Synopsis
All Alice wants for her birthday is a doll. That is all—just a doll! She gets the baby carriage and embroidered socks ready. But her parents give her something entirely different! Will she learn to appreciate the extraordinary nature of her present? Will you? Unique artwork with unusual perspectives and colors fill this special book about a young girl’s enjoyment of her book.
Children's Literature
Our young narrator carefully prepares for and eagerly awaits the doll she is certain she will receive for her birthday. Although her mother assures her it is "better than a doll;" "it tells stories," she is disappointed in her gift. She gamely takes "him" in his carriage to the park with her two friends, where she cares for him like a doll. He does tell good stories, however, and she begins to like him, but we readers still do not have a clue as to what he looks like. When she finally must reveal him to her friends, he turns out to have sheets of paper inside. Still angry, she complains, "It's a stupid book." The book, however, wins her heart, and that of her friends, in the end. Very imaginative acrylic, oil, and colored pencil illustrations make the strange story into an intriguing adventure in a surreal world populated by Alice and her friends. With their large heads, wild hair-dos, oddly shaped bodies, and spindly legs, they care for their dolls and push their doll carriages in the park. The double-page scene depicting the "whole ocean of stories" flowing from the book's pages clarify the metaphor in this odd but strong support for books. Reviewer: Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz