Doll Book of the Month Club: The Tub People by Pam Conrad

  This month's Doll Book is "The Tub People", by Pam Conrad, with beautiful illustrations by Richard Egielski.

 "The Tub People" is a short picture book, which can be read in a few minutes, but there's quite an adventure included. The book tells the story of a group of toys who live on the side of a bathtub. They include, "The father, the mother, the grandmother, the doctor, the policeman, the child, and the dog", and that's the order they always stand in. 

  I wondered why the child didn't stand with his parents. It should have been a tip off to the payoff of the story. I won't tell you the end of the story, but I will tell you that it's quite touching. Before the end comes the adventure. One evening, instead of being lined up along the tub as they usually are, the tub people are left floating in the water. Suddenly the water is drained from the tub, and the hapless Tub People go spinning toward the drain. The poor Tub Child disappears down the drain, and the Tub People are unable to save him.

Will the Tub Child be rescued? 

The sad Tub People, (and dog), after the loss of the Tub Child.

Is this too scary for a small child? I don't think they'll be scarred by it. It's a sweet, old fashioned story that is reminiscent of books like "The Doll People", (no relation.).

Giving away the ending...

 My kids liked it very much when they were small. Emma has a book called, "The  20th Century Children's Book Treasury", a huge book with many children's books included within one volume. "The Tub People" is included in that. 

 

There have been two sequels, "The Tub Grandfather", and "The Tub People's Christmas". 

  You can hear "The Tub People"  read aloud HERE. You can hear "The Tub Grandfather" read aloud HERE, and "The Tub People's Christmas" can be heard HERE.

  Pam Conrad is also the author of  the 1986 ALA Best Children's Book of the Year and 1985 ALA Golden Kite Honor award winning children's novel "Prairie Songs", and the 1991 Edgar Allen Poe Best Juvenile Mystery award winner, "Stonewords". Richard Egielski is a Caldecott Medal winner and has illustrated many other children's books, including "Hey, Al", and the Tub People sequels, He has written and illustrated books including "Buz and Jazper", and "The Magic Balls", and "The Gingerbread Boy", both New York Times Best Illustrated Book award winners.

  That's it for this month's book. See you soon.

Why I Hate Auctions With Internet Bidding

  It was a warm day yesterday. Overcast as could be, but warm. I consented to eat at a restaurant with Ken because we got to eat outside on the patio, all by ourselves. (We still need to get our vaccinations.) On the way home it started to rain, which continued into today. Apparently that cooled things off considerably because it's been as low as the 40's, (Fahrenheit), today.  My poor fingers were pretty good by yesterday afternoon, but are stiff and sore again today. I'm hoping the weather has something to do with it, and when it warms up they will be all better.

  The doll auction started yesterday. Ken and I got there not long after the auction started, but I very quickly figured out that I wasn't going to be able to afford anything. It was a shame too, because there were quite a few wonderful Baps dolls, (You can see my pitiful Baps doll HERE.), and some beautiful hand made one of a kind dolls, and lot of really cool miniatures. 

  I had a look at the dolls for the other two days of auctions too. It looked like the only chance I was going to have at affording anything was going to come on the 'gallery only' auction day. 'Gallery only' means you have to actually be there to bid. Wednesday and Thursday were gallery and internet bids. I talked to a couple of ladies who were also looking at the gallery bids only dolls, and we all agreed that since the auction started accepting internet bids too, we could no longer afford anything.  It's too hard to compete with people from all over the world. It's bad enough when you are competing with people in the gallery! The auctions are where dealers used to go to get the dolls they sold at shows. 'Regular people'  rarely showed up. Now there is so much competition from internet bids that I don't know how dealers can make a profit any more. Add that to the incredibly high cost of show tables and it's easy to see why doll shows are dying. Dealers can't afford to do shows because they have to sell so much just to warrant going. They have to make back table costs, travel costs, and still make a profit on the dolls they sell. One of the ladies said the auction house takes half the auction price of the doll, then they also charge the buyer 5 or 10% if you pay in cash, (We couldn't remember which.), and even more for using credit cards. It's like the doll shows. They charge crazy prices for tables, even more for electricity if you need it for your display, and then charge shoppers for entry. Let's add to that the money they make for  the ridiculous practice of 'early birders' fees. That's where people pay extra to enter the show an hour or two ahead of everybody else. That's stupid! Just let everyone have the same chance, and stop trying to milk every last dime out of the thing.

