The Doll Book of the Month Club: The Bad Times of Irma Baumlein/Irma's Big Lie

   It's time I caught up a little bit here, and delivered last month's Doll Book of the Month Club entry. It's "The Bad Times of Irma Baumlein", also produced in a Scholastic version as "Irma's Big Lie". 

That's the version I have from when I was a kid. That's the version I read to my kids when they were little. For my refresh to my memory, since I was at Emma's, I used a second hand hardback copy I rescued from the books from the fire. Luckily it didn't suffer any damage, and is in really nice shape.

  Whichever title you want to use, I always liked this book. It's by Carol Ryrie Brink, who  I didn't even realize wrote the famous "Caddie Woodlawn", and another kid's book I read a couple of years ago, just because it looked like the kind of book I liked as a kid, "The Pink Motel". She published her first book in 1934. 'Irma' is one of the last books she wrote, published in 1972. 

The illustrations are by Trina Schart Hyman. Her work was used in a lot of kid's books when I was growing up, so her illustrations always give me a warm, familiar feeling. She illustrated about 150  children's books, and her art included black and white illustrations like the ones in 'Irma', as well as beautiful colour illustrations in editions of  "Snow White", "The Secret Garden", and  "A Christmas Carol".  

  "Irma's Big Lie" concerns a girl named Irma Baumlein. Irma has moved with her father, from her 'cozy' apartment in New York, to the huge Baumlein mansion in another town. 

Irma and her father, (Her mother is finishing painting a mural and is supposed to join them when she's finished.), now live with Irma's grouchy great uncle and deaf great aunt, as well as their two servants.

 Irma's father has come to help his uncle modernize the family department store, founded by Irma's grandfather. The Baumleins are big names in town, but Irma doesn't feel big. She feels lonely as the new kid in school, and in the big house, where her father doesn't have time to talk to her very much, as business and his uncle have been taking all his time.

  Irma makes a habit of trying to look disinterested. But one day, weeks after their move, one of the girls from school strikes up a conversation with Irma, and invites her to her house on the way home from school. She's  a very friendly girl, who explain she has a big family, with a baby, a dog, and a bunch of hamsters. After reeling off all that news she asks Irma, "What do you have?" She wasn't trying to brag, just explain her family. She very likely meant, did Irma have any siblings, or, a dog or cat. But Irma feels pressured to top her, and blurts out, "I have the biggest doll in the world.". Irma doesn't even like dolls, preferring chemistry sets. She has no idea why she said it, but she goes on with the pretense, explaining that the doll can wear her clothes, has hair the colour of ripe oranges, and eyes that are cerulean blue.

  After her lie, Irma feels terrible, and doesn't know why she said it. She wishes she could take it all back, but the lie spreads to all the kids at school. 

  Irma is asked to bring her doll for a fundraising exhibit at school. She can't let her class down, as the class who raises the most money wins a prize. Irma searches desperately for a doll that can pass for the biggest doll in the world. Her great aunt offers Irma her old doll, which is, she says, very large. Irma gets excited, but the dolls turns out to be old and somewhat big, but can no way pass for the biggest doll in the world, and definitely does not have hair the colour of ripe oranges or eyes that are cerulean blue. Irma takes her anyway, and bonds with her great aunt, who obviously loved her doll very much.

  Irma's father mentions that the new shipment of dolls is in at the store. Irma puts together all her money, including birthday money she's been saving, and would rather spend on a chemistry set, and goes off to her great uncle's store. Her search of the doll department is fruitless, but on her way out, Irma sees a mannequin that has been removed from the window, a mannequin the size of Irma, with hair the colour of ripe oranges and eyes that are cerulean blue...and she's standing right by the exit door. You can guess where this is going.

  Irma's experiences with the doll are funny and tense. Does she get it home undetected? Does she manage to get it to school undetected? What happens at the school exhibit? Does Irma's lie get exposed? I won't say. It's an enjoyable book though, with a satisfying, if unlikely ending.

  That's the book for January! I'll be back very soon with February's book, and maybe a doll or two.

  

The Doll Book of the Month Club: Little Kettle-Head

   The Doll Book of the Month Club entry for this month is one I didn't even think about posting before, because until I started thinking about it recently, I forgot it even had a doll connection. But I have been thinking about it recently, because of the fire. I've been wondering if it survived. It hasn't been found yet, but nobody has gone through all the books I had on the landing. A lot of them were fine, and some of them were soaked and damaged, but rescuable. Some of them weren't rescuable and were thrown away. I'm hoping this book was one I had the forethought to put in a plastic bag to keep it dust free, and that the bag didn't melt. 

