“There have been many changes to the Central Series books through the years. The covers of books have had five major changes, with several minor elemental changes during their runs. A book can be fairly dated to its publication run by its traits.

The first three characters were introduced with matching books styles in 1986 that were carried through 2000. This is the longest availability, lasting for thirteen years from launch until the Mattel purchase and only being modified as needed to add new characters, redone illustrations, and updated elements. They are distinctive for the off-white parchment-paper style boxes around the characters on the front and text on the back.

Standard elements included:

• A specific color was chosen for each girl which was used for things like the year, her silhouette on the back cover, and the selected dingbat style logo on the spine. This color was not exceptionally prominent on the books themselves.

• The year at the bottom of the front cover was split in two, displayed in oval frames (e.g. Addy’s would have "19" in burnt orange on the left and "64" in burnt orange on the right).

• Each character was listed in chronological order on the back with her color-themed silhouette to the left of a brief character description.

• Book summaries were either on the inner front flap (paperback) or on the back underneath the dust jacket cover with the Pleasant Company logo (hardback). Hardbacks had the same back covers as the paperbacks on the dust jacket.

• Addy was added to the list on the back of books with a burnt orange silhouette, listed chronologically between Kirsten and Samantha. She was described as Addy, a proud, courageous girl determined to be free in the midst of the Civil War.

In 1998, Addy’s books were fully redone with new illustrations. Melodye Rosales and Bradford Brown's images for Addy's books were replaced by Dahl Taylor. These new illustrations were integrated into the parchment book styles.” (American Girl Wiki, 2023)