Staff Writer: Kathleen
Published Date: November 4, 2025
Number of pages: 144 pages
Format (physical book/e-book/audiobook): Physical book
Genre: Children’s
Tags: American Girl, Chapter Book, Female Author, Female Illustrator
Cardigan rating: 3 out of 5
I’m completely unashamed to say that I am and have always been an American Girl fan, so as soon as this year’s Girl of the Year was announced as being the descendant of one of the original girls, Samantha, I flipped. Why yes, you can snag me with nostalgia-based marketing, why do you ask? When her interests included pickleball and DJing, I was… slightly less excited. The Girls of the Year books are something of a time capsule, so they try to include contemporary topics and interests. I’ll admit that I’m pretty far outside of the target demographic, so I could be wrong, but I don’t think ten year old girls are very into either of those things.
From the nostalgia angle, I was disappointed at what they left out of Samantha’s story, especially given the plot of the book. If you’re not familiar with Samantha, for one thing, you obviously didn’t have the same reading material that I did as a child. But that’s beside the point- Samantha was an orphan who was initially taken in by her grandmother, then adopted by her aunt and uncle at the age of ten. What this book doesn’t acknowledge is that her best friend Nellie and Nellie’s two younger sisters were also adopted at the end of Samantha’s series of books. Part of Raquel’s story is that her cousin is adopted and has complicated feelings about it, so it’s disappointing that they would leave out Nellie and her sisters, given that they were adopted by people they weren’t biologically related to, unlike Samantha. That said, I don’t think the actual target audience will care. But with the amount of emphasis American Girl has put on it being the 40th anniversary of the company and the 25th anniversary of Girl of the Year, you’d think they’d include all their history!
Back to what’s actually in the book- it felt a little crowded, like they were trying to fit too many pieces in one character’s story. Raquel’s Samantha’s great-great-grandaughter! Her older cousin is getting married and she needs to save the day, just like Samantha did with her aunt and uncle’s wedding! She’s DJing in public for the first time! She’s learning pickleball! She’s saving the dolphins! I haven’t read the Girl of the Year books from the last few years, but the ones from when I was a kid weren’t this jam-packed. They had one main story, one main conflict, the character had one or two main interests, and that was it. Raquel Reyes Saves the Wedding feels more like American Girl was throwing everything they could at the wall to see what stuck.
The biggest praise I have for the book is for the illustrations- Ananya’s style is so charming, and the illustrations are vibrant and so adorable. Traditionally, the art style in American Girl books used to be more realistic, but they’ve moved to a more cartoon style in recent years with varying success. With Raquel, it definitely works. I also appreciated that there was a section in the back written by a marine biologist. With dolphins having a role in the book and the bride and groom in the titular wedding being marine biologists, it was a nice touch!
Overall, for an adult, this book was a miss, but I will acknowledge that I’m not who this is for, no matter how much American Girl dialed up the nostalgia factor. The primary audience for American Girl has always been and will always be young girls, and for them, it’s a win. If you’ve got a little girl in your life in the 7 to 12 age range, they might want to give this one a shot!