Kirby Larson likes to joke, “Don’t ever win a Newbery for your first novel!” Talk about the pressure.
The Friendship Doll is the first middle grade novel Larson has written since she received a Newbery Honor for Hattie Big Sky in 2006. It wasn’t easy. Larson and a writer friend joked that they “were afflicted with the dreaded second novel syndrome, because it seemed like everything I wrote was stupid and awful and I kept comparing it to Hattie.”
Thank goodness Larson’s husband was around to remind her that she thought the first draft of Hattie Big Sky was awful, too. The final draft of The Friendship Doll, published in May, is a moving tale, tied together by one very unusual doll.
The Friendship Doll tells the story of Miss Kanagawa, one of 58 dolls sent from Japan to the children of the United States in 1927 as Ambassadors of Friendship. These were exquisite dolls, nearly three feet tall, created by master doll makers, with human hair, oyster shell skin and silk kimonos. They travelled around the United States and were eventually given to museums around the country.
As Miss Kanagawa moves around the United States, she has a profound impact on the lives of four girls, all of whom live in different parts of the country and at different times.
The novel reads a bit like four novellas, tales tied together through this child-size doll. The stories are moving, at times heartbreaking, and often quite lovely. Miss Kanagawa, too, has thoughts and a personality of her own – and it isn’t a sweet little dolly personality. She can be condescending and a little vain, but she learns from the girls as much as they learn from her.
Larson got the idea for The Friendship Doll when she was doing research for Hattie Big Sky. She was in the basement of the Montana Historical Society Museum in Helena, looking through items in the museum’s collection that weren’t on display. “There was a photograph there, and it was dated 1928 – a black and white photo of a cute little farm girl and she was standing next to this exquisite Japanese doll that was as tall as she was,” Larson recalls.
She wondered what could have brought together such an unlikely pair. The photo stuck with Larson as she continued work on Hattie. She learned more about the Friendship Doll exchange program and, eventually, created The Friendship Doll.
During World War II, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the dolls were removed from exhibits, some tucked away in basements, others sold at auction. Some of them may have been destroyed. In recent decades, though, there has been a resurgence of interest in the dolls, and many have been located and restored.
Take time this summer to visit the Rosalie Whyel Museum of Doll Art in Bellevue, where one of the original Japanese Friendship Dolls is on display. There is also a doll, Miss Tokushima, at the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture in Spokane.
Thirteen of the original dolls, including the real Miss Kanagawa, are missing. Larson hopes more will be found. “My hope is that someone will read the book and say, ‘Hey, grandma has a doll in the attic that sounds a lot like this doll.'”