**********************UPDATE! Ken found my Kettle Head!******************************

  Things melted in weird ways. Things you would have thought would have been fine, melted beyond help. Other things you would have thought would have been burnt to a crisp, or ruined by water, are perfectly fine. For example, there are still cloth and wooden things in Fuzzy's room that are fine, if smokey smelling. The accordion that was behind the door, (which was hacked off it's hinges. Why? It was open...), is still standing. But there were things on the landing that melted beyond recognition. The shower curtain in the bathroom melted! That was the opposite side of the landing!

  But I digress. The book I have been thinking of not only has a doll connection, but a connection to what happened to us two weeks ago. The book, published in 1904, is called "The Story of Little Kettle-Head, An Awful Warning to Bad Babas or The Story of Little Degchie-Head". 

Pretty weird title, but this is a pretty weird book. In fact, even though this book was written for children, don't read it to children! This book can be considered disturbing. I find it disturbing, but I also find it so bizarre that I find it hilarious. 

This is an easier to see version of the cover that I found on the internet.

  First I'll explain that a 'degchie' is a large, handle-less aluminum pot, often used in Indian cuisine. In other words, a kettle. (Not like a 'tea kettle'.) So. Why is the subject of the book a 'kettle-head'? Well, here's the story. Hang on to something.

  The story concerns a little British girl named Mary, who lives in India with her parents. Mary has a dangerous obsession: she likes poking fires. 

In fact, she LOVES poking fires. She does it all the time. She is told off for it, and dragged away from fires. But she is still compelled to poke them. 

   One day Mary finds her mother busy with the cook's accounts, and she takes the opportunity to wander into the cook house, where she sees all the pots cooking on the fires. She wants so badly to poke them. The problem is, the fires are high up, and she can't reach to poke them properly. 

Mary is resourceful, and she finds a large kettle used to boil water, and uses it to stand on. She's very pleased that she can then poke the fires better. But the pot is unsteady. It flips, and Mary falls head first into the fire, and her head is 'burned right off'. You read that right. The kid burned her head off.

  Does she die? Nah. The cook comes back and finds 'Missy Baba' in the floor with no head. 

                                             Just a puff of smoke where her head used to be.

  He's resourceful too. 

He grabs a kettle and plops it on her neck, ties her bonnet on to hold it, and draws a face on the kettle with a burnt stick, the very stick she had been poking the fire with. And what did he do then? He sent her to her mother! No, 'hey, your kid burned her head off. I have replaced it with a kettle.'  Nothing. He just sends her to her mother.

  Mary goes to her mother, but won't show her face when her mother speaks to her. The next morning she eats breakfast with her sunbonnet on, so her parents can't see her face. These parents are really hands on care givers. They don't notice their child has a kettle for a head, even when all she can say is "Clip Clap clapper apper apper.", as the only sound she can make is the rattling of the kettle lid on the kettle. Instead of thinking that's strange, and investigating, they get angry and tell her she's rude.

  Mary stays in a corner all day, crying, while pretending to play with her doll, and still making the 'clapper apper apper' sound. She refuses to go on a walk with her parents, instead hiding her face, and clapper appering.

  That night she's afraid to take her bonnet off when she goes to bed, in case 'the only head she has' falls off. But no fear! It's Christmas eve! Old Father Christmas shows up. He finds Mary in bed, and tries to think what he could possibly give a child with "no proper eyes to read a book with, no proper nose to smell a scent bottle, no ears to hear a drum and no mouth for sweets." He concludes that she also "couldn't kiss a doll with that mouth!" But he doesn't give up. He digs deep into his bag of gifts to find one fitting for Little Kettle Head...I mean, Mary. 

At the bottom of the bag he comes across a lone doll head, surrounded by the pieces of what was once her body. 

The doll had been cut to bits by a bunch of 'wild toy soldiers with their sharp swords'. Luckily Father Christmas stopped them before they chopped the doll's head to pieces too...BY GIVING THE SOLDIERS TO SOME BOYS! What?! These toy soldiers are so violent and destructive, and their swords are so sharp, that they destroyed a doll, so what's the best things to do with them? Why give them to some kids, of course! But they were 'wild boys', so obviously they were as bad as the soldiers. Maybe they would even be a threat to the soldiers. Great kids to give sharp stuff to. I think they were some cousins I had.