  Anyway, I'm not sure I'm going to go back on Friday, because Ken has to work that evening. He's always paranoid the car won't be back in time and he'll be late. So, I left some absentee bids. I almost never win with absentee bids. I am afraid of spending too much, since you never know how many lots you'll win, so I bid very low. If I were there I would know what I had won so far, and could bid accordingly. So I invariably bid too low, and probably lose a lot of things by $5, (one bid). In any case, I guess I'll leave it to fate. I did spot one doll I've had on my mental list, and a couple of others that would now be on the list if I knew who they were made by. I'll let you know if I win anything. I probably won't find out until at least Monday.

Cool Finds: 1/6 Scale Furniture and Accessories

   I'm still here! I know I haven't been posting much. Just wait until I get my own computer though! I'll be back with a vengeance! At the moment I'm suffering with a couple of problem fingers, which are making typing difficult. It's going to have to be limited to the thumb and index finger on the right hand at least. Luckily I have the Doll Book of the Month Club post all ready to go, so you'll be seeing that in a couple of days. Tomorrow is the first day of a three day doll auction. There is supposed to be a bunch of dollhouse dolls and furniture, play dolls, and 'dolls with issues', which, as you know, is where I get a lot of my collection!

  As for the fingers, I don't remember doing anything to damage them. I have had some problems with my right hand fingers being very stiff in the mornings. This isn't just stiffness though. It feels the way fingers feel when you stove them up, that is, jam them on something. I don't think I did that, but then I often injure myself and forget about it unless it causes a problem at the time. Actually though, I think it may be arthritis. It really hurts, and using the fingers makes them hurt even more. I said to Ken that if this is arthritis, my 'making stuff' years may be coming to an end. 

  In any case, they hurt, so let's get on with this post!

  I have made some cool finds the last few months. It's time I started showing them to you. My favourite find was this one.

I found this in a glass display case at an antique store. I was really afraid it was going to cost a fortune, but luckily it was only $5. 

 I have a thing about furniture, and I keep saying I'm going to build a 1/6 scale antique store to display all my cool 1/6 scale furniture, vases, etc. The great thing about this chair is how wonderfully to scale it is. Look at those tiny spindles in the back and arms. Usually miniature chairs like this will have fat spindles because making them tiny enough to be to scale makes them easily breakable. I would guess they are also hard to carve that small because they break while you're trying to carve them. This one is beautiful!

  I also found some things at my favourite Goodwill. (I think these all came from there.)

  I don't know what the wooden thing was, but I know what it's going to be! These two are going to be tables.

I noticed from these pictures that the silver thing, (Yes, that is silver. It's just tarnished.), doesn't have it's feet on the floor properly. Shoot.

  My only question is, which end is up?

  It looks good either way. It just needs stained and a table top put on. Any suggestions which way looks better? Imagine it with a top on, both ways.

  See you again in a couple of days for the Doll Book of the Month Club.

Some Random Things You Might Be Interested In

  I posted the Old Cottage Doll Ken got me for Easter in my last post. He got me a few other things too, which I thought might interest some of you. Not too long ago, (Or was it? Time means nothing to me any more!) , I posted about the new series of Mini Brands Toys. I said I wouldn't buy any more of them because they were too expensive for most of the things you might get. That's true. But that doesn't mean someone can't buy them for me! Ken got me one more ball, and this is what was in it, (Minus the shopping cart.)

I already had the Angelica, so now I have one more thing to trade, if anybody is interested. Here are the other three though.

