The Doll Book of the Month Club: The Noble Doll

  Happy new year! This month's Doll Book of the Month Club entry is "The Noble Doll", by Newbery Award winning author, Elizabeth Coatsworth, and illustrated in black and white and colour by Leo Politti.

  I found this book recently at an antique store. It had interesting, colourful pictures, and was not expensive, so I decided to buy it and share it with all of you.

  The story begins with Doña Amalia, an elderly lady, living alone in her formerly grand house that is now run down. Doña Amalia's family had once been well to do. now, Doña Amalia is the only one left. She is very old, and her only means of income is the mending she does. Her eyesight is failing, and Doña Amalia wonders how long she will be able to earn a living with her mending.

  One day a lady appears at Doña Amalia's door with a little girl. The lady explains that she is the daughter of  Doña Amalia's former cook, and  Doña Amalia immediately recognizes her as the little girl who used to live in her house years ago. The lady explains that she was very happy living in Doña Amalia's house, and that she has brought her daughter Luisa to live with Doña Amalia, and serve her, as her own mother and grandmother served Doña Amalia's family.  She asks for no wages for Luisa, merely room and board, saying it would be an honour for Luisa to serve Doña Amalia.

  I was kind of disturbed by this. For one thing, the woman is just giving her daughter to this woman. Later in the story we find that Luisa goes home for visits when she can, but STILL! Also, Doña Amalia can barely feed herself. How can she care for the little girl? Her house is in disrepair. It would have made way more sense for Luisa's mother to have taken Doña Amalia into her home and cared for her in her final years. Whether or not Doña Amalia would have accepted the offer is another thing, but if she wasn't too proud to take this woman's daughter even when she couldn't properly provide for her, maybe she would have accepted. Just a point, but this book was originally published in 1961, and from what we learn in the ending, I don't think it was set in olden times. So it doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

  Doña Amalia and Luisa come to care a great deal for each other. Luisa does the marketing, cleaning, and helps Doña Amalia by threading her needles. She loves to listen to Doña Amalia tell stories of the past while she sews. 

 

Luisa, at the bottom of the picture, does the marketing.

 Doña Amalia tells Luisa how she would love to take Luisa to see the large ranch that she owns, out in the country. The buildings were burned down long ago, but when Doña Amalia was growing up, her father owned the ranch. Now it belongs to  Doña Amalia. She has  a lawyer who has been trying to sell it for years, but no one wants the land because it is so far from town, and there is not enough water there. 

  At one point Doña Amalia fondly mentions someone named Rosita. She speaks of Rosita with such affection, that Luisa wonders who Rosita is, (Does she live somewhere in the huge house?), and if Rosita is more loved by Doña Amalia than herself.

  Doña Amalia loves having Luisa with her, but she wonders how she is going to provide for Luisa, and what will become of her crumbling mansion.

  As the Christmas season and Posada arrive, Luisa helps Doña Amalia set up the creche Nativity.

  Doña Amalia has been working on a large stack of mending for a wealthy client. She tells Luisa that when she is paid for the mending she and Luisa will have money to pay for the food for the coming year, and maybe Christmas treats. But when the wealthy lady arrives in her big car, she makes little Luisa carry it out for her, where she examines the clothing, and decides that the mending will not be good enough for her to pay the full agreed upon price. She gives Doña Amalia only a few coins, and tells her that most of the mending will need to be redone by someone else. Before she speeds off in her big car, she gives Luisa a few pesos out of guilt, to buy Christmas sweets.

  Doña Amalia is devastated. How will she buy food? What will happen to her, and to Luisa?

  Finally, Luisa meets Rosita. Rosita is a doll, and she and two other dolls are brought out for the holiday. Doña Amalia explains that the two other dolls were bought new for her, but Rosita has been passed down from Doña Amalia's mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. She is the most beautiful doll, grandly dressed and well cared for.

   All the dolls are tied in their chairs so they don't fall out and break. This was a relief, because I thought Rosita was going to get broken! I thought that was the big thing that was going to happen. I'm a pessimist, I guess!