  But back to Mary. Old Father Christmas decides the head is 'the very thing' for Mary. So he puts a table next to her bed and sits the head on it. 

  In the morning Mary is 'delighted to find Father Christmas had brought her a new head', a 'beautiful doll's head with long golden hair and real eyelashes.'  

  She carefully glues it to her neck and sits very still until the glue dries, so the new head doesn't fall off. 

  Then Mary shakes her head to make sure it's secure, jumps for joy, and runs off to show her parents her new head. Her ever observant parents are very pleased with Mary's looks, because her hair has 'grown a yard long in one night, and we never saw you look so smiling before.'  This kid's parents are terrible!

  After that, Mary is so terrified of fires that her mother has to drag her past them. "And that is why her head has never been burned off again." Maybe she had a celluloid head. That would really be bad to get near a fire with, even if you didn't fall in head first. 

  See what I mean about this book? It's a weirdy! It was written by Helen Bannerman, who is more famous for being the author of the now controversial "Little Black Sambo". For the record, the Sambo of the story is an Indian boy, not a Black boy. Still, the title doesn't sound good, and the name became derogatory slang. The book is now generally banned, but other than the character's names, which all contain the word 'Black', there is nothing bad about the book. I loved it when I was little. Our copy had beautiful colour illustrations of the green jungle, the bright orange and black tigers, and Sambo's bright green umbrella and colourful clothes. I especially loved his curly toed purple shoes. I wanted those shoes! 

This is the version we had when I was a kid. It's a 1961 Whitman Tell-A-Tale book.

He was a clever little boy who saved himself from tigers by giving them his clothes and then watching as they fought over them, running around a tree until they turn into butter, which he scooped up and took home to his mother, who then used it on her delicious pancakes! Unfortunately, Helen Bannerman wrote a whole series of books about 'Little Black' such and such, and accompanied them with books about 'Little White' such and such. Why couldn't they have just been "Little Such and Such'? Worse yet, the name was latched onto, and the illustrations in some editions became more and more racist, changing the setting from the Tamil region of India to the Southern United States. It's a shame such an innocent story became such an ugly symbol of racism.

  Helen Bannerman was born in Scotland as Helen Watson in the 1860's. Her father was an Army chaplain, so the family moved often, to many parts of what was then the British Empire. When she was two she moved with her family to Madeira, and at ten was sent to Scotland to school. In 1889 Helen married William Bannerman, a British Army surgeon working for the Indian Medical Service. They moved to Tamil Nadu, on India's Southeast coast. For thirty years, Helen lived, and raised a family, in India, thus India being the setting of her books. She began writing illustrated stories on the trip from India to Scotland to visit her daughters at school there, in 1898. Friends convinced her to get the stories published, and a career was born. The books were published in miniature editions, because as a child Helen had always wanted 'a book she could hold in her own tiny hands'. "Little Kettle-Head" measures about 5 or 6 inches by about 3 inches. Helen passed away in 1946.

  You can read the whole "Little Kettle-Head" book HERE.

  Don't forget to check out today's other post for the doll of the day.

The Doll Book of the Month Club: The Mystery of the Silent Friends

  First of all, here's an update on the leg situation. I pulled an Elephant Man last night, and decided to 'sleep like a normal person'. I laid on my right side. Big mistake. A few hours later my leg was hurting bad enough to distract me from sleep, so I had to switch. It's afternoon now, and I have been stretching my leg, pressing the spot on my leg that feels like a tensed muscle to try to relax it, and laying on my left side, but today that's just not working. I am still having leg pain even when I'm laying still, and now my lower back is hurting too from laying on my back trying to stretch out my leg. This leg is definitely a work in progress! 

  This month's Doll Book of the Month Club entry is one I am pretty sure I read as a kid. It is called "Mystery of the Silent Friends" and is by Robin Gottlieb. 

  As a kid I read A LOT, and I would read almost anything that had a title that began with  "Mystery of the". This book was originally published in 1964, and the copy I would have read, and the one we have now, is a Scholastic paper back. I found our copy at the library book sale when the kids were little, and I read it to them. I don't remember any of their reactions to it, but Ivy says she thinks she remembers it, and she liked it. And I like it!

