Kansas City’s latest notable resident loves music, is passionate about paletas and loves her Pomeranian, Luzita.
She’s also 18 inches tall and made of plastic and plush.
American Girl, a beloved doll company now owned by Mattel, announced Wednesday that its 2026 Girl of the Year is Raquel Reyes, a Mexican American 10-year-old from Kansas City, Missouri.
Author Angela Cervantes used her own background as a Mexican American living in Kansas City to bring Raquel’s story to life.
According to Cervantes, Raquel’s family owns a Mexican-style popsicle shop, Paleta-palooza. (While the shop is fictional, Kansas City does have many paleterías serving up the frozen treat on both the Missouri and Kansas sides of the metro).
The family’s roots — and paletería — are in the City of Fountains. Latinos are the Kansas City metro’s fastest-growing population, and Mexican Americans make up the largest share of that group.
Kansas City’s Westside and the Rosedale and Argentine neighborhoods of Kansas City, Kansas, were important landing places for migrants attracted first by the area’s railroad industry. Over the decades, those neighborhoods have helped define the Kansas City of today, with dozens of taco shops, a vibrant restaurant and coffee scene, a diverse array of local businesses and artists, and community organizations like the Guadalupe Centers.
Readers will find that much of Raquel’s story takes place on the East Coast, however, where she meets up with her extended family for a wedding and reunion.
American Girl is most famous for its historical dolls, who hail from different eras of U.S. history. Each character comes with her own book, which walks young readers through significant historical moments, centered around the life of a young girl.
Although Raquel comes from the company’s modern-day line, she has a link to the traditional dolls: She is the great-great granddaughter of Samantha Parkington, one of American Girl’s original dolls.
The Raquel Reyes doll itself, which comes with Cervantes’ book, costs $135. Like all of American Girl’s dolls, Raquel has an extensive collection of clothing, accessories and furniture for purchase.
