The Doll Book of the Month Club: Doll Trouble by Helen B. Griffith

   The month, and the year in general, has flown by.  I've spent the last few days working on a project not for this blog, so even though I've had this post written for a while, I only just took the pictures. The last day of the month once again crept up on me. 

  This month's doll book is "Doll Trouble" by Helen B. Griffith, with illustrations by Susan Condie Lamb. 

"Doll Trouble" is actually a sequel to the book, "Caitlin's Holiday", but it works very well as a stand alone book. As explained in "Doll Trouble", in "Caitlin's Holiday" a girl named Caitlin spots a beautiful doll at a thrift store, laying in a case of pretty, hand made doll clothes. On impulse she 'trades' the doll she has with her, for the doll in the case. 

  The doll, named Holiday, turns out to be alive. Like, really alive. She can talk, and run, and do anything a person can do. Of course, Caitlin is the only one who knows, and Holiday has to be careful not to be seen being active by anyone other than Caitlin. Caitlin fears that if people found out, Holiday would be taken away and experimented on. I wondered at first if Caitlin was just pretending that Holiday was alive, but no. She truly is.

   In "Doll Trouble" we learn that Holiday misses her custom made clothes, and is jealous of  Caitlin's old doll, Jodi, who now owns them. (Jodi is the doll Caitlin 'traded' for Holiday.) 

  Jodi and the clothes are now the possessions of a girl Caitlin knows, named Jennifer. Jennifer is pretty unpleasant and forces her company on Caitlin, and Caitlin's friend Lauren. Jennifer doesn't take good care of the clothes or Jodi, and Caitlin begins to feel sorry for the doll she abandoned. 

The sorrier she feels for Jodi, the more jealous Holiday gets. Holiday is not only jealous, but heartbroken that her friend Caitlin would rather have Jodi than Holiday.

The trouble starts when Holiday finds out that Jodi is also alive. When Jodi begins to sabotage Caitlin, Caitlin blames Holiday, and her jealousy. 

In turn, Holiday is afraid she's losing Caitlin to Jodi. Holiday and Caitlin, once the best of friends, begin to fight. 

  The ending is pretty satisfying. It's funny, adventurous, and has a cozy finale with a special surprise. I won't give it away, but I will say there is a part that's reminiscent of Toy Story. Just so you know, Caitlin and Holiday do figure out what brought Holiday and Jodi to life, but exactly how is left a mystery.  

  The book is a simple to read chapter book of 128 pages. It's recommended for ages 8 to 12, but younger kids could enjoy having the book read to them. I thought the book was fun, and just the sort of thing Emma, with her very special Emma the Doll, would have enjoyed when she was a kid. I think it's a great book for kids who love their dolls, or just kids who like a good story about friendship and a little bit of adventure. There's nothing scary here. There's nothing creepy in the live dolls. It's basically a story about friendships.

  That's this month's book. See you again soon.