  Rosita is displayed in the front window of Doña Amalia's home. Luisa suggests that Rosita be dressed as St. Francis, so that maybe St. Francis, being the patron saint of the poor, will look kindly on her. So Doña Amalia sews a plain brown robe for Rosita. 

  One day a gentleman appears, admiring Rosita, and offers Doña Amalia a great deal of money for Rosita. Doña Amalia turns him down, but feels inside that when he returns she must accept his offer, as there is no other way to buy food and take care of Luisa. She is heartbroken.

  If you're interested in reading the book, and don't want any spoilers, skip to my final thoughts on the book, below the second set of spoiler warning starts below. But if you want to know what happens to Doña Amalia, Luisa, and Rosita, read on.

**********************************The rest of the story************************************************

  Just when all seems lost, and Doña Amalia will have to sell Rosita, at the point in the Posada song where the door opens, she and Luisa get a sudden visit from the lawyer, who brings a huge swan Pinata and some really good news.

  The lawyer tells Doña Amalia and Luisa that the new airline company has bought her property for a new international airstrip, and they have offered such a good price that Doña Amalia will be comfortable for the rest of her life, and be able to give Luisa a very nice dowry. So everything ends happily, and Doña Amalia will NOT have to sell Rosita.

***********************************************************************************

 

  Author Elizabeth Coatsworth attended Vassar College, graduating in 1915, and got her Master of Arts degree from Columbia University in 1916. She won the 1931 Newbery medal for her book, "The Cat Who Went to Heaven". She was a great traveler who took interest in the cultures of the places she visited. She wrote many books of poetry, and over 90 books for children, including "Runaway Home", one of the series of  school readers known as The Alice and Jerry Books, and the 'Sally' series of historical fiction books. (You can see all the titles in the Sally series and read their synopsis' HERE.)

   My kids always tease me that a lot of the books I loved as a kid were about somebody having to save a house. (Some of them you may have read about here on the blog, like Sea View Secret, The Ghost of Dibble Hollow, Magic Elizabeth, and Ginnie and the Mystery Doll. So this book would have fit right in with a lot of my favourites. It is a nice warm book, with a Christmas theme and a happy ending. If you don't think your child would be upset by Luisa's mother basically giving her away, I think it could be enjoyed by small children. It's a short book of only 47 pages, and an easy read.

Doll Book of the Month Club: The Dollhouse Caper

  Okay. This post didn't go on either, so it's now 4 days late. Let's get caught  up.
  This month's Book Club entry is The Dollhouse Caper, by Jean S O'Connell.



Our copy has no dust jacket, and has only a plain black cover. So I'm showing you a stock photo.
  The book tells the story of two families: a human one, and a doll one. The human family owns a dollhouse, which only comes down for use at Christmas time every year.

  The family has three sons, who have always loved when the dollhouse is brought out for the year. This year though, the oldest son feels he's too old for dolls. The middle son follows the oldest's lead. The youngest son still loves playing with the dollhouse, (Unfortunately for the dollhouse family, that frequently involves sticking Dollhouse Dad's head in the toilet and leaving him there.),but the dollhouse family begins to fear what will happen when even the youngest gets 'too old' for the dollhouse.
  The family is planning a ski trip. The house will be deserted while they are gone. Only the dollhouse family know that crooks are watching the house,waiting for the family to leave, so they can rob it.

The dolls have to protect their home. They try desperately to think of a way they can warn the family of what is about to happen. Obviously, being dolls, they can't talk to the family.
  Do the dolls manage to save the day? Will their place in the home be secured? It's an exciting and satisfying ending. But I'll leave the details for you to read yourselves.
  I read this to my kids when they were little. I think we may even have read it twice. The recommendation is for kids ages 9-12,or grades 4-6. It's a short chapter book, and fairly easy to read.
   The illustrations are by Erik Blegvad, who illustrated some of my favourite kids' books,such as "The Swing in the Summerhouse",  He also illustrated another book I like, "The Finches Fabulous Furnace", as well as  "Bedknob and Broomstick" and the less common version of "The Borrowers". I like his illustrations. They always seem homey and comfortable. Maybe that's just because I read so many books as a kid that had his illustrations.
  That's the book for this month. I'll be back soon with a review of the latest from Maru and Friends.

