Friendship Dolls
2 primary works
Book 1
Can a ship carrying Friendship Dolls to Japan be Lexie’s ticket to see her fun-loving mother again? A heartwarming historical novel inspired by a little-known true event.
It’s 1926, and the one thing eleven-year-old Lexie Lewis wants more than anything is to leave Portland, Oregon, where she has been staying with her strict grandparents, and rejoin her mother, a carefree singer in San Francisco’s speakeasies. But Mama’s new husband doesn’t think a little girl should live with parents who work all night and sleep all day. Meanwhile, Lexie’s class has been raising money to ship a doll to the children of Japan in a friendship exchange, and when Lexie learns that the girl who writes the best letter to accompany the doll will be sent to the farewell ceremony in San Francisco, she knows she just has to be the winner. But what if a jealous classmate and Lexie’s own small lies to her grandmother manage to derail her plans? Inspired by a project organized by teacher-missionary Sidney Gulick, in which U.S. children sent more than 12,000 Friendship Dolls to Japan in hopes of avoiding a future war, Shirley Parenteau’s engaging story has sure appeal for young readers who enjoy historical fiction, and for doll lovers of all ages.
It’s 1926, and the one thing eleven-year-old Lexie Lewis wants more than anything is to leave Portland, Oregon, where she has been staying with her strict grandparents, and rejoin her mother, a carefree singer in San Francisco’s speakeasies. But Mama’s new husband doesn’t think a little girl should live with parents who work all night and sleep all day. Meanwhile, Lexie’s class has been raising money to ship a doll to the children of Japan in a friendship exchange, and when Lexie learns that the girl who writes the best letter to accompany the doll will be sent to the farewell ceremony in San Francisco, she knows she just has to be the winner. But what if a jealous classmate and Lexie’s own small lies to her grandmother manage to derail her plans? Inspired by a project organized by teacher-missionary Sidney Gulick, in which U.S. children sent more than 12,000 Friendship Dolls to Japan in hopes of avoiding a future war, Shirley Parenteau’s engaging story has sure appeal for young readers who enjoy historical fiction, and for doll lovers of all ages.
Book 3
When America and Japan go to war, will Macy’s feelings for her beloved Japanese Friendship Doll change? Here is a moving addition to the Friendship Dolls series.
In 1941, eleven-year-old Macy James lives near the Oregon coast with her father, the director of a small museum. Miss Tokyo, one of fifty-eight exquisite friendship dolls given to America by Japan in 1926, is part of the museum’s collection — and one of Macy’s most treasured connections to her mother, who recently passed away. When the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, many of Macy’s neighbors demand that Miss Tokyo be destroyed. When her brother joins the Navy and devastating news from the war begins to pour in, Macy starts having doubts — does remaining loyal to Miss Tokyo mean being disloyal to America? Bringing the story of the Friendship Dolls forward to World War II, Shirley Parenteau delivers another thoughtful historical novel inspired by a little-known true event.
In 1941, eleven-year-old Macy James lives near the Oregon coast with her father, the director of a small museum. Miss Tokyo, one of fifty-eight exquisite friendship dolls given to America by Japan in 1926, is part of the museum’s collection — and one of Macy’s most treasured connections to her mother, who recently passed away. When the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, many of Macy’s neighbors demand that Miss Tokyo be destroyed. When her brother joins the Navy and devastating news from the war begins to pour in, Macy starts having doubts — does remaining loyal to Miss Tokyo mean being disloyal to America? Bringing the story of the Friendship Dolls forward to World War II, Shirley Parenteau delivers another thoughtful historical novel inspired by a little-known true event.