Yoko's Show and Tell: 01/23/12

Yoko's Show and Tell by Rosemary Wells is about a show and tell gone wrong. It also introduces children to Girl's Day, Japanese culture and doll hospitals.

A few weeks before Girl's Day, Yoko received a package from her grandparents. It is her great-grandmother's Girl's Day doll, Miki. It's been in the family for generations and now it's Yuko's.

The young cat desperately wants to share it at show and tell but her mother says No. Yuko doesn't listen and the doll ends up broken on the bus floor because of two bullies. Yuko tells her mother the truth and together they take the doll to a doll hospital to have it repaired before the grandparents arrive on their Spring visit.

My children have heard about Girl's Day and know about the importance of dolls on that day. My daughter is currently in kindergarten, although, show-and-tell hasn't been brought up yet. Those two pieces of the story, therefore, rang true for both children.

The doll hospital struck them as completely made up. I think doll hospitals were more popular a few decades ago. I have never seen one, nor been to one. I did know a doll restorer through my father who is an antique dealer. She had the shop around the corner from him. But an actual doll hospital like the one shown in Yuko's Show-And-Tell is something I've only ever seen in books.

So while I think book is geared towards introducing children to more pieces of Japanese culture, especially something relevant to children, the doll hospital aspect of the story ended up being the piece that needed the most explanation. I did a quick online search and found addresses for a pair of doll hospitals but neither has a web site. I'm not sure if they are as elaborate on the "hospital" facade as the one in this book.

Have you ever visited a doll hospital?

Four stars.

The Yoko Series:

• Mama Don't Go
  
• The School Play
  
• Halloween Play
  
• Be My Valentine
  
• Doris's Dinosaur
  
• The Germ Busters
  
• Bubble-Gum Radar
  
• The Secret Birthday
  
• Make New Friends
  
• When I Grow Up
  
• Read Me a Story Practice Makes Perfect
  
• Yoko Writes Her Name
  
• Yoko's Paper Cranes
• Yoko's Show and Tell

Comments (2)

Comment #1: Tuesday, January, 24 2012 at 21:47:22

Jeane

Never even heard of a doll hospital.

Comment #2: Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 21:57:14

Pussreboots

Thanks for your response. I've only heard of them through books.