Doll Book of the Month Club: Finding Walter

  This month's Doll Book of the Month Club entry is "Finding Walter" by Ann Turner. There are no illustrations.

  "Finding Walter",originally published in 1997 is a book Ivy and I got from the library, and I read to her ,when she was little. She enjoyed it a lot. We never owned a copy though. I always meant to get one,but all I could find were used copies,and a nice one was always what I considered over priced for a used book. Since deciding to do a monthly doll book post I had again been thinking about trying to find a copy of "Finding Walter". I finally found one listed as 'used, very good condition' on a site called Thriftbooks. It was a very good price, better than the paper backs I'd been seeing on Ebay,and it was supposed to be a hard back. When it came I found out it was a first edition hard back,with dust jacket,which didn't even seem to have been read beyond the first 20 or so pages. The spine wasn't broken and the book didn't open all the way beyond that. So whoo hoo! I made a great find.
  "Finding Walter" concerns two girls, Emily and Rose,who move to the country with their family for their father's health. Rose is not pleased with the move. She hates living in the country away from parks and museums. (Kid, who needs a park when you have the whole of the outdoors?!) She's very grouchy and unhappy. One day the old family dollhouse is uncovered in the attic. The house is filthy, and the dollhouse dolls are dirty and their clothes are moth eaten and faded. Emily gets right on cleaning the house and the dolls. Rose helps, but isn't as into it as Emily. In fact,she gets pretty snotty about it,and most other things too.
  The story turns to the doll's side of the story. Once awoken from their sleeping state of not being played with, the dolls realize that one of them isn't there. Walter is the youngest dollhouse child, and he is missing. The dolls call to Walter,but get no answer.
  The subject of the book now becomes the doll's efforts to communicate with the girls,and the dolls and the girls',attempts to find Walter and bring him home. Along the way Rose becomes more comfortable in her new home. Her mood improves and she and Emily begin to get along better. As for the dolls, they have many adventures.
  Walter is lost in the woods somewhere. Walter does eventually wake up and answer the dolls' messages, but even he's not sure where he is. But where he is is not as much the problem as getting the girls to locate him. The dolls can communicate with Walter, but they aren't able to move or appear alive in front of the humans, and they can't travel the distances needed to search for Walter on their own. This is when we learn that dolls can also communicate with humans. The dolls send mental messages to the girls,trying to tell them Walter is missing, and where they need to look for him. Emily is responsive to their messages right away. But Rose is harder to get through to. At first Rose doesn't believe Emily is really hearing the doll's thoughts. When Rose finally does get a message from the dollhouse son she's so terrified she runs away. Can you really blame her? Wouldn't you think you were going insane? It is a bit creepy when the dolls start putting images and messages in the girls' heads. It's a good thing they aren't evil dolls. (That would make a good horror book.)
   There's also a fire in the meadow by the woods. Will they save Walter in time?! I think kids will enjoy the mystery and the adventure of "Finding Walter". Ivy did. Scholastic rates the books as being for grades 3-5. Younger kids could enjoy the book too. As usual,you know your kids better than anyone. Use your own judgement.
  You could  have listened to "Finding Walter" for free HERE. It seems to have been removed since I started working on this post! However, you can still buy "Finding Walter" for your Kindle.

Doll Book of the Month Club: The Doll's House by Rumer Godden

  ***First of all, I have to apologize to, I believe it was Doll Hoarder's Exchange. I published your comment, but somehow it disappeared. I must have clicked Delete instead somehow. Thank you for the lovely things you said, and Happy new year to you!***
  Happy New Year all! I hope everybody enjoyed the last Doll-A-Day for 2019. This year I'm not doing a doll  every day. That frees me up to talk, and show you, about a lot of other things. Today we're starting a series I am calling the 'Doll Book of the Month Club'. Once a month we'll see a book that may be about dolls,or have dolls as characters. This will include doll reference books,children's books about doll characters,and maybe some other types of books. Let me know if you have any suggestions. We're starting the year with "The Doll's House" by Rumer Godden.

