Thirty girls enjoyed lemonade and learning about history during an American Girl tea on Oct. 14.

The tea was at the Veteran’s Hall on Fifth Street.

The library put on the free tea to celebrate the Carnegie Library’s 100th birthday and to promote historical fiction, according to Jill Loya, a library assistant.

The average age of attendees was between eight and ten-years-old, according to Loya. Some girls were joined by their mothers.

The tea centered on the American Girl book series, which is historical fiction for girls age 8 to 12. The books follow girls from different time periods, and according to an information packet given at the tea, the first three girls featured were Samantha Parkington, Kirsten Larson and Molly McIntire.

In the handout, Samantha Parkington is described as a curious orphan who likes to read and ask questions from those around her.

“I like that they are historical so you can learn about history and still have fun,” said Breahna Balak, 9. There are also dolls representing each character from American Girl, and Breahna brought her doll, Julie, along.

Her mother, Melissa Balak, said that Julie’s books took place during 1974.

Loya told partygoers that each doll is 18-inches-tall. Many of the girls brought their American Girl dolls with them.

“They look pretty and I want to play with them,” said Emma Burkholder, 7, about the characters. “I’d like to meet Kit.”

The character Kit Kittredge was recently featured in the film, "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl."

Emma also said that she was looking forward to seeing “what we were going to do” during the tea.

The tea featured different presentations, including Loya giving a history of American Girls, and a history of Victorian tea from Friends of the Library member Shirley Russell.

“I was delighted with it,” Russell said about the tea.

The girls enjoyed brownies, cookies and grapes during the tea-and-cookies portion of the tea, as well as “tea”, which was actually lemonade.

Lemonade was served because Loya said that girls usually don’t like hot tea.

This was the third year the library has held the tea.

The Friends of the Library, according to Russell, paid for the lemonade, snacks and decorations.

“It’s great, a lot of fun,” said Sheri Bouws, who attended with daughters Ellie, 6, and Sophia, 4.

Bouws’ daughters received American Girl dolls from their grandmother, and Bouws said, “it’s nice to learn more about them.”

During the tea, girls also made fans out of ribbon, craft sticks and wrapping paper.

“Back in Victorian times, they didn’t have air conditioning, so when they went to tea, they always had fans to keep themselves cool,” Loya explained about tea parties in Victorian times.

The tea ended with music and poetry presentation from John and Carol Noon, and a group photo.

“They all seemed to enjoy it, and left happy and excited,” Loya said after the tea. “I love that.”

Loya said she was not sure when the next tea would be, but added a treasure hunt for boys, in relation to the Dear America book series, will be during the spring.