Rose Hopkins was one of five dolls by Magic Attic that came with her own series of books. Unlike the early American Girl Doll books by Pleasant Company, these stories were not intended to be about history. The Magic Attic series was written in an alternative fantasy genre and it taught important life lessons to each of it's fifth grade girls.
The the Magic Attic girls would also each write a diary entry at the end of her book, reflecting on her latest adventure through a magic mirror in the attic.
The Rose doll had a bit of a confusing history compared with other characters in her series. This was primarily due to the fact that the Magic Attic branding changed hands from Georgtown to Knickerbocker to Marian and then to Charisma Brands.
In 2002 the Marian company decided to change the doll's name and cultural identity. Rose was rebranded to Rosa. She would no longer be marketed as a Native American doll, but as a Hispanic doll. This led to confusion and disappointment among fans and also limited the availability of doll costumes. While dealers and shopkeepers continued marketing four other character books, Rose slowly disappeared from the shelves. Rosa had next to nothing to tell about visiting an old dusty attic to find her unique adventures through a looking glass and neither did Chloe, the last Magic Attic doll who was discontinued within the same year. The magic had left the attic by the time Marian sold the doll series one last time . . .
But as long as there are doll collectors, and little ones who love to dig into old books tucked away among the dusty corners of retail resale, there will always be a bit of magic remaining in Ellie Goodwin's upstairs attic.
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| Above, Rose was first sold wearing a green jumper over a long sleeved, white knit shirt with coordinating French baret. She also had a green wrist watch and key on a chain. |
The Magic Attic Rose Doll Profile:
Full Name: Rose Hopkins, nickname "Little Flower"Birthday: December 15th
Favorite Color: green
Birthstone: blue topaz
Siblings: two older sister, Anna and
Hobbies: computers video games
Pets: a cockatiel named "Little Squawk"
Sports: soccer
Cultural Identity: The original Rose doll was Native American (Cheyenne). A later version by different owners changed her identity to Hispanic and renamed her Rosa.
Grade & School: 5th grade, Lincoln Elementary School
Parents Professions: mother: graduate student and father: collage professor
Quotes from Rose's Diary:
"I've been thinking a lot about what he said. And I realized that lately I have been feeling brave. It did take courage to start the food drive and talk to Mr. Roberts about it. And it took courage for me to save Sarah from getting hut in the prairie fire. Even Sun Bear called me brave after that!" Rose from 'Cheyenne Rose'
"Admitting my mistakes to Mrs. Pierce and Miss Lum was really hard. So was telling my mom that I hadn't finished copying her files. But once I talked about my mistakes, and took responsibility for them, I felt a lot better." Rose from 'Rose Faces the Music'
Our Artifacts for the Rose Hopkins Magic Attic Doll and Books:
Our Artifacts for the Rose Hopkins Magic Attic Doll and Books:
- A Week From A Little Girl's Diary, 1920 - an everyday account from a girl's diary (third grade?) about her mother, her doll, and her future hopes and dreams
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| Left, "Rose Faces The Music" by L. E. Williams Right, Rose doll wears her performance gown. |
- The following accessories manufactured and sold for the Rose doll based upon her book "Cheyenne Rose" included: a faux deer skin costume with bead work and fringe, a cradle board with native doll, a blanket, jewelry, medicine bag and moccasins.
- The following accessories manufactured and sold for the Rose doll based upon her book "Rose's Magic Touch" included: a hot pink, sequined magician's costume with top hat, bow tie, and magic wand, plus a deck of cards, book of magic tricks, rabbit and cups with scarves!
- The following accessories manufactured and sold for the Rose doll based upon her book "Rose Faces The Music" included: a nice doll sized saxophone and a blue gown
- The following accessories manufactured and sold for the Rose doll based upon her book "Island Rose" included: a hula costume with grass skirt, a doll sized hammock, a shell necklace, straw hat and flower hair accessories
- The following accessories manufactured and sold for the Rose doll based upon her book "Champion Rose" included: a soccer uniform and a net
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| Left, "Cheyenne Rose" by L. E. Williams Right, Rose doll dressed in traditional Native costume. |
Cheyenne Rose by L. E. Williams - Informative video artifacts based upon themes found in Rose's adventure on the prairie through the mirror . . .
- Fire on The Prairie Adventure - How to stay safe in a prairie fire
- Cheyenne Language Examples - Learn Cheyenne Vocabulary
- How Native Americans - prepare hides and make pemmican balls
- Food Drive for Flood Victims - How to organize a food drive, Teaching kids about charity,
- About Native American Cradleboards - An evening with Vanessa Jennings: Kiowa cradleboards, culture and tradition and appraisal of cradleboard from 1895
- Games of Native Americans - Native Games: Origins, Native Games demonstrated from Plimoth Plantation
Rose Faces The Music by L. E. Williams - About Rose's adventure in Washington D. C. through the mirror . . .
- All Girl's Band Adventure in D. C. - Rose sees the following monuments: Washington's Memorial, Lincoln's Memorial and Jefferson's Memorial
- Rose plays in an all girl jazz band for the president of the United States - Listen to high school students play jazz: Essentially Ellington by Beloit Memorial High School Band perform at Lincoln Center's Jazz Academy and Seattle's All-Star Girls Jazz Band recording at the studio
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| Left, "Rose's Magic Touch" by Nina Alexander Right, Rose doll dressed as a magician. |
- Rose learns a few magic tricks - five magic tricks kids can do, six easy magic tricks, and nine more magic tricks for kids to learn and perform
- Rose explores Salzburg, Austria through the magic mirror - visit Salzburg with Rick Steves,
- Rose learns tips for controlling her nerves while trying out for choir - three ways to fix a nervous singing voice, five ways to stand out at an audition
- Listen to amazing young choirs - Christ University performs ToTo's Africa at Sound Curry 2016, St. Patrick's Choir sings "Eye of The Tiger", B A C Jerusalem, What A Beautiful Name by children from Hillsong Worship
More Native American Dolls that come with storybooks:
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