Ship of Dolls - A friendship dolls book by Shirley Parenteau

My doll travels far,

Her arms open wide for hugs.

Will blossoms greet her?

Emily Grace glows,

Her warm smile carries friendship.

Sunlight after rain.

These are two Haiku poems by Lexie written as part of their class studies about Japanese culture. "It's just seventeen syllables. That's what haiku poems are. Seventeen syllables in three lines. They're supposed to be about nature and feelings."

Before you read about Ship of Dolls watch this short video.

Image source Bill Gordon http://wgordon.web.wesleyan.edu/dolls/exch1927/recjapan/nagadohe/index.htm

An extract from the blurb of Ship of Dolls:  "More than anything else, Lexie wants to be with her mother, a carefree singer in San Francisco. But Mama's new husband doesn't think a little girl should live with parents who work all night and sleep all day, so Lexie's been shipped off to her strict grandparents in Oregon."

The year is 1926 and at Lexie's new school the children are working on a project to send American dolls to Japan as ambassadors of friendship. Community groups and schools have raised money to buy the dolls, dress them and organise their transportation to San Francisco. From there nearly 12,000 dolls will be shipped to Japan.

Lexie (Electra) discovers there is a competition and the child who wins will accompany their school doll from Oregon to San Francisco. This is her chance to reunite with her Mama. In order to write about their school's doll, called Emily Grace, Lexie needs to hold her and look into her eyes but doing this means breaking rules, punishment and disappointments.

Ship of Dolls is based on a real event from the 1920s as you can see from the video above. I really appreciate reading books where an author takes a fragment of history and develops it into a narrative.  Other examples of this would be Hanna's suitcase and The Goose Road.  I also really love the cover for Ship of Dolls. I have mentioned the work of Kelly Murphy several times on this blog. She also did the covers for Signed by Zelda and See Saw Girl.

Here is a set of discussion notes and teaching ideas from the author Shirley Parenteau along with more plot details. You can listen to an audio sample of the first chapter here.  You can also read the first chapter on the Candlewick web site. There are two further books in the Friendship Dolls series - see covers below.

In this 1927 news article from Japan there is information about this project and if you are interested you can read more details and even see a commemorative stamp here.  Listen to a song in Japanese about the dolls and the quote here from a speech when the 58 dolls were sent as a reciprocal gift from Japan.

I am glad to present to the children of America in the name of Japanese children fifty-eight dolls. Last spring the American children sent many lovely dolls to Japan They brought your goodwill and friendship. Our little girls were very happy to receive these gifts and are having a good time with them.

Japanese children are very anxious to be your friends, and these fifty-eight dolls have come here to bring this wish from two million and half children in my country.

We hope that you will like these messengers of friendship, and that they will received into your homes as beloved members of your families. 

Miss Masa Matsudaira, daughter of Ambassador Matsudaira 1927 Washington, D.C.

Period details from the actual 1926 exchange of Friendship Dolls provide fascinating context for this old-fashioned heroine’s journey of personal growth.  Kirkus