  The story begins in Mr. Martin's antique shop, where his daughter Nina is playing with a pair of 200 year old automatons. (Automatons are mechanical figures that perform a specific action, or series of actions. Kind of like Horsman's 1970 doll Peggy Pen Pal, 1989's Susie Scribbles doll by Wonderama, or Mattel's 1970 drawing doll Sketchy.)  In this case, the figures are a boy, that writes, and a girl that draws pictures. Oddly, the girl draws four pictures of Swiss scenes, and one picture of a 'See no evil' monkey.) Nina's father has owned the automatons for years, and no one has ever been interested in them. That suits Nina, as she loves the automatons. 

She asks her father to never sell them, and he says that isn't very likely anyway, since nobody seems to want them. So of course the next thing that happens is that a man walks into the shop, asking about the automatons. (You know how these old books go!) He claims to be the son of the previous owner, and that he has the third doll in the series, and he wants to reunite them.

  The only thing is, the next day another man comes in, giving the same name: George Ballentine III!  (I had to laugh when one of the girls puts forth the idea that maybe the men are brothers, and the other says, "But who would have two sons and name them both George?" Uh, George Forman? Maybe he read this book.) But George the third the second offers to have them come to his house and see his doll. The father and daughter go, and are amazed by the guy's collection of automatons, which includes birds in cages, acrobats, jugglers, and the supposed 'third doll', who plays a spinet.

  Nina and her friend Muffin, a devotee of practical jokes, decide that the only thing to do is to ask the first man to show them his 'third doll'. This guy is kind of suspect anyway, since when he came in he was wearing a hat over his red hair, and seemed very upset when he bumped into some antlers in the shop and his hat was tipped. 

Nina tips one of the George's hat with a spear, to check his hair colour.

He also claims to be well off, but Nina, who was apparently born to be a detective, notices that he has a broken shoe lace that's been knotted back together. And it only gets more confusing. When the red haired man comes back to hear Mr. Martin's final word on selling the automatons, he now has brown hair, like the second man. And even more weird, he takes them to the exact same 5th Avenue Brownstone, and shows them the exact same doll playing a spinet. But he doesn't give them the full tour as the other man did, and whisks them out hurriedly after the doll plays her tune.

  Now what?! Mr. Martin has told both men he's not selling, as he wants to distance himself from the whole strange situation. But, of course, this is a 1960's kid's book, so Nina and Muffin, who have to know what the deal is with the two George's, do some detective work on their own, strolling unchaperoned around New York City and Central Park. 

  I won't tell you how the book ends and spoil the fun. And it is a fun book. Do kids these days like this kind of book? I don't know. If you're considering reading it to you own child, or grandchild, (or some random kid on the street. I don't know what you do...), you know them and what they'll like or put up with. As I said, Ivy liked it, but then Ivy was raised on the Scholastic kid's books of my childhood, and also has most of the tastes of an old person, so there you go.

  It's a short 154 pages, and an easy read. The illustrations are by Al Brule, and are fun pictures typical of the period. If anybody wants a copy of this book, I managed to get an extra copy recently, so let me know. I will ask you to pay shipping though. If you aren't into physical books, and you have an account with the Internet Archive, you can read the book HERE. 

  There is a sequel to this book, called "Secret of the Unicorn", which features Nina, but unfortunately not her more colourful friend Muffin. Muffin has been replaced by a girl named Polly. No word on Muffin's whereabouts... 

The Doll Book of the Month Club: The Best Loved Doll

   This month's Doll Book of the Month Club entry was a recent suggestion from our reader, RagingMoon1987. It's a book I read to my kids when they were little. This month's book is "The Best Loved Doll", by Rebecca Caudill.

  The book concerns a little girl named Betsy, who is invited to a party at her friend Susan's house. The invitation says each guest should bring a doll. At the party there will be prizes given for the Oldest Doll, the Best Dressed Doll, and the doll who can do the most things. Betsy debates which doll to take. She has a beautiful bride doll, in a gown that might win best dressed. She has a mechanical doll that can sew, who might win the prize for the doll who can do the most things. She even has her great grandmother's doll, who might win oldest doll. And then there is her doll, Jennifer. Jennifer is well loved and well worn. Her face is damaged, she has lost a shoe, and her dress is ragged. Betsy considers which doll to take, and ultimately decides to take Jennifer, knowing she won't win a prize. 

