In 1926 Portland, Oregon, eleven-year-old Lexie has been living with her grandparents since her free-spirited mother, a singer, sent her there after getting a new boyfriend. Lexie misses her mom, especially as her grandparents aren’t nearly as warm and demonstrative, not to mention fun. Lexie’s class has raised money to send a doll to Japan as part of a Friendship Doll Exchange. If she writes the winning letter in a contest, she’ll be able to accompany the doll to San Francisco, where her mom is currently living and where the ship taking the dolls to Japan will set sail. But Lexie’s nemesis, Louise, is just as determined to go, and willing to do anything to win. An emotionally satisfying work of historical fiction has predictable elements but also wonderful nuances to many of the characters. This is especially true of Lexie and her grandparents, who, she finally understands, love her with constancy, something her mother, despite genuinely loving her, is unable or unwilling to provide. An author’s note provides more information on the U.S.-Japanese Friendship Doll Exchange. (Ages 7–10)

Can a ship carrying Friendship Dolls to Japan be Lexie’s ticket to see her fun-loving mother again? A heartwarming historical novel inspired by a little-known true event.

It’s 1926, and the one thing eleven-year-old Lexie Lewis wants more than anything is to leave Portland, Oregon, where she has been staying with her strict grandparents, and rejoin her mother, a carefree singer in San Francisco’s speakeasies. But Mama’s new husband doesn’t think a little girl should live with parents who work all night and sleep all day. Meanwhile, Lexie’s class has been raising money to ship a doll to the children of Japan in a friendship exchange, and when Lexie learns that the girl who writes the best letter to accompany the doll will be sent to the farewell ceremony in San Francisco, she knows she just has to be the winner. But what if a jealous classmate and Lexie’s own small lies to her grandmother manage to derail her plans? Inspired by a project organized by teacher-missionary Sidney Gulick, in which U.S. children sent more than 12,000 Friendship Dolls to Japan in hopes of avoiding a future war, Shirley Parenteau’s engaging story has sure appeal for young readers who enjoy historical fiction, and for doll lovers of all ages.