I'm way late with this month's Doll Book of the Month Club entry. I'm still coughing, headachy, tiring and running out of breath easily. I don't even have my Christmas tree up yet! As the saying goes though, better late than never. This month's book is actually a series of books, The Doll People series, by Ann M. Martin, (Author of the Babysitter's Club books.), and Laura Godwin, and illustrated by Brian Selznick. (You may remember Brian Selznick as the author and illustrator of "The Invention of Hugo Cabret", the basis for the movie "Hugo".) There are five books in the series, four chapter books, and one younger children's book. Ivy and I read most of them when she was small. She outgrew them, and I read the 4th one without her, because I loved the books and wanted to know what happened to the characters.
The first book in the series is The Doll People.
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We meet the two doll families we know throughout the books. The first family we meet is the Dolls. They are a family of antique dollhouse dolls, over a hundred years old. They, and their house, have been passed down through the same family for generations. They currently belong to Kate Palmer, but used to belong to Grama Katherine, who lives with the Palmers. At one point Grama Katherine admits to a curious Kate, that she also thought the dolls might actually be alive when she was a child. Kate's sister, Nora likes to come in and play what she calls 'rancher family' with The Dolls and her own farm animal toys. 'Rancher Family is pretty rough, (One session ends in a talcum powder snow storm that covers everything.), and the Dolls hate it. But, of course, they can't do anything about it: They're dolls. If they are caught moving or talking in front of humans they go into what's called 'Doll State': 24 hours of being unable to move or talk. (The dolls take an oath when they are made, to never give away the lives of dolls to humans.) Worse yet is 'Permanent Doll State', which happens when a doll does something especially bad to give away the secret lives of dolls. Once a doll goes into 'Permanent Doll State, they will never be alive again. From then on, they are only a regular doll.
The main character is Annabelle, perpetually eight years old, with green hair because of a past owner's artistic efforts. Her best friend arrives in Nora's new Fun Craft dollhouse. She's a very modern, plastic doll named Tiffany. The Funcrafts are the other family of dolls the books follow. Tiffany, being a modern girl, and made of worry free, unbreakable plastic, is maybe even more adventurous than Annabel. (Or at least more reckless.)
Annabelle lives with her parents, her brother, her baby sister, (who was sent by mistake all those years ago, and came from a different set of much larger dolls.), their nanny, and Uncle Doll. Uncle Doll's wife, Auntie Sarah, has been missing for the last forty five years. When Annabelle finds Auntie Sarah's diary, she uncovers some clues, and is determined to find Auntie Sarah. Fortunately, the house the Palmers live in has also been passed down in the family for years, so Auntie Sarah might still be on the premises.
Annabelle and Tiffany risks cat attacks, breakage, (Well, Annabelle, at least, is made of porcelain.), and Doll State to find Auntie Sarah. Do they find her? How would her reappearance be explained? Where has she been all those years?
The second book, "The Meanest Doll in the World", finds Annabelle and Tiffany eager to see what school is like.
They hide in Kate's back pack and travel to school. When it's time to return home, the dolls climb into the wrong back pack by accident, and end up at another house, where they meet several other dolls, including Mean Mimi. Mimi follows Annabelle and Tiffany back home, where she threatens everyone's lives by being seen moving.
In the third book, "The Runaway Dolls", a package from one hundred years ago is discovered behind a piece of furniture in an old shop.
It shows up at the Palmers house, but it's addressed to the inhabitants of one hundred years ago, and the Palmers have gone on vacation. Annabelle, ever curious, investigates. She hears a tiny voice coming from inside the package. Is it her long lost baby sister? (Remember, the wrong baby sister was sent with the rest of the family, leaving them with a giant baby that barely fits on her parents' laps. But they love her anyway.) Annabelle can't resist letting her sister out of the package, (What if it gets returned because it's addressed to someone else?!), even though her parents don't believe that's who she is. Since her parents won't accept the new daughter, Annabelle decides the only thing to do is run away. This seems out of character for Annabelle, who usually has more sense than that. Even Annabelle doubts her decision pretty quickly.
The dolls, (Tiffany came with Annabelle and her sister Tilly.), are joined this time by their brothers. The dolls have many adventures, but I won't spoil the ending. I liked this book just slightly less than the first two. Not that it wasn't good, but the books seemed to be falling into the old sequel trap of not being as good as the original.
The last full length book, (So far.), is "The Doll People Set Sail".
I have to say that this story of the Dolls and the Funcrafts getting accidentally donated to charity,(Shades of Toy Story 3!), and shipped to England, is my least favourite of the series. It isn't bad. It's just the weakest of the four full length books. They also lost their long time illustrator with this one, which sees Brett Helquist taking over the duties.
His illustrations aren't bad, but lack the magic of Selznick's.
I haven't even seen the short book, "The Doll People's Christmas" in a store, so I can't tell you much about it.
I can tell you I hate the way Tiffany and Annabelle look on the cover.
The illustrations are by Brett Helquist and are in colour this time. There are 48 pages. Annabel is looking forward to showing Tiffany a traditional Christmas when Kate and Nora decide to use the dolls in a nativity scene DOWNSTAIRS. Will they get back to the dollhouse in time for Christmas? Can they get past Captain, the cat? What about the broken Christmas star on the dollhouse tree?
The reading level for the first four books is listed in one place as 7-10, and in another as 8-12. I think even younger kids could enjoy having the books read to them. Warning though: Mimi is pretty frightening!
And now for that giveaway! I'm sorry it will only be open to residents of the continental United States, but no fear. In the new year there will be a contest open to everybody. As for this competition, a hardcover, (first edition I think!), copy of "The Meanest Doll in the World" will go to a winning reader. Comment with your favourite Doll Book of the Month Club post of the year to enter. A winner will be pulled from a 'hat' on December 24th, so get your entries in. I apologize the book won't arrive in time for Christmas, but the original plan was, of course, to have posed this on December first, and give the readers two weeks to enter. Things don't always go as planned.
As this is the last Doll Book of the Month Club entry for the year, I wanted to remind everyone of a doll book I posted about several years ago. It's one of my favourites from my childhood. You can read about "Merry, Rose, and Christmas Tree June" HERE.
I'll see you again soon!
