The Doll Book of the Month Club: The Doll In the Garden

   If it's not one thing, it's another. You won't believe what happened to us now. Before we get to this month's book, let me tell you a tale. 

  Saturday afternoon I was talking to my sister on the (land line) phone, when  all went silent. Turns out, our electricity was off. We assumed it was everybody's electricity, and it would soon be back on. So we went on with our lives. Ken went to work. The fact that he didn't come back home should have tipped me off to the fact that, at least, it wasn't the whole town. I just thought of that. But at the time I was thinking when it started to get dark, and neighbours' lights were coming on, that, 'maybe it's just our block'. Unfortunately, it was not our block, but just us. 

  Ken worked late Saturday  night, and went in early Sunday morning, so he didn't really have a chance to figure out why we had no electricity until Sunday evening. I know nothing about the electric, so I wasn't even going to try. When Ken sorted it out it appeared we need a new main breaker. We went to try to find one Monday, after helping Emma and Fuzz move Fuzz's stuff to a new apartment. Nobody seemed to have one. As we were waiting at a red light to turn onto the street to Home Depot, an electric repair van drove past. I joked that maybe he had our part, and Ken said maybe even that guy was going to Home Depot for supplies. So the light changed and we drove to Home Depot right behind the electric guy! He was going to Home Depot for supplies! Home Depot didn't have the breaker, but Ken talked to him in the electrical aisle, and he confirmed what Ken thought was the problem, He also said that since the pandemic it has been really hard to get supplies like the breaker we needed. He said it might take months to get the breaker. Noooooo!!! He told us about an electrical supply place we could try. They also didn't have the breaker, and called loads of other stores, including competitors, to see if anybody had it. Nobody did. So we resorted to ordering one from Amazon. We paid extra for expedited shipping...a LOT extra. It was supposed to come between Wednesday and Sunday. I thought it must be coming from China or somewhere. Well, it turned up today and it only came from FLORIDA! It should not have cost $30 to expedite something from Florida to Ohio, and still have taken 3 days! 

  Anyway, it was worth it. We have our electricity back. While it was out, there was no house phone, no internet, (because it goes through the phone line and there was no electricity to the phone base), so, no sound, and no light! I have a heavy duty flash light, so I could get around. But by Tuesday night I was talking to the cats, to myself, anything for some sound. And the dim light was causing me to nearly have a panic attack. I was trying to take a shower in the dim light and started freaking. I kept saying to myself, "I can't do this. I can't do this." I'm not afraid of the dark. It was just that I couldn't see clearly. At the best of times I like a super well lit room. If I can't see properly it just drives me crazy. I don't like candle light, or dimly lit restaurants. I need to SEE! I had to keep myself from starting to hyperventilate. I've had panic attacks. I had them every day at the end of my school days, (which finished early because of it.)  I knew one was coming on. I did have some tears, but managed to settle myself and get through the shower. When I went in my bedroom I turned on every battery operated light we had. Ken came home and saw the bedroom window and thought the electricity had come back on. Seriously.

  Anyway, once we got the electricity back on today, not everything came back on, and we had to go out and get one of the lesser breakers too. Luckily Lowe's had one.

  So, we got our internet back just in time for this month's book. Talk about coming down to the wire. But, continuing Ken's luck, tonight he locked the car keys in the trunk! He had gotten off work and put something in the trunk and left the keys in it. The police had to come and get into the car for him.

  This month's book is "The Doll in the Garden", by Mary Downing Hahn.

  From the cover you'd think this book gets pretty gory and scary. But read on.

  The story begins with an 'almost 11' year old Ashley moving to a new apartment with her mother. Ashley's father has recently died and she and her mother are still coming to terms with their loss. The apartment was rented from a real estate agent, but the house belongs to the occupant of the downstairs half of the house, a crotchety old woman named Miss Cooper. 

  Miss Cooper hates Ashley on sight, and Ashley can't seem to stay out of trouble with her. She forbids Ashley to go into the weedy old garden at the back of the property. Of course, Ashley goes anyway. There she finds a statue and fish pond amongst the weeds. and a white cat. When Ashley meets her new neighbour, Kristi, Kristi tells Ashley that the white cat is a ghost, and connected to mysterious crying that's heard every summer.  

