The Doll Book of the Month Club: The Tub Grandfather

   Beware: Ahead there be spoilers!

  The last time we checked in with The Tub People, they were trying to save the Tub Child from the bathtub drain. In The Tub Grandfather, also by Pam Conrad, with illustrations by Richard Egielski...

... the family are playing on the rug. Grandmother pretends it is 'a sunny field from long ago', and pretends to plant seeds. 

When the family, (and the policeman and the doctor, and the dog), decides to play ball. While they are playing, a little wooden man sleeps under the radiator, where 'it's warm and dark and no one had looked there for a long time.'

But when the ball rolls under the radiator, the tub child finds the sleeping man.

The Tub People bring him out from under the radiator. He's missing one eye, and the other is closed. At first no one knows who he is, but Tub Grandmother gently asks, "Walter dear, is that you?" 

The gentleman doesn't answer. But he is, indeed, Walter, the Tub Grandfather. The Tub People try to wake him, by inviting hm to play ball, and by having a loud parade, with no success. That night they all line up as usual, only now there is also the Tub Grandfather.

The next morning they even try taking him to the tub. He still doesn't wake up. Finally they take him back to the rug. When the radiator comes on and begins to whistle, Tub Grandfather begins to rock back and forth on his feet. That's when Tub Grandmother figures out what to do. She begins to hum to him.

    Is that not the sweetest thing? This is such a warm, quiet, old fashioned story just like it's predecessor. This book was a bit wet, and had to have it's pages separated, after being discovered in a wet box in the bottom shelf of what was left of the book case in Fuzzy's room. I had it out today, drying in the sun, when Fuzz arrived and spotted it, and smiled, "Oh! The Tub Grandfather!"

    You can hear The Tub Grandfather read HERE.

  That's the doll book for this month. See you tomorrow for another doll.