Doll Book of the Month Club: The Silent Playmate, A Collection of Doll Stories

   Yesterday it was quite nice out. The sun was shining, the breeze was fairly warm, and I actually got hot in a short sleeved t-shirt while I was raking leaves. I even hung laundry outside. Today however, IT SNOWED! The windchill factor, or, as my dad used to say, 'the windshield factor', is 29 degrees Fahrenheit! 

  I got most of my leaves raked while the weather, and my body, cooperated. I've been having trouble with my hip and leg lately, and, at least, before I raked, it was feeling better. Of course, by the time I stopped it was killing me again. But, as regular readers may know, I have a running battle going with the leaf sucker truck. I either get my leaves raked WAY ahead of time, and they never get picked up, or I don't get them raked in time, and I get stuck with them. This year I think it may be a combination of both. I have a whole trash can full that I raked up before they had fully fallen, which I may be stuck with, because I don't feel I can just dump them on the curb, where we are supposed to rake them to for collection by the leaf sucker truck. Then I also have a lot of leaves down by the curb. I tried to put them in the small oval of pavement on the corner, instead of in the grass at the curb, because when they don't pick them up, they winter there, where they become part of the ground. That makes the ground even more lumpy, and difficult to mow in the summer. That's happened before.

   I have been wanting to get a nice day when I could photograph some things for the blog. I have had a Fall photo story planned for years. The weather has just not been cooperating though. We have had rain, rain, rain! Supposedly it is going to be fairly warm a couple of days this week, which will allow me to get my window frames finally painted.

  Anyway!

  This month's Doll Book of the Month Club entry is The Silent Playmate, A Collection of Doll Stories, by Naomi Lewis.

The illustrations are by Harold Jones.

  As the title says, the book is a collection, which includes poems as well, and not just a single story. The stories range from touching stories such as, "The Magic Child" by Bernard Henderson and C. Calvert.  , to somewhat scary tales, like "Rag Bag" by Ruth Ainsworth, to unsettling stories like "Gertrude's Child" by Richard Hughes and "A Departure" by Kenneth Graham, to the sadness of Hans Christian Anderson's "The Steadfast Tin Soldier". 

  "Rag Bag" is the story of a girl and her dolls, who are visited by an unhappy fairy child who demands a doll. Unsatisfied with the lifeless peg doll provided by the girl, the fairy child demands a 'live' doll, like the ones the girl plays with. The girl tries to explain that the dolls aren't alive, that she is merely pretending with them. But one of the dolls, Rag Bag, can actually talk. She's not much to look at, but she's the girl's favourite. The fairy figures out the doll's special quality, and demands Rag Bag. That's where I'll leave the story.

  "Gertrude's Child" tell the strange story of a world where children don't have dolls, dolls have children. They treat them just as carelessly and coldly as bad doll mothers treat their dolls too, leaving the children clothesless in the cold, and forgotten out in the rain.

  The heartbreaking "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" was one Fuzzy liked as a child. Ivy can't stand stories like that. I'm in between. I like it, but I find it so sad I cry.

  Also included is "The Town in the Library" by E. Nesbit. I've loved E. Nesbit's books since I read "The Phoenix and the Carpet" as a kid. Some of you may be more familiar with "Five Children and It", also by E. Nesbit. "The Town in the Library" is typical Nesbit, with a couple of kids doing something they know they shouldn't, and facing the consequences, before arriving at a not altogether happy, but all-that-they-deserve ending.

  The book is full of good doll stories. It may be hard to find, but for those who enjoy doll stores, it's worth it.