Mirabelle

Rating:
Summary: Whimsy & fancy make a nice story
Review: This whimsical book with a lovely plain little heroine is quite special.

Britta is a lonely girl who lives on a farm a long way from the local town. She longs for a doll but her parents can't afford it - until one day when Britta is home alone, a stranger passes through their country lane and Britta helps him by opening a gate. The man then rewards her by giving her a seed.

NOTE: (when I first read this book I was concerned to note that her parents went off to market all day and left her home - and she waited by the road. I do feel this is explained by the fact that this book was first written in the early 40's when it wasn't as dangerous a place as it is in these times)

Britta waters the seed and it grows into a girl doll, who can eat and speak and walk. Britta is happy, her parent's are amazed, and Britta has a friend.

The whimsical text is brilliant, and the illustrations are very good. We borrowed it from the library for my son, never thinking it would be a favorite with him, but he honed in on it again, so it does have a broad appeal.
Kotori '2004