The Winter of the Dollhouse [Hardcover]

“In the small-scale world of Laura Amy Schlitz’s novel The Winter of the Dollhouse, the emotional stakes are both intimate and enormous. . . . [She] is a masterly storyteller.” —The New York Times Book Review

This captivating coming-of-age story is touching, funny, and beautifully layered, with a fairy-tale ending that only Newbery Medalist Laura Amy Schlitz could deliver.

On a gloomy November night, eleven-year-old Tiphany Stokes saves an old lady from collapsing in the street. An antique doll named Gretel watches them, longing for Tiph to rescue her from life in a shop window. Though none of these three characters realizes it, their worlds are about to change: Gretel will no longer be a precious prisoner. The old lady—is she a witch?—will discover the secret hidden in her long-neglected dollhouse. And Tiph—whose parents rejoice that she is “never any trouble”—will become a thief, a dog walker, an actor, and best of all, a friend.The Newbery medalist Laura Amy Schlitz is a masterly storyteller best known for her historical fiction. . . . Her new middle grade novel, The Winter of the Dollhouse, though set in the present, has the fully drawn characters, emotional pull and timeless feel of her other works, which make it old-fashioned in the best way.
—The New York Times

With its animated playthings, secret messages and hidden chambers, “The Winter of the Dollhouse” utilizes enjoyable narrative devices, but it stops well short of being a sugary tale of happy characters having happy times on their way to a happy ending. Ms. Schlitz has a keen moral sensibility, and it shows in the way she draws Tiph (who pilfers) and Néni Szilvia (who can be cranky). It also shows in the oló2