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The 1980's

Adopting Your Own Cabbage Patch Kid

Adopting Your Own Cabbage Patch Kid
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 4 to 6
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   5.8

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    adoption, facial, high-tech, popularity, unused, clinic, extremely, introduction, medical, version, oath, multiple, porcelain, birthplace, particularly, original
     content words:    Cabbage Patch Kid, Patch Kid, Cabbage Patch Kids, Xavier Roberts, Little People, Debbie Morehead, Patch Kids, Coleco Company, Babyland General Hospital, In Babyland General Hospital

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Adopting Your Own Cabbage Patch Kid
By Jane Runyon 		  
1     Christmas shopping for some parents in 1983 became a nightmare. The popular toy that year was a soft doll called a Cabbage Patch Kid. Children everywhere wanted their own Cabbage Patch Kid for Christmas. Many parents wanted to make sure their children got just what they wanted. They hit the toy stores in masses. Lines formed outside the stores carrying the dolls. Pushing and shoving began among the adults. Fights even broke out between people trying to claim a prize doll for themselves. What was so special about these dolls? What made the people act so angrily to each other?
 
2     The original Cabbage Patch Kids were made by an artist named Xavier Roberts. He sewed fabric sculptured dolls he called Little People and sold them at craft fairs. This all started in 1978. His dolls became extremely popular. He and his partner, Debbie Morehead, changed the name of the dolls to Cabbage Patch Kids in 1982. Each doll that the couple made came with adoption papers. The new owner, or adopted parent, had to take an oath to take care of the doll as any good parent should.
 
3     Roberts and Morehead sold the right to produce their doll to the Coleco Company in 1982. These new dolls would all be 16 inches tall and their faces would be made of vinyl instead of cloth. Each doll would be unique. There are no two dolls just alike. The company was able to mass produce the doll. They used computers to make sure that differences could be found in eye color, hair color, facial features, or clothing. Even though the company producing the doll has changed over the years, the same differences still hold true with each doll today. Each doll comes with its own birth certificate and assigned name. Each birth certificate carries the signature of Xavier Roberts.

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