Secrets from the Dollhouse

Emma and her family are wooden dolls living a secret life inside their dollhouse. Tired of her small world, Emma wishes to go outside, where there is something called a tree and millions of tiny lamps light up the sky. More than this, though, she longs for an adventure, even though she doesn't really know what an adventure is.

Emma soon finds out, when disaster strikes the dollhouse and she must learn to be brave. Emma's great adventure leads her to discover a new place and an inlikely friend along the way.

*This one's for all the doll lovers. Using free verse, Turner creates a wonderful dollhouse world where Emma lives with her family: parents, sisters Drinda and Baby, Butler, and Cook. Their world is ordered by Girl and Boy: Girl plays, Boy provokes mischief, and scary Cat peeks in the dollhouse window. Emma loves adventure, and she's excited when Girl takes her out on a snowy day—"tiny white handkerchiefs/fell from the sky." But when Boy dresses up the dolls as soldiers, Emma and the other dolls learn what war is. The most perilous threat, hoever, is Cat, and when Baby goes missing, Cat's the chief suspect. As usual, any text is made better by Colon's impeccable scratboard art. Here he creates a dollhouse world that is fully realized and handles the conventions of a doll world and the humanity of the wooden figures equally well. A lovely mix of evocative words and appealing art, this should be put in the picture book collection where little hands will grab it, not on the nonfiction shelf as its cataloging suggests.(STARRED REVIEW! Booklist January 2000)