This inspires her to journey to Teardrop Island in the hope of jogging any lost memories of her parents.
* OutdoorsyGal: The first time Samantha is seen she is falling out of a tree she shouldn't have been climbing.

* RaisedByGrandparents: Lived with her Grandmother since she was 5 up until prior events to ''Changes For Samantha.''

* PromotionToParent: [[spoiler:Her parents both die in the winter of 1905,]] leaving her to be the parent figure for her sisters until they're adopted by Gardner and Cornelia. Even so, one of Nellie's last promises to her [[spoiler:dying]] mother was that she'd always take care of her sisters; even after they're elevated in class, Nellie wants to ma

** Samantha is not a tomboy specifically, but this trope appiles. She's ''expected'' to be prim and proper befitting her well off status and implied future as a ProperLady of high class, and is being guided towards this by her stern Victorian-era grandmother. However, she frequently fails at being so by the standards of her class and time, and many of the things she has to do she does out of obligation and respect for her grandmother and not her own personal interest. She likes climbing trees (something she's told she's not supposed to be doing at all), isn't afraid to confront her bully neighbor Eddie's insults and even shoves him and puts gum in his hair, and wishes she could fight like boys when conflict comes up rather than be expected to deal with such insults quietly. She wishes she could earn money for herself despite her grandmother's scandal at the very idea of such a thing--only men earn money in Grandmary's eyes--and when Samantha brings up that Cornelia considers it fine, Grandmary says that it's still improper and she's not allowed. She ''does'' wear fine dresses as she's expected for the era--girls never wore pants then, and she's rich--and do needlework (which she finds boring but does anyways[[note]]After Nellie is sent back to the city, she is angrily working on her sampler because to her, even ''that's'' preferable to interacting with the adults around her she's upset with.[[/note]] and practice the piano—all things she's ''expected'' to do as a young well off girl being raised "properly". For a brief while, Samantha was promoted as preferring to climb trees and get messy instead of playing piano or doing needlepoint. She also doesn't mind going by a TomboyishNickname, Sam, and has interest in motorcars. In conclusion, while Samantha's not what one would think of as a modern-style tomboy, she does have traits that according to the standards of her era make her a "tomboy", paired with a great reluctance for what a proper young lady "should" do.

** Samantha is not a tomboy specifically, but this trope appiles. She's ''expected'' to be prim and proper befitting her well off status and implied future as a ProperLady of high class, and is being guided towards this by her stern Victorian-era grandmother. However, she frequently fails at being so by the standards of her class and time, and many of the things she has to do she does out of obligation and respect for her grandmother and not her own personal interest. She likes climbing trees (something she's told she's not supposed to be doing at all), isn't afraid to confront her bully neighbor Eddie's insults and even shoves him and puts gum in his hair, and wishes she could fight like boys when conflict comes up rather than be expected to deal with such insults quietly. She wishes she could earn money for herself despite her grandmother's scandal at the very idea of such a thing--only men earn money in Grandmary's eyes--and when Samantha brings up that Cornelia considers it fine, Grandmary says that it's still improper and she's not allowed. She ''does'' wear fine dresses as she's expected for the era--girls never wore pants then, and she's rich--and do needlework (which she finds boring but does anyways[[note]]After Nellie is sent back to the city, she is angrily working on her sampler because to her, even ''that's'' preferable to interacting with the adults around her she's upset with.[[/note]] and practice the piano—all things she's ''expected'' to do as a young well off girl being raised "properly". For a brief while, Samantha was promoted as preferring to climb trees and get messy instead of playing piano or doing needlepoint. She also doesn't mind going by a TomoyishNickname, Sam, and has interest in motorcars. In conclusion, while Samantha's not what one would think of as a modern-style tomboy, she does have traits that, according to the standards of her era, make her a "tomboy", paired with a great reluctance for what a proper young lady "should" do.

* DaddysGirl: Implied; she's closer to her father, and in her book whne she's upset with Iabel her father takes her out to walk Blossom and they talk about his old band and music.
* DeadpanSnarker: To a point; she's a lote more deadpan than her sister.
* EmbarrassingMiddleName: She doesn't like her middle name, Pearl, thinking it doesn't fit her tomboyish personality. [[spoiler:She later learns her father--who formerly was in a local grunge band--chose it as a ShoutOut to Music/PearlJam and she embraces it after.]]
* GameBreakingInjury: She sprains her ankle doing skateboarding tricks before the Y2K celebration, where she wanted to prove that girls could skate, too (along with her friends who wanted to prove that skateboarding wasn't a menace and is a skill and sport). It ultimately doesn't matter since [[spoiler:the whole celebration is canceled by the city]], but she isn't able to perform with her friends during the Coffeegarden celebration.

* IAmBecomingSong: Nicki is a budding songwriter who confesses to her dad she likes to write son lyrics. She shows them to him and he performs one of her songs at the millenium celebration.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Nicki can be snarky and often fusses at Isabel, pointing out she was born born six minutes earlier. but she still loves her and tries to share things with Isabel despite having many differences.
* LikeFatherLikeSon: Nicki and her father are both into the grunge scene and music, in contrast to Isabel.

* SiblingSenioritySquabble: According to Isabel's journal, Nicki insists that she should get to do things first because she is six minutes older.

* TomboyWithAGirlyStreak: Nicki is the more tomboyish twin with a love of skateboarding and dislikes of almost all of the "girly" stuff that Isabel likes. However, Nicki's favorite color is purple, which can be considered a more feminine color, and she watches the ''Powerpuff Girls.'' She also lets Isabel dye her streaks purple for a special occasion and wears a nice dress--albeit vinyl--for the Millenium celebration.