Looking for a child's fiction/picture book circa 1950's-1960's, maybe even 1940's -Hardcover - Colored pictures drawn like doll wigs of different colors, new clothes in tissue paper, clothes accessories, etc. Pictures are not 'cartoony'; more true to life.
Story: Little girl has been asking her father to fix her doll but he has been too busy at his shop. Finally, on the little girl's birthday, he closes his doll hospital early and dedicates the rest of the day to fixing up her beloved doll with new eyes, face and clothes that she gets to pick out all by herself.
Ooh! I know this one! It’s one of my favorites from when I was a kid, and I posted about it on my blog. It’s Katy Comes Next by Laura Bannon:
https://forgottenstoriesweb.wordpress.com/2018/06/20/katy-comes-next/
This book is a collector’s item now. I’ve never seen one for less than $50 anywhere. I keep looking because I got my copy used, and it’s always had a torn page.
June 21, 2020
Dear Tracy,
Oh my goodness! You responded to this ‘Stump the Bookseller’ the day I posted it! Amazing! Thank you sooo much for responding so quickly and being so knowledgeable about this book! I have been trying to find this book and book title, author, etc., for almost 30 years! I wanted to read it to my daughter so badly because it was one of my favorite books when I was a little girl, but couldn’t remember the title or author. My daughter is going to be 30 years old this July!
My parents would take my sisters and me to the library when we were small and I would always look for this book to check out over and over and over! I think I must have ‘memorized’ the pictures in this book because to me, they were the words since I couldn’t read yet. I remember being disappointed when I couldn’t find this book and felt upset that somebody else would have checked out MY book!
I can’t thank you enough for responding; you absolutely made my day!
Sincerely,
Jackie
No problem! This is one of those distinctive books that, once you’ve seen it, you recognize it right away, and I loved it when I was a kid, too. My copy is actually damaged, although not badly enough to ruin the story. The only reason why I have it is that it was cheap at a charity sale. I still love it, but I’ve always wanted to see what’s on the torn page in my copy of the book.