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Library | Material Type | Item Barcode | Shelf Number | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Avon-Washington Township Public Library | Juvenile Picture Book Hardback | 120791000309231 | HOLIDAY J P TEW | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
"This is a warm and engaging Christmas story set during the Great Depression. Rebecca is nine years old when her large, close-knit family moves into a tarpaper farm house in Wisconsin. Because times are hard, she does not find the porcelain doll she had hoped for under the Christmas tree. Instead, her mother surprises her with a thick gingerbread doll named Button Marie, which she loves 'in a way you could never love anything from a store.' . . . These paintings (which arereminiscent of the work of Andrew Wyeth) convey a strong sense of the affection that pervades the family over the generations. The emphasis on such familiar things as family storytelling and rituals makes this a slice of Americana that the picture book crowd can savor."--ALA Booklist
"Lloyd's sharply observed realistic watercolors--in a palette somewhat grayed as if to recall old b&w photos--beautifully reflect this well-told story's warmth and focus on essential values."--Kirkus Reviews
Reviews (3)
Horn Book Review
For the Christmas of 1930, Rebecca wanted a porcelain doll. But the Depression brought hard times. Her ingenious mother fashioned Button Marie, a gingerbread doll, from molasses, lard, and love. Great-grandmother Rebecca holds buttons and threads from her Button Marie as she passes down this tale of love, illustrated in muted tones, to her family. From HORN BOOK 1993, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
When the extended family gathers for its annual cookie baking, great-grandma Rebecca tells about her ninth Christmas, in 1930 during the Depression. Times were hard on their Wisconsin farm, and there was no hope of the porcelain doll she wanted; so Mama improvised a doll of thick gingerbread, with yarn hair and a dress of cloth scraps. Rebecca ``loved Button Marie in a way you could never love anything from a store''; but though she was careful, ``Button Marie'' eventually broke. Later, times got better and she had a cornhusk doll and, finally, the porcelain doll. But it's Button Marie's scrap of a dress that great-grandma Rebecca treasures and talks about on cookie-baking day: she ``was made from love, and that's the part...that lasts forever.'' Lloyd's sharply observed realistic watercolors--in a palette somewhat grayed as if to recall old b&w photos--beautifully reflect this well-told story's warmth and focus on essential values. (Picture book/Young reader. 5-9)
Booklist Review
Ages 5-8. This is a warm and engaging Christmas story set during the Great Depression. Rebecca is nine years old when her large, close-knit family moves into a tarpaper farm house in Wisconsin. Because times are hard, she does not find the porcelain doll she had hoped for under the Christmas tree. Instead, her mother surprises her with a thick gingerbread doll named Button Marie, which she loves "in a way you could never love anything from a store." As the family's fortunes improve, so do Rebecca's Christmas presents, and after several years, she receives the porcelain doll. Yet it is Button Marie's scraps of cloth and mismatched buttons that Rebecca shares with the females in her family on cookie-baking day 60 years later. While the realistic watercolors in muted hues capture the barren winter landscape and troubled times, the figures are a bit stiff: for instance, young Rebecca does not appear to grow older from one yuletide to the next. On the other hand, these paintings (which are reminiscent of the work of Andrew Wyeth) convey a strong sense of the affection that pervades the family over the generations. The emphasis on such familiar things as family storytelling and rituals makes this a slice of Americana that the picture book crowd can savor. ~--Julie Corsaro