by Kirby Larson
ages: 9+
First sentence: “The old doll-maker Tatsuhiko poured boiling water into the teapot with trembling hands and inhaled deeply.”
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It’s the 1920s, and Miss Kanagawa is a beautiful Japanese doll, sent to America with the mission of spreading friendship and unity between the two countries. In a series of four short stories that progress through time from 1927 to 1941, we follow Miss Kanagawa as she meets, and helps, four special girls in some of the most trying times that the U.S. has seen.

I’m not usually one for short stories, but I enjoyed these. Miss Kanagawa was a good linking device, making it seem more like a novel than separate short stories. Even though I wondered about the fantasy element at first — we hear the doll’s thoughts, and she seems to connect and influence the girls in the stories — I realized that it really wasn’t a fantasy book (the doll and the girls never actually talk to each other), but just a narrative device. One that worked for me, because not only did the girls grow and change and overcome, but the doll did as well.

Out of the four stories, my personal favorite was the third one, about Willie Mae. It took place in the heart of the Great Depression, in a small Kentucky town. Willie Mae was a “holler girl”, someone who grew up in the mountains, who loves to read and write. She doesn’t feel like her life will give her anything until she’s given the opportunity to go into town for a job reading to the town crank, Mrs. Wheldon. This simple thing changes everyone’s lives for the better. It’s sweet and sad and touching all at once.

Perhaps that’s the best thing about Kirby Larson’s book: she knows how to embody the past, and bring it forward so that we can understand and relate to these kids. And the part about the doll — the exchange is an actual historical event as well — is also fascinating.

It’s wonderful when an author can make history come alive.