  You may have seen my post on the book "The Story of Holly and Ivy",also by Rumer Godden. (A note here: I gave the wrong link to that post on my post about Ivy's 'Holly' doll. That has been corrected, or you can follow the link above.) Today's book is another by Rumer Godden. "The Dolls' House" was originally published in 1947.

 

The copy we own has illustrations by Tasha Tudor, which were first included in 1962. The book concerns the Plantagenets, a family of dolls who live in London with two little girls named Emily and Charlotte.

The oldest of the dolls is Tottie, a very old wooden doll who has been in the family for generations.
 

 
  The dolls are happy, but uncomfortable in their shoe box home. When Tottie tells the others about the doll house,(or, as they say in Britain, the doll's house.),she once lived in when she was owned by Emily and Charlotte's great grandmother and great great aunt, the others long for a house of their own.

  Tottie isn't sure the house still exists, but the girls find themselves suddenly the owners of Tottie's old house, when it's passed down to them after a death in the family. 

The dolls are thrilled to have a house and things of their own.  Life is good and the dolls feel secure.

But can that last long? There has to be a conflict in a book, after all.
  The conflict here begins when the girls also inherit Tottie's old housemate. She's a beautiful but conceited and selfish doll named Marchpane, who still considers the doll's house and everything in it, to be hers.

 That's where things start to get a bit scary and sad. In fact, the book has a very shocking and sad climax. When I read the book to Ivy when she was a kid, we both had to stop and sit sort of stunned when it happened. We found it very devastating! We still enjoyed the book, but it took us by surprise and we were in tears. According to Ivy, I'm in tears over every book, but even she cried at this one.
 

  So, if you're reading the book to a child, be aware that it might be upsetting to them. Preread the ending,(It happens in chapter 20.), and make sure you think the child you're reading to can handle it.
  You can watch parts of the BBC's stop motion animated series based on the book HERE,HERE,and HERE. (It doesn't hold a candle to the book though. There's irony in that statement. If you read the book you'll find out why.) Apparently Rumor Godden originally didn't want the book made into a TV show. She later warmed to the idea and actually had a hand in the making of the series.
  That's the first Doll Book of the Month Club entry. I hope you liked it. See you soon! 

December Doll Reads: Miss Hickory, and Happy Christmas Wishes!

  We're well into December and I've only reviewed one book! I'm not keeping up with all my promises.But Emma, I am reading The Great Gatsby right now! (Well, not this second, obviously.)
  This post is dedicated to "Miss Hickory" by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey, another of my favourite books from my childhood.

  Miss Hickory was originally published in 1946 and won the Newbery Medal for children's literature the following year. The story concerns Miss Hickory, a doll made from an apple wood twig, with a hickory nut for a head,and what happens when her human family goes away for the winter and leaves her behind--outside, no less. Miss Hickory is used to living under the lilac bush in the summer, and having her neat little corn cob house moved inside every year, to winter on the kitchen window sill.

Before it all begins,Miss Hickory fastidiously cleans her corn cob house.

She now has to face a hard winter, with nowhere to live once her house is taken over by chipmunks, and danger everywhere. Even her 'friend' the squirrel takes an uncomfortable interest in her hickory nut head.

Squirrel surprises Miss Hickory in her bird nest home.

  Miss Hickory was cranky, and stubborn, and obsessively orderly before all this happened to her, but she finds she can't control every little detail out in the big, wide world. She must clothe herself with what is available,live where she can, and cope with the animals around her.Her stubborness causes her to miss the miracle in the barn on Christmas eve, which all the animals line up to see.Squirrel describes it this way: 
 "In the barn," he told her, "Something wonderful happens there every Christmas Eve at midnight...Only we animals and the winged creatures see it.Large and small, wild and tame,of the Earth or with God, we all go over to the barn to watch for it, and no one is afraid of those larger than himself."

Animals from all over the world somehow appear to view the miracle on Christmas Eve.

