Polacco, Patricia   Babushka's Doll  
Publisher: New York 1995. Near Fine with no dust jacket; New book with light edge wear from being on display. Aladdin Later Printing Paperback Square 4to 9" - 11"; Unpaginated pages; Natasha wasn't really naughty. She just had no patience when it came to waiting for things. She was always nagging her Babushka (grandmother) to stop what her own activities to cater to Natasha's desires. When Babushka finally finishes her chores and gets lunch on the table, Natasha notices a doll on the shelf she had never seen there before. She asks, "Is that your doll, Babushka?"

Her Babushka replies that it had been her doll when she was a little girl, but she had only played with her once. Just once. When Natasha asks to hold the doll, Babushka says Natasha may play with the doll while she goes to the store to buy groceries. But as soon as Babushka left, the little doll comes to life and begins to make demands: She wants to play. She wants Natasha to push her in the swing until Natasha is tired. And some more. Natasha takes the doll for a ride in the goat cart and the doll tells her to keep going and not to slow down. When Natasha is too tired to keep pulling and sits down to rest, the doll insists she want to eat now. So Natasha struggles to fix lunch. The doll spills the tea, throws the food around, and then demands that Natasha wash and iron her dress -- now. Natasha tries her best, and the doll complains she didn't do it right. At this point Natasha bursts into tears and says: "I'm just a little girl. . . I wish you were just a doll. "

At this point, Babushka returns to find Natasha in tears and hears her story. Babushka says she must have just had a bad dream and puts the doll back on the shelf. And after that, we are left with the impression that Natasha did not nag her Babushka quite so much. ; ISBN: 0689802552

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Polacco, Patricia   Aunt Chip and the Great Triple Creek Dam Affair  
Publisher: New York 1996. New in New dust jacket Penguin Putnam Later Printing Hardcover 4to 11" - 13" tall; Unpaginated pages; In Triple Creek, TVs were so popular that almost everyone in the town hadforgotten how to read. People loved their TVs more than anything and watched them all thetime. That is, everyone but Eli's Aunt Charlotte. He called her Aunt Chip, and she was theonly person in town who did not have a television and had never owned one. She had beenthe town librarian until no one used the library anymore, and after a while even forgotwhat it was for. Finally the city fathers had it torn down and replaced with a giant TVtower. And Aunt Chip took to her bed and vowed to stay there.

Eli loved his Aunt Chip and visited her often. She toldwonderful stories, and when he asked where she got them, she said from books. That puzzledEli. It was then that Aunt Chip discovered that not only Eli, but the whole town, couldnot read. They used books as building materials for fences, walls, doorstops, plates, andeven to shore up the dam. For almost anything but reading. Aunt Chip shows Eli the insideof a book and explains about writing:

       'Now lookat this. Those are words. They tell about ideas, dreams, and feelings. They take you toplaces far     from here. They show you how to be fair and just, andsometimes show your what happens when you're not.      Books are atreasure. All you need is the key. '
        'The key?' Eli asked.
        'The key! Knowin' these words and theirmeanings, ' she answered softly. 'It's called readin. '

Eli begs Aunt Chip to teach him to read, and she does. Soon his classmates discovered that he could "hear" things that they couldn't. He explained that he wasn't "hearing, " but reading. They wanted him to readmore. And he took them to Aunt Chip, who taught them to read, too. Soon there weren'tenough books to go around, so the children started retrieving them from the places theyhad been stashed. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending upon your point of view) onebook was pulled from the wall of books holding up the dam. I'll leave the rest to yourimagination, but by the end the children have taught their parents how to read again andAunt Chip lived to preside over the new town library. ; ISBN: 0399229434

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