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"Maryellen" redirects here. For the doll, see Maryellen Larkin (doll).

Maryellen Larkin is the fourteenth Historical Character and the first initially BeForever exclusive character, representing the 1950s. Maryellen was released in 2015.

Personality and Facts[]

Maryellen (nicknamed Ellie) is an enthusiastic, optimistic, ambitious, and imaginative girl. She longs to stand out but often feels lost in the shuffle of her big, busy family. (She is often annoyed by the fact that when people meet her for the first time, they ask which sister she is in order, instead of treating her uniquely.) Her favorite TV shows include Davy Crockett and The Lone Ranger, and she dreams up episodes where she gets to be the hero.[5] Maryellen is seen as cheerful and curious by people meeting her for the first time.[6]

Maryellen had polio when she was seven years old during the Polio Epidemic of 1952. This resulted in one of her legs being weaker than the other, and she also has cold-sensitive lungs. Despite her disability, she is a fast runner and excellent swimmer, and also enjoys roller skating. She is very skinny for her age[7] and has a nose like her sisters.[8]

She's quite energetic, tends to take charge, and is quite the leader. Maryellen is always full of big ideas and imagination, though this often gets her into trouble. She uses most of her ideas to bring attention to herself; however, this often causes disasters wherever she goes, because she impulsively follows through with her ideas without much thought. Maryellen is often considered "wild and tomboyish" by her sisters; some of her closest friends are boys and she's always playing the same things they do. She secretly wishes people would take her ideas seriously. She really wants to impress her parents, especially her mom, and wishes she was seen as a responsible woman with great clothes, like her sisters; to her, her older sisters have much more glamorous lives than her. Maryellen is used to receiving hand-me-downs due to being in a large family, and since she has two older sisters she often ends up having to do everything after they have. She is interested in fashion and wants clothes and outfits that are "chic and grown-up looking". She is not very tidy or organized, a contrast from her two older sisters.

Though Maryellen likes to pretend she's her favorite heroes from TV, she's not as interested in heroes who use magic or super powers, since she's not able to use them in real life. Maryellen frequently compares her life to those shown on TV and expects her life to be more like those. She also likes to make up her own TV shows. She also shows interest in movies and music; her favorite actress is Debbie Reynolds. Though she often wishes to perform and be the center of attention, she has a hard time speaking in front of large groups of people and often gets stage fright.

Maryellen is a great artist--her friends compare her to Grandma Moses--and loves to draw and make gifts for her family. She's also highly interested in science, especially rocket science and medicine due to her history of having polio. Maryellen is open-minded and doesn't judge people by appearances or align with popular sentiment. Examples include continuing to be best friends with a boy even after being told that girls "don't do that" by Joan, and while many of her friends looked down on Italians (due to Italy being aligned with Germany and Japan during WWII) Maryellen befriends an Italian girl.

Her favorite subject is geography; she's interested in foreign lands, history, and languages. Her least favorite subject is handwriting because she is left-handed and so doesn't write as well, and created her own "cursive" style to suit her. Maryellen also loves to do mental math. She had been a Brownie Girl Scout prior to the series start, and has recently graduated to Girl Scouts when she entered into fourth grade.[9] However, she has a hand me down from her sisters (like most of her clothes) and so it is the "older" version with long sleeves.[10]

Maryellen's friends call her "the one, and only" because there's no one in the world quite like her. American Girl describes her as an inventive girl who stands out from the crowd.

Family and Friends[]

See Also: Minor Characters in Maryellen's Series

Family[]

Friends and Other Characters[]

Books[]

See: List of Maryellen's Books

Other Media[]

Doll[]

Maryellendollface

The Maryellen doll.

Main Article: Maryellen Larkin (doll)

  • Face Mold: Classic Mold
  • Skin: Light
  • Hair: Red/Strawberry blonde, sideswept bangs, side part
  • Eyes: Dark Hazel

Collection[]

See: Maryellen's Collection

See Also[]

References[]

  1. Taking Off, pg. 1: Exuberantly, Maryellen sprang ahead of the other girls... "My birthday is Saturday, May seventh, which is coming soon, in three weeks and a little bit." The only year for May 7th to fall on a Saturday in the 1950s was 1955. This is later confirmed by a date written as April 12, 1955.
  2. The Runaway starts in January 1956.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Taking Off, pg. 86-87:
    "What model did you buy, Stan?" Mr. Fenstermacher asked.
    "The twenty-four-foot Trade Wind Double," said Dad.

  4. 4.0 4.1 The One and Only, pg. 34,: [Betty and Florence would] say to Mom, "My goodness, Kay! Your house really stands out from the rest."
  5. American Girl Publishing
  6. The Sky's the Limit: My Journey with Maryellen
  7. Taking Off, pg 7; "Maryellen was as skinny as a flagpole, so Mom was using lots of pins."
  8. The One and Only, pg 91: "I could have guessed you were a Larkin," [Mrs. Humphrey] said.[...]"I'd recognize that Larkin nose anywhere."
  9. At the time, Girl Scouts only had Brownies, Intermediates ("standard" Girl Scouts) and Seniors. The Junior and Cadette division among Intermediates was not made until 1963. Wikipedia Reference
  10. At the time, sleeves were transitioning to shorter styles but longer sleeved versions still existed and were widely used. See examples here at A Century of Girl Scout Uniforms


American Girl Historical Characters
1760s

Kaya'aton'my

1770s

Felicity Merriman ♦ ★

1810s

Caroline Abbott ♦ ★

1820s

Josefina Montoya

1850s

Cécile Rey
and Marie-Grace Gardner

1850s

Kirsten Larson

1860s

Addy Walker

1900s

Samantha Parkington

1910s

Rebecca Rubin

1920s

Claudie Wells

1930s

Kit Kittredge

1940s

Nanea Mitchell

1940s

Molly McIntire

1950s

Maryellen Larkin

1960s

Melody Ellison

1970s

Julie Albright

1980s

Courtney Moore

2000s

Nicki Hoffman
and Isabel Hoffman

Archived / ♦ Part of the BeForever Collection

BeForever-Revised and Released Historical Characters
1760s

Kaya'aton'my

1770s

Felicity Merriman ♦ ★

1810s

Caroline Abbott

1820s

Josefina Montoya

1860s

Addy Walker

1900s

Samantha Parkington

1910s

Rebecca Rubin

1930s

Kit Kittredge

1940s

Nanea Mitchell

1940s

Molly McIntire ♦ ★

1950s

Maryellen Larkin

1960s

Melody Ellison

1970s

Julie Albright

Archived | ♦ Re-released for BeForever | ♥ First Released in BeForever

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