THIS IS MY DOLLHOUSE

Readers will feel right at home with this cozy tribute to imagination.

In pitch-perfect, first-person narration, a young girl introduces readers to her beloved dollhouse, made from a cardboard box and decorated with crafted odds and ends. The toy family living there is made up of dolls and stuffed animals, including a mother doll and twin girl dolls, Grandma Mousey, and a stuffed bear Daddy. She delights in making props for them and tucks them in to sleep in one big bed. On a play date, she discovers that her friend Sophie has a pristine, fully accessorized dollhouse with a matching doll family. (All the human characters, both girls and dolls, are white.) Sophie rejects ideas for crafting decorations or adding characters to their pretend play, so once the family is settled into four tidy beds, the bored girls go outside to play. When Sophie comes to play at her house, the narrator is nervous that her friend will look down on her homemade dollhouse, so she hides it—but Sophie discovers it and is enchanted. The girls make many things to embellish the house and delight in pretend play. The childlike voice in Potter’s text is matched by her downright charming watercolor-and-ink illustrations, which invite close inspection and might inspire readers in their own dollhouse craft—particularly if they can access the inside of the jacket, which provides dollhouse-making instructions.

A dollhouse for everyone.