 |
| “The Doll’s House” illustrated by Tasha Tudor. |
Rumer Godden in her book “The Doll’s House” explains that dolls may live for a very long time when cared for. The doll Tottie, although a little girl doll, has lived longer than any other doll in her doll family. She has lived for more than 100 years! Her parent dolls, Mr. Plantagenet and Birdie, have lived for fewer real years even though they are doll parents to Tottie; this can only happen in the make-believe world of children. The Plantaganet’s in this book also have a baby boy, approximately 3 or 4 years old and his name is Apple.
Godden herself, is particularly sensitive to the growth of child empathy through doll play. Her dolls teach their child owners to understand what is means to be kind, to be considerate and to be gentle while they are growing during playtime.
Dolls ‘wish’ in order to communicate with their owners and they seem to communicate with some sort of mental telepathy between each other. The Plantaganet family of dolls have many earnest conversations with all of Godden’s imaginative characters in her book.
Dolls also have feelings, sometimes very strong feelings about the places where they must spend their lives while their child owners are busy elsewhere. In fact, most dolls wish very much for a comfortable little home where they may experience their very own adventures in relative safety, of course! The chapter book “The Doll’s House” is an extended story about how this doll family acquires a dollhouse and keep it over time.