The Lonely Doll

by Dare Wright

Hardcover, 1998

Status

Available

Call number

PZ8.W875 L

Series

Lonely Doll (1)

Genres

Children's Books

Publication

Clarion Books (1998), Edition: Illustrated, 64 pages

Description

Once there was a little doll. Her name was Edith. She lived in a nice house and had everything she needed except someone to play with. She was lonely! Then one morning Edith looked into the garden and there stood two bears! Since it was first published in 1957, The Lonely Doll has established itself as a unique children's classic. Through innovative photography Dare Wright brings the world of dolls to life and entertains us with much more than just a story. Edith, the star of the show, is adoll from Wright's childhood, and Wright selected the bear family with the help of her brother. With simple poses and wonderful expressions, the cast of characters is vividly brought to life to tell a story of friendship.

User reviews

LibraryThing member MerryMary

A reissue, in paperback, of the original title. Storyline is simple, but the photos are intricate and fascinating. To the adult eye there is something vaguely disturbing about the photos. There is a sense of isolation and maybe fear in them. Dare Wright led a complicated and troubled life, and

somehow there are echoes of this in her work.

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9 more

LibraryThing member sharese

Summary:
A wonderful story shown in photographs we end up a part of the world belonging to the lonely doll. The story begins with the lonely doll asking for friends and eventually two arrive. Mr. Bear and little bear become her friends with Mr. Bear taking the parent roll. This book is a sign of the

times it was written in with both the doll and little bear recieving spankings from Mr. Bear after having been "bad". I can see some parents of today not wanting to expose children to that. With the black and white photographs and simple language this book does have it's charm.

Review:
While I really enjoyed the pictures and the simple story of this book I didn't like the spanking of the doll or little bear by Mr. Bear. I also felt very sad for the doll when she feared she'd been so naughty that Mr. Bear and little bear would go away and she'd be lonely again. Not a perfect fairy tale of sorts, but it is a great book to look at with the photographs and toys of a few decades ago. It reminds me of peering into my Grandmother's closet and wondering at the rows of grown-up lady shoes and polyester dresses. I would recommend this book for slightly older children who can talk about what they are feeling.

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LibraryThing member thairishgrl

I was given this book as a young girl by my cousin, with whom I shared a love of reading. The loneliness of the doll is portrayed with an depth and longing that is absent from most books targeting this demographic. I remembered loving this book and feeling very unsettled by it at the same time.

LibraryThing member t1bclasslibrary

Edith is a very lonely doll until Mr. Bear and Little Bear show up. They have wonderful times together, but sometimes Edith and Little Bear get into trouble. One day she and Little Bear get into really big trouble, and she worries that Mr. Bear and Little Bear will leave. She and Little Bear clean

up the mess, and Mr. Bear promises that they will never leave. This story is told with well-placed photographs of the doll and bears in black and white.

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LibraryThing member faerielibrarian

This was one of my favorite books as a child. I still love the pictures and the one of Edith getting a spanking by Mr. Bear is still one of those bizarre images that haunt me.

LibraryThing member sweetiegherkin

Edith, a girl doll, lives all alone and prays for some friends to ease her loneliness. One day, out of the blue, two teddy bears appear on her door and say they are there as an answer to her call for friends. Little Bear soon joins in various adventures with Edith while Mr. Bear takes on the

parental role. One day, while Mr. Bear is out, Edith and Little Bear get into a lot of trouble. On his return, Mr. Bear gives them both a spanking, a part that is troublesome for many readers, including myself. Edith worries that Mr. Bear and Little Bear will now leave, but Mr. Bear comforts her by saying they will not leave her ever. Instead of using more traditional illustrations, this book features large gray-scale photographs on every page. This is an interesting technique, but photographing a doll and her teddy bear friends does lend to the creepy factor that several others have noted about this book, especially when it comes to the scenes where Mr. Bear spanks Little Bear and Edith (and it doesn’t help that Edith wears the shortest dress known to mankind that barely covers her little behind). As I already mentioned, the spanking scenes are troublesome for many adults who do not view this as an effective discipline technique, but I appreciated the end of that story where Mr. Bear tells Edith he will not leave her because she was being bad, as some young children do worry about this. Overall, the book is interesting for historic purposes and for its unique method of telling a story, but I’m not sure I’d recommend it for modern young readers.

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LibraryThing member madamepince

Absolutely one of my favorite books as a child. Absolutely creepy to read it as an adult, especially after reading the biography of the author, "The Secret Life of the Lonely Doll."

LibraryThing member karinnekarinne

Never read The Lonely Doll as a kid, somehow acquired a biography of Dare Wright (still unread), saw this displayed in the kiddie section at the library and snatched it up. I read it this morning because I needed to take it back to the library.

This is a children's book that involves a story, told

through photographs, of a doll who is desperate for friends until one day two bears mysteriously show up. There's a large bear who ends up being a father figure and a little bear who ends up being the doll's partner in crime. The text is simple and brief and the photographs are dreamy black-and-white shots.

I think as a kid I would have thought it was just a cute story and been inspired to tell a similar story with my dolls, but as an adult I found it terribly sad and a little creepy. (And it would be creepy even without the oft-mentioned spanking scene.) It's pretty, though.

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LibraryThing member a.coote

A lonely doll gets two visitors: Mr. Bear and Little Bear. They stay with her, and she tries to stay on her best behavior to keep Mr. Bear from leaving her.

LibraryThing member quondame

A resonate capture of the need for companionship and the need for self expression and the inevitability of childhood adventure. It's mostly the photos.

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