Ken also got me a pack of Wacky Packages products. Wacky Packages have been around for a long time. I collected the stickers when I was a kid. Wacky Packages are joke versions of actual products. Most of them are kind of gross, but that's why kids love them I guess! The Wacky Packages products  come in a cannister sort of thing.

Within the cannister there are plastic packages with the products inside.

Here is one of the plastic bags with the products I got.

The product packaging is really good and very accurate to the real products. The Nesquik (or, 'Nesquak') container is especially realistic, and even has the little nib on one side of the lid to lift it by. (The lid doesn't really come off, unfortunately.) 

  The meatballs can is a bit large for 1/6 scale, (Extra large family size?) , but the others are perfect. Has Mini Brands done a Nesquik or a Log Cabin? If not, and you really wanted them, you could get these and print a label for them on your computer. A lot of things can be made at home, and I have seen people make containers like these out of polymer clay, but the plastic probably looks more realistic. I'm all about the realism. These could even be used in the cupboards, shelves, or on the counters in the background of photos, without anybody being able to tell they are 'Wacky'.

  I also talked in that other post about how I got free Mini Brands Toys. The free ones were on the display boxes they throw away when they're empty. Well I have had my eye on the Wacky Packages display boxes since I spotted them. The other day I was lucky enough to get a couple of display boxes at a Target. They had both Series 1 and Series 2, and I got both.

As you can see, I now have an extra Mrs. Klean and an extra Chef Borgardee...

 On other subjects I thought some of you might be interested in these cute pajama sets for the Disney Princesses Comfy Squad. They were at Ollies for only $2.99, which I thought was a pretty good price.

I don't have any of the dolls, (But I'd like to have Merida and Anna from the first series.), but I was thinking...

They fit Tammy World! Not the slippers, but the clothes do.

Tammy can wear the big plastic hair bow, but she probably won't.

"The other one says 'Nap Queen', but I'm wearing this one as clothes!"

  They also had Jasmine's pjs I think. but I wasn't crazy about them.

  Also, a random reminder that the wire handles from Chinese food take out containers are very useful, so I save them.

I had these laying around to put away and I happened to think about it.

 I used one on the Kermit the Frog as Bob Cratchit ornament I made for Emma last year.  

  And that's all for today. Just some random things I was thinking you might be interested in. I have lots to show you, which I'm sure you will get to see soon. Things have been compiling and I haven't been posting about them because I hate using Ken's computer. But I am getting a new computer. (FINALLY!) I'm not sure when, but soon. I'll be a lot more productive with my own computer.

A Happy Easter with an Old Cottage Doll

 Happy Easter and Passover to everyone. I thought I'd share some cheery Spring pictures of the doll Ken gave me for Easter today.

She's an Old Cottage doll.  I've been wanting one for a while, but they can be expensive. I found this girl online recently for a good price though, and Ken bought her for me without my knowing.

Old Cottage dolls were made in England.

The company was started in 1948 by Margaret Fleischmann.

Margaret was originally from Czechoslovakia, but moved to England in 1939.

Margaret began by making dolls for her daughter Susi, who later helped her run the company.

The faces of Old Cottage dolls are hard composition or hard plastic. As you can see, my girl has some cracks in her face. 

 The dolls were available in a couple of sizes. This girl is about 9 inches tall. The bodies are padded wire, covered with felt.

I didn't know until I got this girl, that she can move her head side to side, and her arms and legs are jointed too.

The hair is mohair.

This doll does have some moth damage to her felt limbs too. The felt must be made of wool. It was in those days. Now the felt available in places like JoAnn's and Hobby Lobby is acrylic.

Her dress, which is made of a crepe like fabric, even has matching bloomers.

Her dress is removable and closes in the back with hook and eye closures.

  In the 60's the BBC comissioned Old Cottage Dolls to make a set of Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee dolls. The dolls were also available to the public. I'd love to have a set of those!

  You can order the guide book to Old Cottage Dolls HERE.