The Doll Book of the Month Club: Doll Hospital, Charlotte's Choice

  Can you believe we've reached the end of the first month of the new year already?! Time really flies. Ivy went back to college yesterday. There' a surge of Covid in Indiana in general, and her college specifically, so I'm worried. At least she recently got her booster, when we did, while she was home.

  So anyway, I'm on my own again while Ken's at work. Know what that means Raging Moon and Barb? It means I'll soon be digging out those dolls for you. I'll also be listing some more dolls and doll things on the blog's sales page. What doesn't sell on the page in a month or so will go on Ebay for a slightly higher price, since on there I have to cover the fees. (Can you believe they now take a share of the money paid for shipping too! That's for shipping! I don't even get any of that! It's because a lot of people were trying to avoid the Ebay fees on their 'final value', so they priced the item very low and charged a crazy rate for shipping. Now we all have to pay part of our shipping money to Ebay! I always put a regular price on the item, so that means I don't actually get what I asked for anything now, because part of my profit goes to pay shipping. I hate Ebay.) 

 This month's Doll Book of the Month Club entry is really a series of books. The series, by Joan Holub,  is called "Doll Hospital".  Although we'll concentrate on The book "Charlotte's Choice", we'll also talk about the series in general.

  The series 'Doll Hospital' books are about two sisters, 8 year old Lila and 10 year old Rose, who are sent to live with their grandmother  when their doctor parents go to Africa for a year to work. They call their grandmother  'Far Nana', because she lives far from them, and they have rarely seen her. The idea of them living with her is so they can get to know her better. Far Nana is a bit of an old hippy. She wears lots of bead necklaces, which click together when she moves. She also repairs dolls, thus the 'doll hospital' of the series title. 

  But the interesting thing about Far Nana's doll repairs is that when Far Nana repairs the dolls, they 'talk' to her, (Not out loud.), and they tell her their histories. Far Nana tells the stories to Rose and Lila as she works. That's how we learn the stories, as the reader is obviously listening in. 

  There are six books in the series. The first was "Tatiana Comes to America", the story the girls' arrival at Far Nana's, and of a doll who escapes Russia in 1907. The second book was "Goldie's Fortune", and the doll in the story is from the Depression era. Third in the series was "Glory's Freedom", and the doll was the doll of a slave traveling the Underground Railroad. The fourth book in the series was "Saving Marissa", about a doll from the 1950's. The fifth book was "Danielle's Dollhouse Wish", the story of an 1890's dollhouse family from Paris. (I'd like to get hold of that one.)

  The book we're looking at more closely is, as I said, "Charlotte's Choice", the sixth and final book in the series. 

In this book, Lila and Rose have just gotten off school for winter vacation. They want to go to the Winter Carnival, but Far Nana has other plans, which infuriates the girls. Far Nana tells the girls they are going to an historic Shaker village, where Far Nana is going to visit an old friend and repair a doll for her.

  Lila and Rose decide to give Far Nana the cold shoulder, to let her know how mad they are that they don't get to go to the Winter Carnival. Far Nana's friend works at the Shaker village, which is now a tourist site, and Far Nana and the girls are going to be staying in the 'dwelling house' at the village. 

The doll Far Nana is going to repair was found in an attic in the village. The doll has paper mache' limbs, (except for  a missing leg), a cloth body, and a wooden head. 

But dolls and toys weren't allowed by the Shakers until well after the era of this doll. How did she get in the attic? What's she doing in the Shaker village? 

Maybe Far Nana will find out as she repairs the doll. (In the process of repairing the doll we learn how Far Nana makes a new paper mache' leg by making a mold of the remaining leg and casting a new leg.) And do Lila and Rose get over being mad at Far Nana? Do they end up enjoying their visit to the Shaker village? 

  Of course, you probably have figured out that, of course Far Nana tells the doll's story, of course the girls get over being mad at Far Nana, and of course they enjoy their visit. That's how these books go. But  is it an enjoyable journey getting to the end of the story? Well, yes. These books are fun. It's never  explained whether or not Far Nana can really 'hear' the dolls' thoughts, or if she's making it all up. I like to think she has a little magic and can really hear the dolls. I suppose I would also have enjoyed them as a kid because there's always a little history in each book too. I always loved history. Ivy liked these books when she was little, and we read two or three of them. 

  The book is a quick  read of less than 130 pages, about the length of all the books in the series. The age recommendation is ages 8-10. It could be read to younger children if they are interested.

  Author Joan Holub has written a lot of books for kids. And I mean A LOT. More than 180, in fact. She acquired a Fine Arts degree and spent a few years as an art director with a graphic design firm. But she always wanted to write kids' books. Eventually Joan moved to New York and got a job designing books for Scholastic Books. She also edited books for them. In 1992 the first book she had illustrated was published. She became an illustrator, until the publication of her first authored book, in 1996.  Today Joan Holub is 66, and apparently has cats named after Scout and Boo from "To Kill a Mockingbird". (One of my favourite books, so I have to love that! By the way, I highly recommend "To Kill a Mockingbird" to everyone, and the movie is great too!) 

  Oddly enough, Joan Holub didn't illustrate the Doll Hospital books. They're illustrated by Ann Losa. I guess Joan is too busy these days writing those 180 plus books to illustrate them too. But the illustrations by Ann Losa are nice. 

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