This Is My Dollhouse
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
A girl makes her own dollhouse in this picture book that celebrates creativity and imagination!
A little girl proudly walks the reader through her handmade dollhouse, pointing out the bricks she painted on the outside, the wallpaper she drew on the inside, the fancy clothes she made for her dolls, and the little elevator she made out of a paper cup. She’s proud of her house and has lots of fun using her imagination to play with it—until she discovers her friend Sophie’s “perfect” storebought house. Sophie thinks her house, with everything matching and even a toilet seat that goes up and down, is pretty perfect too, until both girls discover that the narrator’s handmade dollhouse is really a lot more fun.
"Celebrates the best of free play, capturing what it's like to be fully engaged and inspired." —The New York Times
"Readers will feel right at home with this cozy tribute to imagination." —Kirkus Reviews, Starred
"The realization that creative, outside-the-box artistry can be more inspiring than anything manufactured makes for a wonderful story." —Publishers Weekly, Starred
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Potter's narrator has lovingly crafted a cardboard box dollhouse and all its accoutrements, including a "plate of noodles" from a bottle cap and yarn. Her dollhouse family is sweetly eclectic, too: a mouse, bear, two fashion dolls, and rag doll, all sharing a large bed. Her friend Sophie's dollhouse, by contrast, is an "all perfect" prefab residence whose inhabitants who are both literally and figuratively plastic. The girl is both appalled and cowed, but Potter (Tell Me What to Dream About) doesn't interpret this emotional turmoil for readers; they'll quickly glean from Sophie's boring, literal play that the dollhouse has stunted the girl's imagination. Happily, Sophie turns out to be a creative spirit yearning to break free, and the narrator's handcrafted house, which she initially tries to hide from Sophie, is just the ticket. As in her previous books, Potter's characters have enigmatic, mini-adult visages reminiscent of early-18th-century child portraits. The realization that creative, outside-the-box artistry can be more inspiring than anything manufactured makes for a wonderful story, one that may motivate future members of the artisanal economy. Ages 4 8.
