Dahlia

by Barbara McClintock

Book Overview

Looks can be deceiving! When Charlotte gets a delicate doll from her aunt Edme, she is not too happy. She tells the doll that she and Bruno, her bear, "like digging in dirt and climbing trees. No tea parties, no being pushed around in frilly prams. You'll just have to get used to the way we do things." Much to Charlotte and Bruno's surprise, Dahlia seems to like getting dirty while making mud cakes and racing wagons. But at the end of the day, Charlotte's...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374316783
• ISBN13: 9780374316785
• Release Date: August 2002
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.91 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 9.1" x 11.3"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

Great tomboy story

This is a really fun book, with a great pro-tomboy message and beautiful, wonderfully detailed artwork. Highly recommended!

Love this book

This book has become one of our daughter's favorites. In her words: I like the pictures in the book because they look so real and kind of old fashioned. I love the picture of Charlotte's room. It has such nice things, there are bird nests, a seashell collection, and she even has a snake. I also like how they make Bruno move. He looks so cute in the picture when he's holding on Dahlia's hand when she is hurt. I love the book because it has so much adventure.

A different kind of toy story

Now when I was a child I hated dolls. Hated them with a passion. Baby dolls especially raised my ire, but fortunately I received relatively few of them. Like many girls (more than you would think) I was more interested in stuffed animals and, on occasion, trucks and farm equipment toys. No silly frilly dollies for me, thank you very much. So I think a five-year-old version of myself would have been the perfect receptacle for Barbara McClintock's wonderful, "Dahlia". This is one of those rare books that tries to encourage girls to like dolls, but to do so in their own individual ways. For the girl-child that eschews the pink delicacy of your average Madame Alexander porcelain creation for rough n' tumble Tonka toys, this book makes an ideal gift. Charlotte leads a great life. She gets to play outside with her stuffed bear Bruno and make as many mud pies as she would like. Then, one day, she receives a beautiful doll from her stuffy and elderly Aunt Edme. Charlotte and Bruno are not at all certain they will like this new doll (christened Dahlia). They explain to her that she does not belong to a tea-party-frilly-pram girl. She belongs to a digging-in-dirt-and-climbing-trees girl. Dahlia accompanies the two as they go about their day and it soon becomes clear that she's enjoying herself. The three win a wagon race against the local boys, make more mud cupcakes, plant rocks, and climb trees. And when an overly ambitious Dahlia goes a little further out onto a limb than she should have, Charlotte finds she may really love her little doll after all. The book is set against a Victorian backdrop, a setting that cleverly places Charlotte in that nebulous age where acting like a "boy" wasn't frowned on yet. The story itself is great. The more outdoor activities Dahlia partakes of, the happier she appears. McClintock took care to give her inanimate characters just the slightest hint of life as well. Bruno and Dahlia never seem to move of their own accord, but their facial expressions do tend to change ever-so-slightly from scene to scene. I loved the delicate pen and inks that illustrated this book as well. McClintock shades and details each and every picture in this story with loving intricacy. These pictures draw you into them, giving you the chance to search them through for hidden secrets and minutia. The colors are muted, but rather than making the book ladylike and wan, it makes the book appear to be wholly in its own little world. And a beautiful little world it is too. And of course, I love the story. Who wouldn't? Everybody wins here. For those stodgy individuals amongst us who believe that all little girls should play with dolls, here's a book that justifies that sentiment. For people who like books in which girls break out of traditional stereotypes regarding what they should play with and how, this book also fulfills a need. It has something for everyone, yet remains a deeply touching and unique work. "Dahlia"

Such a wonderful book!

We checked this out from the library and LOVE it. It's one of the few picture books out there that has very detailed pictures. My daughter is a confirmed girly-girl and LOVED seeing another little girl play in the mud. She loved the doll before her transformation and afterwards. When I first read this book I thought "They just don't make books like this anymore". Well, they do! : D

Simply Charming....

What a wonderful story! I read this to my 3.5 year old daughter, who like Charlotte (and myself when that age) loves to collect rocks, sticks, feathers and bugs and make wonderful mudpies, decorated with rocks, leaves and feathers....and also can be best friends with and nurture a well-loved stuffed animal or doll. She loves this book, Dahlia, just as much as I do : ) It brings the joy and wonderment of a childhold well spent to life!