"You aren't my oldest doll, Jennifer," said Betsy. "Your dress is a fright. And you can't do a single thing. But I do love you, dear Jennifer."

  At the party all the girls have brought their dolls. The girls play games while the dolls watch from the couch. 

  The girls and the dolls enjoy cupcakes, and later, Susan's mother awards the prizes. 

  It's a surprise when she decides to award an extra prize to Jennifer, as, you guessed it, 'The Best Loved Doll'. It's a wonderful lesson about valuing love and friendship over appearances. 

  I remember reading this book to my daughter Emma, whose favourite doll was a very worn, bald doll, who was given all the best doll stuff Emma had, and who Emma took everywhere.    

Here she is getting off the plane after a 'trip' to Doll Paris.

  It's a sweet, old fashioned story. I might also add that not everyone at the party wins a prize, and they're all okay with that. Not like these days when everyone gets a prize, so no one feels left out or cheated. It used to annoy me senseless when my kids were little, and everyone always got a prize at school events. On 'Fun Day' there were games of chance, but there was no chance anybody was going to go home without a prize. It was supposed to be so that none of the kids got upset that somebody won and they didn't. I thought that taught a bad lesson. Nobody had to earn anything, and in life, sometimes you don't win. You aren't always going to win. Did those kids grow up expecting everything to be handed to them, whether they deserved it or not? I also thought it devalued the effort some kids put in. Why bother if even the kids who don't try or care win anyway? Sorry. Rant over.

  Apparently "The Best Loved Doll" was based on something that actually happened to Rebecca Caudill's own daughter.

  The book is illustrated with simple drawings by Elliot Gilbert, coloured only in a couple of colours. It might be bland to kids these days, when everything has to be neon and sparkly, but it's quietly and calmly beautiful. Gilbert wanted the illustrations to 'reflect the timelessness of the story', and while they may look a bit dated art-wise, I think they are perfect for the story, which is, itself a bit old fashioned these days. Not that that's a bad thing.

  The book was originally published in 1962, an excellent year, which also produced me. I think it's still in print, or, at least, was not many years ago. It is a thin book, of only 64 pages, and is recommended for ages 5 to 8, grades Kindergarten through third grade. It's also recommended by me.

  That's it for this month's book. My shoulder has kept me from typing much lately, but hang in there. I'm still around, with more to show you.

The Doll Book of the Month Club: Tammy, Adventure in Squaw Valley

   Talk about coming down to the wire! Our internet was off since Friday night, and only just got back on today. Just in time for the Doll Book of the Month Club entry for August. This post could have been better, but I finished the book last Friday, and was going to write the post that night before I forgot what I wanted to say. Thanks Frontier!)

  I seem to be finding a lot of Tammy stuff lately. (Not my stuff. It's all 'Tammy' stuff, and believe me, there's probably way too much of it.) I mean Ideal's Tammy. I've been finding things like the doll, and things associated with her. One of those things is this book, which I got at an antique mall during a recent Fun Day outing.

  "Tammy, Adventure in Squaw Valley" is one of those Whitman hardbacks from the 60's, and it resembles the Robin Kane or Donna Parker books in more ways than one. 

The writing is pretty par for the course, and so are the illustrations. 

That's not to say that that's a bad thing. I enjoyed those books as a kid. I can see where kids of the era probably enjoyed this Tammy book. 

And having said that, I do have to say that it's not perfect. The entire first chapter is character exposition. We learn all about how great Tammy is, what an annoying little sister Pepper is, how much Tammy's brother Ted is an all around great student and typically superior acting big brother. 

Tammy comes home to find that Mother has a secret.

  The 'Adventure' is mostly what happens to Tammy and Ted at the ski resort in Squaw Valley, which they are staying at for a family wedding. I don't think that's what the title is referring to, but it takes most of the book, with only a couple of only slightly out of the ordinary happenings in the meantime, to get to the actual adventure.  

  Tammy is described as being 16 years old. She plays baseball at school, and likes archery and tennis. Tammy, in her doll form, had an archery set, and a tennis set. This book contains a lot of Tammy trying to ski, and the doll also had a ski set, complete with skis and a skiing outfit that completely matches the ski outfit Tammy buys for the trip in the book. I am wondering how much the book was seen as a commercial for the doll and her clothing sets.

