American Girl introduces its first Chinese-American "Girl of the Year" doll

For more than 35 years, American Girl has been creating dolls that reflect the lives of real girls and this year, the company's "Girl of the Year" gives representation to Asian-American girls. The new American Girl doll is Corinne Tan, a Chinese-American girl that comes from a blended family.

As with all American Girl characters, Corinne comes with a book series. But in her series, Corinne deals with racism. Wendy Shan, author of the series, told CBSN on Monday she did not shy away from confronting racism in the books because "unfortunately, there is no age minimum on when children of color confront racism."

"I was bullied in kindergarten for being Chinese, so it was not a hard wrestle for me. When American Girl approached me, it was a few months after the shootings in Atlanta and still very fresh and raw in our minds," Shan told CBSN, referring to a string of shootings in March 2020, where eight people, including six Asian women, were killed at Atlanta-area spas.