Before my daughter's room became inundated with books, I spent hours wandering around the Strand bookstore looking for interesting children's book. One day I came upon the The Lonely Doll
written by Dare Wright. I never read the book growing up but thought it was an interesting story and the cover jumped out from the stack of books.
It is about a little girl named Edith who lives in a nice house but is super lonely. But one day she encounters two bears and she is lonely no more.
What I really liked about the book was that it stood from the crowd of illustrated books of today. Edith and the two bears are photographed in black and white in posed action shots throughout the book.
This makes the book unique and just plain out of the ordinary versus all that you see today.
I wasn't sure my daughter would like the book given its lack of color but she does and it is now her favorite book to read. The one thing I should point out and she noticed immediately is that one scene is disturbing especially for today's politically correct parents.
At one point in the story, Edith misbehaves and the older bear spanks her for her transgressions. I am sure at the time this book was written in 1957, spanking was quite acceptable.
After she read it the first time, I asked her if she liked it and she said "Yes, I like Edith and the bears. I like that they dress up. But I don't like that Edith got a spanking from the big bear".
Who would?
Check out The Lonely Doll
What is your favorite childhood book that you are reading with your child?
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