  In the end,her constant lecturing to others is her undoing in a way. I won't spoil the end by telling you what happens. It's another tear jerker, and yet happy in  a way. (I tend to recommend a lot of books like that. What was the matter with me when I was a kid?! Maybe it was both cause and effect of reading all these books!)
  The illustrations, lithographs by Ruth Gannett,are beautiful. The shading gives them so much mood, and the detail is wonderful.They're the perfect match for the story.

One of the most beautiful pictures in the book. Miss Hickory on Christmas eve.

  I always loved the descriptions of what Miss Hickory made her various outfits out of:
"The woods were full of lovely stuffs for her sewing.Velvety leaves not yet dried and colored rose,gold,scarlet,and russet. Soft beautiful mosses of many different kinds:furry ones, that grew close to the ground;trailing ones;upstanding feathery ones like plumes.And each moss was green and everlasting.The tiny brown cones of the larch trees made excellent buttons."

Miss Hickory sews her winter clothes: a coat of moss, and a skirt of leaves.

  When I was in elementary school I did a book report on Miss Hickory, and I still have the project I did to go with my report.

Thinking about it, I guess my Miss Hickory qualifies as the first doll I ever made.(Please keep in mind this was elementary school!)

  We had an apple tree at the bottom of our back yard, and since I was as addicted to realism and detail then as I am now, I'm sure I used an apple twig for her body.(It was tough finding one with 'arms', and 'legs', and the appropriate 'fingers' and 'feet'.)

Her head is a hickory nut.

I have no idea now how I got the nut to stick to the twig body, but it has stayed attached for around 40 years, so whatever it was, I made a good choice. I think it must have been Elmers glue, since that's what we always had around. I seem to remember trying to sew real moss into a coat and having it fall apart on me. In the end I resorted to an old wash cloth, coloured green with a marker.Her skirt is real leaves though.

  I read Miss Hickory to my kids. They did like it, but I'm not sure they were very happy with the ending! The end might be a little upsetting for very young children.Pre-read it and judge for yourself, because no one knows your children as well as you do.Amazon recommends an age range of 7 to 12 for this book, and a grade level of 2 to 7, although I'm not sure you'll find many 7th graders reading this type of book.) The book may still be in print, but in any case, it's not hard to find a copy, and it's not usually expensive.
   Cuddle up Christmas eve and read a nice book with your kids.We read Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol every Christmas eve, but I always end up being the only one still awake long before the end.
  I won't be here again until after Christmas, so I will wish everyone a very happy Christmas!

October Reading Assignment #2 The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House by Mary Chase

  My second scary suggestion for the month of October is The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House, by Mary Chase. When I was thinking about writing the review for this post, I realized I had already sort of written one, in my description for the extra copy we're selling on Ebay.

   This book has always been one of my favourites and the kids loved it too. (Except Ivy. She doesn't like anything creepier than The Ghost of Dibble Hollow.) It makes a great scary read for Halloween. Not horrifying, but chills up your back scary and somewhat mystical and with great heart. Maureen,a girl known for her bad temper, lies, and fighting, wishes and pretends to be one of the Messerman's, a rich family which lived in a huge old house, now deserted and ruined.One afternoon, trying to escape an angry neighbor, she slips into the garden of the old house. She comes across what she thinks at first is a garden gnome. But then he speaks to her. He's a leprechaun, and he knows the story of the house and it's inhabitants. But he unexpectedly disappears. The next day Maureen again finds herself inside the grounds. When she and a group of neighborhood kids enter the house, Maureen the liar is determined to impress them. She's not afraid.The upstairs hall is full of paintings of ladies in beautiful dresses. Maureen insults all the pictures but one, but then she notices something. Have the ladies in the paintings...moved? When Maureen finds a strange bracelet like the ones worn by the ladies in the paintings she takes it home. That night she finds herself being watched by a strange lady in old fashioned clothes who demands her bracelet. Frightened, Maureen decides to return the bracelet the next morning. But she forgets. Walking home in the pouring rain she suddenly comes across a scene straight out of the past and finds her own home no longer exists. She is stuck in the past and must find a way to get herself back. There's a sad story tucked in there too, a life lesson,and of course the  magical leprechaun in the garden.Longing to return to her own time and home, Maureen learns to appreciate her family and her life.
  The original title was The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden. (Good thing they changed it!Not that the other title is much better!), and the author, Mary Chase is more famous for having written (and winning a Pulitzer Prize for) the play "Harvey", and cowriting the screen play for the movie starring Jimmy Stewart.I always thought  "Wicked Ladies..." would make a great movie. I could see Disney making it in the early 70's. And Jodie Foster would have played Maureen!
  I'm not sure if the book is still in print, although it was reprinted in 2003. (It was originally published in 1967.)This one isn't expensive second hand though, and it's totally worth the search. It's sold occasionally online. In fact, as I said, I'm listing ours on Ebay as soon as I finish this post.
  Age recommendation is 7 to 10 years, but it might be a little too scary for 7 year olds.(You know your child, so be the judge.)I think 11 to 12 year olds could still enjoy it. 
  Mystery,time travel, magic, and a spooky story. What more could you want?! 

