IT'S CHRISTMAS, AND NELLA is beside herself with excitement She and her sisters have been given a "real "gift - a beautiful Baby Betty doll. But it's hard to share something you've waited your whole seven-year-old life for, and Nella grabs the doll for herself. It isn't long before she discovers that a doll can't do the fun things she and her sisters do together. So, as Christmas day fades, Nella shares it with her sisters. Set in the Depression era South, here's a heartwarming story that captures the essence of the holiday.

Related Categories:
Books > Juvenile Fiction > Holidays & Celebrations - Christmas & Advent
Books > Juvenile Fiction > Social Issues - Values
Books > Juvenile Fiction > Family - Siblings

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Check out to The All-I'll-Ever-Want Christmas Doll from the award-winning team of Patricia C. McKissack and illustrator Jerry Pinkney. In an author's note about the story, McKissack explains that she was inspired while interviewing a woman who grew up during the Depression in an all-black Alabama town that was tagged as the "poorest place in America." Mary Lee Bendolph's memories of a very special "store-bought doll" gave McKissack the idea for her character, Nella, and her wish for a "Baby Betty doll" from "Santy Claus."

Baby Betty is all Nella wants. The only hitch is that on Christmas morning, she and her two sisters get one Baby Betty to share. Nella manages to convince her sisters that since she is the one who asked for the doll, it belongs to her. She then tells her new gift, "You are all I want. I don't need anything else!" Nella's mother wisely says, "We'll see," and of course, Nella soon learns that her doll is not so interesting without her sisters.

This is a well-told family story in its own right, and the period details (mentions of Br'er Rabbit, the newspaper lining the walls to keep in warmth, the washbasin near the bed, the curtain separating the children's bed from the adult's) add historical insight. Pinkney's pencil and watercolor drawings are perfect, with a wistful, sketchy feel, and details and color in just the right spots.