Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Macmillan Children's Books (1956), Hardcover, 64 pages
Description
Fairy Doll has always been at the top of the Christmas tree, brilliant in her white beaded dress and little silver shoes (which Elizabeth is sure were sewn by fairy mice).Elizabeth is the smallest in the family. She is always getting into trouble and her brothers and sisters are forever leaving her out and ordering her around. She's convinced she's useless. Then Great-Grandma gives Fairy Doll to Elizabeth - and it isn't even Christmas! From then on Elizabeth keeps hearing a little 'Ting!' which seems to tell her what to do. Suddenly everything starts going right instead of wrong. Could Fairy Doll be magical?
User reviews
LibraryThing member thornton37814
A fairy doll tops a tree for a family where the youngest girl is struggling in her achievement. When great-grandmother declares that Elizabeth needs her own fairy, the doll becomes hers. With the power of the fairy doll, the girl is able to achieve. What happens when the fairy doll goes missing?
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You'll have to read to find out, because I'm not telling! There are some aspects to this story that are dated, such as lighting candles on the tree and having a cedar chest. It's probably not a story that modern children would enjoy, but I found it enjoyable. Show Less
LibraryThing member Cheryl_in_CC_NV
A perfect Christmas gift. ?�A little too sweet for modern children the rest of the year, but the feelings of the youngest of a large and lively family are authentically captured by Godden's musical prose and (at least in the edition I read) the art of Caldecott winner Adrienne Adams. ?áIt
I would have loved this when I was a child just for the descriptions of all the crafting and collecting Elizabeth does to make a home for the doll. ?áNever mind that I'm the oldest and so would not likely have empathized then with Elizabeth's plight. ?á*Perhaps* I would have been more supportive or kinder to my younger brothers, though. ?áBest of all, the book is short enough for a family to read it aloud together, perhaps after all the presents have been opened and the feast digested, in the evening of Christmas Day.
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certainly is a pity the teacher calls Elizabeth 'stupid' and the child is hushed when she asks 'Where is Canada?' upon learning that's Great-Grandmother's home. ?áBut all is well in the end, of course. ?áI would have loved this when I was a child just for the descriptions of all the crafting and collecting Elizabeth does to make a home for the doll. ?áNever mind that I'm the oldest and so would not likely have empathized then with Elizabeth's plight. ?á*Perhaps* I would have been more supportive or kinder to my younger brothers, though. ?áBest of all, the book is short enough for a family to read it aloud together, perhaps after all the presents have been opened and the feast digested, in the evening of Christmas Day.
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Awards
IBBY Honour Book (1958)
Language
Original publication date
1956
Physical description
64 p.
ISBN
0333079752 / 9780333079751
Local notes
Fairy Doll has always been at the top of the Christmas tree, Then Great-Grandma gives Fairy Doll to Elizabeth – and it isn't even Christmas! From then on Elizabeth keeps hearing a little ’Ting!’ which seems to tell her what to do. Suddenly everything starts going right instead of wrong.