New York Times Bestselling author, Brit Bennett, brought the newest American Girl Doll, “Claudie Wells” to life.

Claudie is the franchises’ fourth Black girl doll, growing up in 1920s Harlem during the creative boom of Harlem Renaissance. She spoke with The Takeaway about the making of Claudie, and the responsibility to balance historical accuracy with the playfulness of American Girl Dolls.

The best-selling author shares what went into creating the book behind the storied franchise’s latest historical character.

Brit Bennett never thought she’d actually create an American Girl doll, but you could say it’s a reality she’s manifested for years.

American Girl is adding a new historical character, Claudie Wells, to its line of middle-grade books and toys. Meet Claudie is written by Brit Bennett, bestselling author of The Mothers and The Vanishing Half, who is making her first foray into children’s books.

Brit Bennett pushes questions of race and color to their extremes in her new novel, "The Vanishing Half." A three-generational work that is anything but old-fashioned, a central topic concerns identity fused with acting and lying. The main characters wonder what defines happiness. In this book’s case, it makes for great reading. Bennett discusses creating real people and not just types — forging a kaleidoscopic story about people and communities. The celebrated novel from 2020 is now available in paperback.

Such a storyteller is Brit Bennett. Racial passing, the phenomenon at the core of her astonishing novel The Vanishing Half, is as familiar to American literature as “Lush Life” is to the American songbook.

Black women have been honoring and lifting our voices, sharing our strengths, broadening our revolutionary scope since we got here. We tell stories that come through our hair and our hips, our shoulders and our ride-or-die stride as we walk alongside one another, tethered to our tropes, ever strong, mammified, over-sexualized but ultimately free together. Brit Bennett, Jasmine Guillory and Jacqueline Woodson are three of our finest novelists in America today. They tell narrative stories with grace and nuance, humor and curiosity, and with characters who exist because Black women called them to live. The four of us spoke about the long-standing contributions of Black women writers, who holds the power in publishing and the notion of a renaissance. —R.C.

There’s no denying that 2020 has been a year unlike any other. Despite it all, however, there have been some silver linings — one of those being the opportunity to spend more time at home in our favorite comfy clothes curled up with some of the year’s most exciting new books. From stunning new author debuts to highly-anticipated series additions, this year’s new releases have captivated the hearts and minds of readers of all ages and in every genre. Which is why, if one of your resolutions for 2021 is to read more, there’s no better place to start than Amazon’s Best Books of the Year list.