When I was a child, I was both enchanted and intimidated by the idea. Fairy Doll could keep her letters there, and she could write letters Elizabeth found a tiny feather and asked Godfrey to cut its point to make a quill pen like the one Mother had, and for writing paper there were petals of a Christmas rose.Īs an adult, I realize that Fairy Doll’s home would be relatively easy to make. Over the writing desk was a piece of dried-out honeycomb it was exactly like the rack of pigeonholes over Father’s desk. On the table were acorn cups and bowls, and small leaf plates. There were toadstools for stools stuck in the sawdust, they stood upright. She asked Father to cut her two bits from a round, smooth branch they were three inches high and made a table and a writing desk.
Then she fills it with a seashell bed and other things. One Christmas her great-grandmother proclaims that Elizabeth needs a good fairy, just as the family’s tree topper - a fairy doll - falls off the tree.Įlizabeth uses a bicycle basket, moss, and sawdust to make a home for her fairy doll. They order her about and tease her mercilessly. Next to her brothers and sisters, Elizabeth feels klutzy and stupid. The Fairy Doll is a short book about Elizabeth, the youngest of four children. She was also author of Prayer for a Child, which won the Caldecott Medal in 1945. Hitty, which won the Newbery Medal in 1930, is by Rachel Field. A prolific British author, Godden is best known for Black Narcissus and The Greengage Summer, as well as for many of her children’s books about dolls. The Fairy Doll is one of Rumer Godden’s lesser-known books. If not, they’re good stories in and of themselves. But maybe the books will inspire you or your children. I’m not very good with my hands, so the dreams came to nothing. When I was young, there were two books in particular that filled me with dreams of dolls with interesting wardrobes and furniture. I’ve already mentioned that I like the notion of letting books inspire your life.
One of Adrienne Adams’ illustrations for The Fairy Doll by Rumer Godden
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