Doll Book of the Month Club: The Stocking Child

  Sorry this post is a day late. I was busy working on a project for Emma's birthday,which I'll share with you after her day. (It's tomorrow.)
  This month's Doll Book of the Month Club entry is a sweet book called "The Stocking Child" written and illustrated by Ben Shecter.

It's a book for younger children. I originally bought this book for Unsentimental Niece when she was little. When she got older and was getting rid of it, I retrieved it for Emma. It's the story of a little doll named Epaphroditis Stocking Child.

He's found stuck in a patch of burrs by a boy named Sam. 

Sam helps Epophroditis,(who is thankfully called 'the stocking child' throughout the book,instead of his loooong proper name.), out of the burrs and the stocking child explains that he has been looking for his lost eye,a cornflower blue button.  

So Sam helps look for the eye. On the way they get momentarily fooled by a blue stone in the stream,which they mistake for the eye. But that's ok, because after that they happen upon a muskrat wedding,and the stone becomes a wedding gift. 

From there they visit a woodchuck with a button collection,which unfortunately doesn't contain the Stocking Child's eye.

  Woodchuck has been in bed with 'spring fever',so the stocking child makes a design on the floor with the pine cones they collected on the way there,so woodchuck will have 'something pretty to look at' while he's in bed.They also happen upon a toad. That's the somewhat creepy portion of the book. 

The toad is crying because his wife has just died. That's reasonable,right? Even Sam and the stocking child start crying. What is weird is what happens after that.

 

Ok,that's a little weird. Of course, he's a toad. So he isn't going to go to a funeral home. Is he?  Kids might be a little upset at this part though. I think the author could have left the part about burying toad's wife out. 
  As you may have noticed, the stocking child is prone to break out in poetry every now and then. You'll also notice that there is a lot about 'sounds': the sound of death, the voice of friendship,etc. Sounds figure big in the book.
  Apart from the weird thing about burying Toad's wife,this is a sweet little book. It's a very quiet book. It might be a little too quiet for some kids. It's more of an old fashioned type of story. You know what your child will sit still for. Personally I think something quiet and thoughtful like this is good for kids.
  Does the stocking child find his eye? Where was it this whole time? You'll have to read the book to find out.