Oh, to be 10 again—with one big toe resting squarely in childhood and all of its ignorant bliss, and the other big toe inching toward adolescent and adult realities. At Toy Fair 2010, Dora the Explorer—Nickelodeon’s courageous cartoon character who first marched her way into children’s hearts in 2000—celebrates that middle passage. That’s right: Dora Marquez, the young Latina girl who sets out on a spankin’ new adventure in each episode, all while teaching her followers a little Spanish along the way, has officially hit the tween years. And Fisher Price is marking their gutsy girl’s birthday with the release of her namesake doll—We Did It! Dora. Kids can boogie along with Dora as she jams to the beat of her signature song, “We did it!” The doll includes four modes of play: Teach-Me (where Dora guides kids the “We Did It!” Dance); the “We Did It!” Dance; Freeze Dance; and the Say It Two Ways bilingual dance game.
After dancing the night away, Dora even has a casa to return to: the Dora All Seasons Dollhouse comes complete with magic windows that show fall, winter, spring, and summer. On a summer day, for instance, sun streams through the windows and birds chirp. And here’s the cool part that makes the dollhouse quintessentially Dora: Girls can press the speech button to hear phrases (in both English and Spanish) that correspond to the different seasons and times of day. And as it turns out, Dora is sharing her big birthday with a bevy of do-gooding girlfriends: Dora’s Explorer Girls Rock for Change Fashion Dolls have linked arms to organize Puerto Verde’s Music Arts Festival to benefit the coral reefs—or so the storyline goes. Each Explorer Girl—Dora, Kata, Alana, Emma, and Naiya—comes with a charm and a code that girls can share with their friends. When the code is entered online, girls can personalize their profile page, chat with their gal pals, and exchange virtual gifts.
When it comes to anniversary parties, Dora has plenty of company this year: Disney Princesses Aladdin and Jasmine have also sashayed across the decade marker; the 1980s icon Rainbow Brite has been delighting girls for 25 years; and Strawberry Shortcake—the doll I snuggled up to every night when I was just a girl—has been serving up her sweetness for 30 years. And if you’re feeling even half as elderly as I’m feeling right now (especially when you realize that Empire Strikes Back turns 30 this year), let's not even get started on board-game birthdays: Clue is 60 years old; Monopoly is 75; and Bingo—much like the grandmotherly zealots who wouldn't dare miss a round of the game in their senior citizen centers—is 105 years old. Suddenly, at a mere 10 years old, Dora seems like such a babe.
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