This month's Doll Book of the Month Club book is "D is for Different".
As you can see, this book is a Barbie book. Emma used to be in the Barbie and Friends book club to get these when she was a kid. She always loved these books, and recently bought this one, because it was one she didn't have from childhood.
The book concerns a girl named Danni, and her annoying bully classmate Alice, who is constantly making fun of Danni. Danni is having trouble with her spelling but she's a whiz at playing the piano.
Danni is, in fact, having so much trouble with her spelling and other subjects that it's becoming a problem. But, this is a Barbie book, so guess who saves the day? Danni's teacher has a big surprise for the class. A famous author is coming to their classroom. It turns out to be Barbie Roberts. Who knew Barbie was a writer too? When Barbie visits the class, and sees Danni being teased for her bad spelling, she comforts her. Barbie thinks that maybe Danni has a learning disorder involving her short term memory. Barbie offers to help Danni by giving her some 'tricks' to help her remember things.
Alice, who is a great speller, turns out to be lousy at the thing Danni excels in: paying the piano. Will Danni help her tormentor? Will Alice stop being such a creep? Will Barbie straighten out Danni's learning problems? Well I think you can guess the answer to all these questions. This is a Barbie book Come on!
The book does talk about some learning problems that kids might relate to, as well as showing how being a bully can backfire, when you realize that the kid you're making fun of, is better than you are at something. Everybody is bad at something, and it isn't right to be cruel to someone. There is a lot of bullying in school, and kids need to learn how it makes others feel. So, there are some lessons to be learned here. One thing they deal with, but don't talk about directly, and it's Barbie who has to come up with the idea. Danni's teacher is oblivious.), is how hard it is for some kids to talk in front of the class, or be the center of attention. Danni is seriously nervous about spelling in front of everyone, because she's so bad at spelling. No matter the reason, this sort of thing is hard on kids. It's tough being humiliated in front of your classmates. Danni's teacher has the class do a spelling bee, and awards a 'speller of the week' star to the winner. He thinks it will help kids get used to speaking in public. But some people just aren't made for that. And do they really have to be? When I was in middle school we had to give book reports in front of the class. One boy was so nervous that he couldn't speak at all. He stood there at his desk shaking and eventually broke down in tears. Luckily we had a sympathetic teacher, who told him to sit down, and told the class that there's no point n forcing somebody to do something that they find so upsetting. I have always respected her for that.
The writing in the Barbie books was pretty good, compared to doll based books like the Only Hearts Club dolls book I posted recently. The very first page of this book describes April's ponytail as standing out behind her like a large question mark, (or was that an exclamation point?). When Alice, laughs at Danni, it's said that her ponytail is shaking around like it is laughing at her too. There's a lot more description and care taken to actually write a decent story than there was in the Only Hearts Club book.
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| Alice, left, laughs at Danni, right, who is begging the bell to ring before it's her turn to spell a word. |
But let's get real here. The best thing about these Barbie books was always the pictures! Another thing they have over the Only Hearts Club books! I complained in that post about how little care they had taken in posing the dolls, and in 'dressing the sets', so to speak. In one picture the dance studio wall paper was obviously just notebook paper, and then they reused the notebook paper wall paper in the main character's bedroom too! And in those pictures, the 'wallpaper' didn't even cover the whole wall! You don't get shoddy decorating like that in the Barbie books! The detail in the pictures was always amazing. The rooms were decorated like real rooms, with every little nick nack and do dad accounted for. Of course, as I said in the Only Hearts Club book post, Barbie obviously is going to have a lot more money behind her. These books weren't even accompanying a doll, or available to the average consumer. To get these books you had to belong to the book club.
Emma and I were discussing the grass in this picture. It looks like real grass. Was it fake grass that was just very realistic? Was it photo trickery? Did they even have programs good enough to composite a picture like this using a photo of real real grass and dolls? Or is the grass just a photo? If it is, they did a really good job of making it look three dimensional and making it look like the bicycle and the dog are really on it. There is at least one bit of photo trickery in this picture. I'm pretty sure Danni has the legs with the jointed knees, and they have photoshopped the joint out.
The other thing we were talking about is something we also used to enjoy doing when Emma was a kid. We always like spotting which dolls and which clothes were used in the books. In the picture above we spotted Flashlight Fun Whitney's shoes on Danni's friend on the left, and Bowling Party Janet's socks and shoes on Danni's other friend.
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Danni's name is spelled with a 'y' on the board because April teased Danni so much about 'not even spelling your own name right', that Danni angrily changed it and asked April if that was good enough. I'd have made her eat the chalk too. I did not take to teasing, and as a red haired kid, I got plenty of it.
I loved seeing Mulan's Captain Li Shang as a modern guy! He's Danni's teacher, Mr. Lee. |
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| You can see my post on this Captain Li Shang doll HERE. |
I also caught another little goodie in the photo. At the far right edge you can see a lunchbox. I immediately recognized it as a Basic Fun keychain lunch box, but which one?
I figured it out. It's a "Gunsmoke" lunchbox, from the series of classic TV show lunchboxes! How many kids were carrying Gunsmoke lunchboxes in the 90's or early 2000's? I suppose they figured no one could tell what kind it was anyway.
Another fun thing was, often special dolls were created just for the books That was a little aggravating, because some of them were ones we would have liked to have bought! Danni's mom was an early 'curvy' doll. She has obviously wider hips and chunkier legs than standard Barbie dolls of the time. Danni herself is a doll specially made for the book, and not commercially available. Her face paint is definitely one of a kind, except maybe in the picture with the grass. That smiling face, (which was a mistake, because she's definitely not smiling in the part of the book.), look like the Stacie's that were sold. But there was never a brunette Stacie friend without bangs.
They reused a lot of real clothes Mattel actually sold, in fashion packs or on dolls, (like the shoes and socks mentioned above.), but often the clothes were specially made too.
So yes. These books are fun, and not badly written. These days you can buy them by the stack on Ebay. They turn up now and then at yard sales and thrift stores too.
Don't forget to check out today's doll too!