  If you collect Tammy dolls, the book is a nice addition to your collection. Not only that, but the book can sort of make the doll 'come alive' for you, since she's given a personality. Tammy is sensible, stubborn, and feisty. (Why thank you. Yes I am!) You even get to know her family and what they were supposed to be like.  As I said, the 'adventure' took a while showing up, and it was sort of like 'Lionel Twain' described some of the mystery writers' books in "Murder by Death", in that they made it impossible to solve the mystery, by leaving out clues, and introducing characters in the last five pages that were never in the book before. But the book was a nice leisurely 'adventure' anyway, and then got exciting at the end.

  If the illustrations look familiar to you, it may be because illustrator Haris Petie  was responsible for the illustrations in many books, including some mysteries featuring Trixie Belden, another heroine included in the 60's Whitman line up. Author Winifred E. Wise seems best known for another Whitman book about a teenaged girl, "Minnow" Vail.

  That's the book for the month. See you again soon!  

The Doll Book of the Month Club: Hitty, Her First 100 Years, and A Problem You Might Not Be Expecting

  Well, if any of you are curious, my black eye is fading fast. It's in a nice state of yellow and green at the moment, so hopefully it will be gone in a few more days. The lump on my temple doesn't seem to be fading with quite as much speed. It's maintaining it's size. Luckily it was never very big to begin with after the first night. And, on to the Doll Book of the Month!

  I suppose a  lot of you have been wondering just when  I was going to get around to this one. "Hitty, Her First 100 Years", a Newbery Award winning book, written by Rachael Field, and originally illustrated by Dorothy Lathrop, is one of the most famous doll books ever.

Mine is a bit old and cruddy. I got it at a thrift store.

  The reason I'm only just getting around to it is, I only just read it. I actually started reading it to the kids years ago, but after one sitting or two, it was deemed boring by Fuzz and Ivy, so we never continued. If they had stuck with it a little longer, I think they would have enjoyed it...except for...well, we'll get to that. Hitty's life was full of adventure. Carved by a peddler in the 1820's, she gets kidnapped by a crow...

...left on a burning ship, is shipwrecked on a tropical island, worshiped by island natives, lost in India, travels with a snake charmer, attends a concert by soprano  Adelina Patti and goes on stage with her, gets stuck inside a horsehair sofa for years, sits in a hay loft for years, is part of a cotton expo in New Orleans, floats on the Mississippi in a basket 'a la Moses, travels by ship, train,wagon, coach, and automobile. You name it, Hitty survives it, and goes on to write her memoirs, in an antique store in the 1920's.

     You may wonder how, after being lost so many times, and going from one owner to another over 100 years, how all of her owners could have known that her name was Hitty. The answer in the story is that her name was embroidered on her chemise, (an undershirt or loose cotton dress worn under clothes to protect them from body odor and sweat.), by her first owner, Phoebe Preble, and every owner since left the chemise on her, while changing all of her other clothes. 

  I did mostly manage to enjoy "Hitty", but there is a problem with this book. Remember it was published in 1929. Those were different days, and unfortunately Hitty  has some ideas about, and uses some names for, indigenous peoples that are far from appropriate or politically correct today, (nor should they have been then!). From calling Native Americans 'Injuns', and the native inhabitants of the Pacific, who steal her, 'savages', to describing the language of India as 'heathen gibberish' just because she didn't understand what was being said, to the phonetic spelling of the stereotypical Southern African American way of speaking, that is worse than the Brer Rabbit stories, this book is going to have to come with some conversation if read to kids today. Several times Hitty describes African Americans as having 'rolling eyes' and 'flashing teeth'. (I also have a problem with how nice Hitty thinks the (post Civil War) plantation owners are, and how wonderful the Christmas party they give for their workers, (undoubtedly their former slaves), is, when she has just finished describing the overcrowded cabins, with dirt floors, in which the rag clad workers live. A party once a year is nice, but maybe they could live decently all year long too.) It's one thing to tell a child that yes, people did have those opinions in the past, and it was wrong then and is wrong now. That is how most people thought in those days, and you can't just say they didn't. (Denying it or ignoring it would be wrong too.) But you can't just read this book to kids and not mention the 'elephant in the room'.  Doing that is like approving of the terms and opinions, and thus, passing them along to a new generation to use. 