  Ashley talks Kristi into coming into the garden with her, even though Kristi is very afraid of the 'haunted' garden and the mysterious white cat. While clearing out the weeds Kristi uncovers a wooden box, buried in the garden. The box contains a very old doll, and a note from someone named Carrie, apologizing to someone named Louisa, and asking for her forgiveness. Kristi is afraid of the doll and insists that Ashley leave the doll in the box. But both girls later feel sorry for the doll, and Ashley retrieves her.

  Okay. From the moment they find the doll anybody could figure that the crying is a ghost girl wanting her doll back. But this story goes further, and deals with death and grief, and regret. It's not a super scary story, but  has just enough eerieness to get things going. The end is a sad/happy one. It may not end the way we wish it could end, but it ends realistically and satisfyingly.

  I don't think the book will be too sad for kids, although it did make me cry. (I cry at anything. Just ask my family.)  It's sad, but in the end we learn that it's okay to be sad sometimes. It's also not too scary, as I said. In fact, those looking for a horrifying story might be pretty disappointed. I liked the book. I think most kids will too.

  There are no illustrations. The book was originally published in 1989, (...which makes the timeline of the book more understandable. You have to read it to know what I mean.) , and has been published with a few different covers.

  That's the doll book this month. See you soon.

October Reading Assignment #1: The Ghost of Dibble Hollow by May Nickerson Wallace

  I haven't done a book recommendation for a while.Over the summer I reviewed books set in the summer to read with your kids. In the month of October I'm going to review books with a little scare factor to them. Nothing too scary, because these are to read with your kids. (So I'll leave out The Dollhouse Murders by Betty Ren Wright. It's a book I considered for these posts and Doll Books to Read With Your Kids,which I'll be starting soon, but rejected for both. It's a good book, but pretty gory. I think it's a bit much for some kids.) The books I'll be talking about are just scary enough to be fun, and usually they have some humor too.
  The first book I'm going to talk about HAS to come first. Ivy says it's one of our summer reads, and it's set in the summer. I maintain it's a Halloween read because it's a ghost story. So I figure I'll split the difference and review it now.
  The Ghost of Dibble Hollow by May Nickerson Wallace is my book equivalent of a one hit wonder. It was always one of my favourite books as a kid. I checked the Scholastic paperback out of the library more times than I can remember. Normally when I had a favourite book I read other books by the same author. But I never found another book by May Nickerson Wallace. The only thing I have been able to find out about her is that she wrote at least 6 books, the last apparently published in 1965, (which may have been The Ghost of Dibble Hollow.). She was alive into the 90's, but I suppose she was retired from writing. Her other books appear to have covered mysteries and books about children's adventures. Ghost of Dibble Hollow fits both of those categories.

  The story concerns a boy named Pug, who moves to an old family house in the country with his parents and younger sister. The first day they discover a feud has been going on for years between their family and the family on the neighboring farm, over some money belonging to both families that disappeared while in the hands of Pug's great uncle Miles. Miles was a boy of 10 at the time, and he disappeared along with the money.It's presumed that Miles ran away with the loot, but one night his ghost appears to Pug and tells the story of what happened. Pug must solve the mystery of where the money went,and heal the rift between the families, all the while keeping Miles' ghost a secret. Along the way he falls in love with his new country home, makes a friend, finds a secret hideout, and has adventures I know I would have loved to have as a kid. The book has humor and some ghostly happenings, but we get to know Miles, and he's a likeable character. The story of what happened to Miles is a little gory, but it's Miles telling it, so that kind of softens the effect. The story is a good mystery and a story of friendship, two friendships actually. It's got all the elements that make a great kid's book: mystery, adventure, a ghost story,secrets,humor,and great kid characters,(even if one of them is a ghost.). I would say the book could be for kids as young as 6 or 7 if it were read to them. If they are reading it on their own, maybe 8 to 10 would be a good age range. Ivy still likes to read it every year,and she's 13.  It's always been one of her favourite books too, so I've been able to enjoy it many times over the years! I asked Ivy if she had anything to add to this review and she said to say, "It's awesome!"
  Unfortunately Ghost of Dibble Hollow seems to have been out of print since the 70's. It's available online on Amazon and various auction sites, and if you're very lucky you might find it at a library sale or in a second hand book store. The average low price online seems to be about $15, but it's worth it.