October Reading Assignment #1: The Ghost of Dibble Hollow by May Nickerson Wallace

  I haven't done a book recommendation for a while.Over the summer I reviewed books set in the summer to read with your kids. In the month of October I'm going to review books with a little scare factor to them. Nothing too scary, because these are to read with your kids. (So I'll leave out The Dollhouse Murders by Betty Ren Wright. It's a book I considered for these posts and Doll Books to Read With Your Kids,which I'll be starting soon, but rejected for both. It's a good book, but pretty gory. I think it's a bit much for some kids.) The books I'll be talking about are just scary enough to be fun, and usually they have some humor too.
  The first book I'm going to talk about HAS to come first. Ivy says it's one of our summer reads, and it's set in the summer. I maintain it's a Halloween read because it's a ghost story. So I figure I'll split the difference and review it now.
  The Ghost of Dibble Hollow by May Nickerson Wallace is my book equivalent of a one hit wonder. It was always one of my favourite books as a kid. I checked the Scholastic paperback out of the library more times than I can remember. Normally when I had a favourite book I read other books by the same author. But I never found another book by May Nickerson Wallace. The only thing I have been able to find out about her is that she wrote at least 6 books, the last apparently published in 1965, (which may have been The Ghost of Dibble Hollow.). She was alive into the 90's, but I suppose she was retired from writing. Her other books appear to have covered mysteries and books about children's adventures. Ghost of Dibble Hollow fits both of those categories.

  The story concerns a boy named Pug, who moves to an old family house in the country with his parents and younger sister. The first day they discover a feud has been going on for years between their family and the family on the neighboring farm, over some money belonging to both families that disappeared while in the hands of Pug's great uncle Miles. Miles was a boy of 10 at the time, and he disappeared along with the money.It's presumed that Miles ran away with the loot, but one night his ghost appears to Pug and tells the story of what happened. Pug must solve the mystery of where the money went,and heal the rift between the families, all the while keeping Miles' ghost a secret. Along the way he falls in love with his new country home, makes a friend, finds a secret hideout, and has adventures I know I would have loved to have as a kid. The book has humor and some ghostly happenings, but we get to know Miles, and he's a likeable character. The story of what happened to Miles is a little gory, but it's Miles telling it, so that kind of softens the effect. The story is a good mystery and a story of friendship, two friendships actually. It's got all the elements that make a great kid's book: mystery, adventure, a ghost story,secrets,humor,and great kid characters,(even if one of them is a ghost.). I would say the book could be for kids as young as 6 or 7 if it were read to them. If they are reading it on their own, maybe 8 to 10 would be a good age range. Ivy still likes to read it every year,and she's 13.  It's always been one of her favourite books too, so I've been able to enjoy it many times over the years! I asked Ivy if she had anything to add to this review and she said to say, "It's awesome!"
  Unfortunately Ghost of Dibble Hollow seems to have been out of print since the 70's. It's available online on Amazon and various auction sites, and if you're very lucky you might find it at a library sale or in a second hand book store. The average low price online seems to be about $15, but it's worth it.