[.ca] Miss Happiness & Miss Flower (ISBN 1405088567)

miss illustrations:
I loved this book as a child, even using the plans to make a dollshouse of my own (albeit out of cardboard). Unfortunately the new paperback lacks the delicate illustrations gracing my cherished edition (circa late 1960s?). Hope that future versions will oblige.

Miss Happiness and Miss Flower:
One of the most prized "childhood favourites" in my library along with Little Plum, the follow-up novel to Miss Happiness and Miss Flower. In fact, I'm a fan of all of Godden's works, from her children's books to her adult titles such as Black Narcissus. I "discovered" Miss Happiness and Miss Flower a couple of years after my family relocated from tropical Queensland - with its memories of mangoes, mosquito nets and frangipani (plumaria) flowers - to Sydney, a temperate climate city with cold winters. In those days (mid-1960s)when families and cultures migrated a lot less than they do now, migrants from even just another state - let alone another country! - felt homesick and alienated. But even today in the age of the internet, transplanted girls still miss their old home, its sights, sounds, tastes and friends...and would enjoy this gentle book. Naturally, I related to the novel's heroine Nona, a book-loving young girl uprooted from her home in tropical India and sent to live in England. I also connected to the empathy she develops with Miss Happiness and Miss Flower, two Japanese dolls who are also feeling out of place and homesick for the familiar. Fortunately I didn't have a selfish (and insecure) cousin Belinda - as Nona does - to make my life even more miserable. But like Nona, I did eventually make friends and begin to feel at home...

Japanese Dolls Bring Family Together:
Miss Happiness and Miss Flower. This book is about a girl named Nona who comes from India to live with her aunt and uncle. Her cousins' names are Tom, Anne, and Belinda. She is very unhappy and lonely until two dolls arrive called Miss Happiness and Miss Flower. There was supposed to be a doll called Little Peach in the box too but he was not there. This really disappoints Belinda. When they arrive the whole family gets involved in making a Japanese doll's house. The kids get help from Mr. Twilfit who runs the bookstore who gives them book about Japan. Tom does all the building. Nona reads about Japan and their festivals and houses. Melly, a friend Nona meets at school and her mom help too. Anne sews the dolls' clothes. Everyone pitches in except Belinda. She is mean and spiteful because she feels jealous of all the attention that Nona is getting. All through the story the reader wonders if Belinda will ruin the dolls' house. She also refuses to let Miss Flower live in the Japanese house. Nona decides to write her aunt and ask for the Little Peach. When he arrives they have peaches for breakfast and Belinda is happy because Little Peach is inside her fruit. All ends happily because Nona likes her new school and family. I would recommend this book because it is a little different and a sweet story about a family coming together.

Absolutely Enchanting!:
This book is still one of my favorites. I read it when I was 10 years old and in 5th grade. I fell in love with the idea of creating a home for my dolls, so I begged my dad to build me the same dollhouse, which he did. I spent many weeks searching for items to put in it, but I had some trouble finding things that looked Japanese. This book inspired me to learn more about other cultures and languages. I still have the dollhouse, and am planning to refurbish it this summer. I bought a copy of the book about 18 years ago, but it was very hard to find. I'm glad that it is more easily avaiable today. This would be a fun book to read with a child, and the house would be a fun project to make together.

A perfect book for can-do kind of little lonely girls:
As "Harry Potter" calls out to today's young bright outsiders looking for somewhere to truly belong, this book spoke to me. It mesmerised me as a little girl. As an USAF "brat" I very much understand Nona's ache and anger as the "weird" outsider. I fell in love with the dolls as well. Their "voices" sounded like two little doting "aunties" as they subtly manipulated Nona and Belinda into seeing past their differences and fears and into finding friendship. If only I had had such a wonderful pair of guardian angels of my own back then. Rumer does a great job of painting two total opposites of little girls with warmth and sympathy while never truly turning either into either a villian or a bad joke (way too rare). She showed that even our flaws can become strengths when they are accepted and we are willing to be loved. One thing that really grabbed me as a child was that the book included all the plans for the house and the furnishings the girls eventually build for their little foriegn guests. I spent hours pouring over the school library copy back then. I nearly wore it out. Now my girls will be able to indulge in the same pleasure without having to always be on the look out for the due date. This time we'll be building the Japanese doll house together.