American Girl is bringing back its original dolls. Moms might be excited but will your seven-year-old care?

In 1990, my mother discovered a four-year-old startup called American Girl, and she liked what she saw: Books about different eras in American history, told through the eyes of a girl roughly her daughter’s age, with an 18-inch doll based on each character. It was more educational and wholesome than Barbie, so she was happy to buy them for me. My favorite character was Molly McIntire, a 9-year-old living through World War II in Illinois, whose father had been sent to the front lines an...