  So, do I recommend the book? I'm a bit unsure it should be read to or by today's children, especially without an accompanying conversation, as I mentioned above. While enjoying Hitty's adventures, I was made very uncomfortable by the things I mentioned. It made me feel that maybe I should be throwing the book in a corner instead of giving it the honour of being read. (Talk about 'eye rolling'! I was doing a lot of that myself.) I know if I were a person of colour the book would bother me even more. I kept having to keep in mind that Hitty was from the 1800's. That didn't make it all right, but it somewhat explained it. But are kids going to think of that? Maybe, if read aloud to kids today, certain words and ways of describing people could be omitted, and the book could still be enjoyed. Maybe the book should be scrapped altogether. I suppose this is a subject for discussion, so I welcome your comments. 

  Hitty has been so popular that  actual Hitty dolls are very popular collectibles now. There are  handmade ones, with some artists specializing in Hitty dolls. There was even a Robert Raikes Hitty. There are all kinds of dolls inspired by Hitty. You may have seen my post on what I referred to as 'Hitty grandparents'. (If not, you can see it HERE.) Artists sell  their versions of Hitty's possessions, or even things Hitty didn't have, but can use. (And there are plenty of items Hitty once owned, to make. Hitty's little owners made her new clothes practically every time she went from one to another, and the things that were given to Hitty or made for her by friendly adults can at times leave you very upset when they're lost in one of Hitty's adventures. The fabulous wardrobe made by Miss Pinch, her coral beads that she managed to keep through several owners, the magnificent wedding dress made from a family heirloom...

... and I want the chest, with her name in tiny nailheads, made for her by one of the men on the whaling ship. All of it gone!)

  Hitty, the book character, was based on a real life doll that author Rachel Field and illustrator Dorothy Lathrop found and bought in a New York antique shop in 1927. As the story goes, they discovered Hitty separately, and both wanted her, but neither could afford her. Finally they visited Hitty together, and decided to pool their  monies and buy her to share. They dressed her and bought her furniture  and other things a doll needs. And the truth of the real Hitty is that she does actually have her name, 'Hitty', embroidered on her chemise.  Hitty is a common nickname for the name, 'Mehitable', an Old Testament name, and Hitty's full name in the book. (You may have read my review of the book, "Merry, Rose, and Christmas Tree June", in which there is a doll named Mehittable, that takes the name literally.)  She was assumed to be about 100 years old at the time she was purchased by Field and Lathrop, so that's how old she is in the book. However, some people speculate that she might be younger, made in the 1860's or so, based on her hair style. Of course, that still puts her way over 100 years old now days. 

  One thing that may be different from how Hitty is described in the book, is what she's actually made of. Although in the book Hitty repeatedly refers to how special she is because she's made from Mountain Ash wood, there is some speculation that she is actually made of White Ash. 

  Today the original Hitty lives in the Stockbridge Library Museum, in Stockbridge Massachusetts   She came from the estate of Dorothy Lathrop, but I'm not sure if she was left to the library, or they obtained her somehow though other means. (Lathrop passed away in 1980, nearly 40 years after Field, who died in 1942.)  She is 6 1/4 inches tall, with painted stockings, boots and hair, and was possibly painted all over. She's now so worn it's hard to be sure. She can be viewed by the public, but because she is delicate these days, photography is no longer allowed. (Gee, they could have allowed non-flash photography. That wouldn't hurt her.) You can see some very good detail pictures of her HERE though.

The real Hitty has a bench like this.

  For a good page with lots of Hitty information I recommend you go HERE. For lots of detail about all of Hitty's physicality, you should go HERE. It's especially handy if you would like to make a Hitty of your own. You can buy blank precut wooden Hitty dolls for carving the details into. 

  Rachel Field grew up in Stockbridge Massachusetts, where Hitty now lives in the Library Museum. She wrote books for adults as well as children. One of her books,  "All This and Heaven Too"  was based on the true story of Field's great aunt, Henriette Deluzy Desportes, a governess who fell in love with her employer, and was implicated when his wife was murdered. It was made into a movie, starring Bette Davis and Charles Boyer, in 1940. Field also wrote poetry, plays, and the English lyrics for Schubert's  "Ave Maria", used in Disney's "Fantasia".  If you want to read more about Rachel Field, you can check out a biography of her written by Robin Clifford Wood HERE.

  Dorothy Lathrop illustrated many books, in various styles. 

  She did some beautiful work that I would never have expected from the "Hitty" illustrations. Not that the "Hitty" illustrations aren't good, but some of her other work is amazing. I have another artist to add to my favourites!

  That's the book for the month. See you again soon.