Dolls of Hope is the second book of three from the series Friendship Dolls. You might begin by reading my thoughts about the first installment - Ship of Dolls. I so enjoyed my discovery of these historic events when I read Ship of Dolls earlier this year.
In Dolls of Hope we meet Chiyo. She is living in a remote rural village in Japan but her sister is promised to a wealthy older man from a larger town. Chiyo is told she must stay home during the omiai or meeting where her sister Masako will meet Yamada Nori. Chiyo is desperate to see this man, to discover what he is like, to see his house, to perhaps stop her beloved sister making what she thinks is a big mistake so she stows away in a basket on the back of the family cart. She is breaking all the rules and most of all not showing herself as modest quiet girl which is what everyone expects of her.
She disrupts the family meeting and so it is decided she will be sent away to Tasuchiura Girls School. She is told she must model herself on the behaviour of a girl called Hoshi the daughter of a General but Chiyo soon discovers, while adults admire Hoshi, in reality she is a wretched bully.
At the end of Ship of Dolls we watched 12,000 dolls sail away to Japan. In Dolls of Hope they have arrived and now a ceremony in Tokyo is planned where the dolls will be officially welcomed.
After a very rough start at her new school, thanks to Hoshi, Chiyo joins the choir. The children are learning a welcome song and six girls will have the honour of attending the ceremony in Tokyo. Chiyo earns a place and the girls visit a display of the dolls:
"Under no circumstances are any of you to touch the dolls. We will walk past the display and admire only with our eyes. I do not wish to see any of you put even a finger on a doll."
Chiyo has no plan to touch the beautiful dolls with their blonde hair and blue eyes but the horrid Hoshi pushes against the display table and calls out a warning. Acting on instinct Chiyo catches one doll, Emily Grace, just as she is about to fall onto the floor. So begins a series of events Chiyo could never have imagined. She meets the mayor of Tokyo, Emily Grace is gifted to her school and she meets a master doll maker who is working on one of the 86 special dolls that will be sent from Japan to America. But at every turn Hoshi tries to thwart her. Several times I found myself holding my breath hoping against hope Hoshi would not hurt Chiyo or the precious doll Emily Grace.
Here is the Kirkus review. Here is an interview with Shirley. You can read about the restoration of one of the friendship dolls here.
I do have one little connection with this book. Chiyo has a kokeshi doll which she names Momo. I found this one from a shop and they say momo means peace although I don't imagine Chiyo's doll looked like this. Just a warning sensitive readers may find the scenes where Hoshi takes Momo quite distressing.
I found this cover of a Japanese version of Dolls of Hope.
If this topic interests you I have discovered another book by Kirby Larson which I plan to read. And of course I have book three from The Friendship Dolls series - Dolls of War on my list too.
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