Ship of Dolls

Eleven year old Lexie Lewis lives with her strict grandparents instead of with her Mama and step dad Toby. However, an opportunity to see Mama again appears. Her teacher announces that the class will buy a friendship doll to send to Japan with many other dolls in hopes of avoiding a war. Each student is assigned to write a letter from the doll’s perspective. The student with the best letter will go to San Francisco, where there will be a farewell ceremony for the dolls. When Lexie found out that her mama will be at the ceremony, she knows she has to win the contest. However, Lexie is faced with a tough decision: if she wins, will she stay with Mama or go back to live with her grandparents?

In this book, I especially enjoyed the author’s note about Dr. Sidney Gulick, who created the real friendship dolls project. Also, when the book ended I really wanted to know what would happen next. I would recommend this book for kids who are interested in historical fiction and the Japanese-American friendship doll exchange.