Thursday, June 2, 2011

Lovely Coincidences

I am so lucky to have nice pals -- some I haven't even met yet -- in the kids' publishing world. One of them is Lillian who emailed me this morning to ask if I knew of Mitsu Takami. And I do! Mitsu and Mary Calvert posed together with their dolls way back in 1927 and that photo made the front cover of a book I treasure, Dolls of Friendship: The Story of a Goodwill Project Between the Children of America and Japan (I own the second edition), written by Dr. Sidney L. Gulick. This is the book that helped focus my research for my newly released The Friendship Doll.

Though I truly don't know Mitsu, I have studied her sweet 8-year-old face so often, I feel as if I do know her a bit.  Such delightful book world serendipities are the icing on the cookie of my writing life.




2 comments:

  1. This picture is precious! I love their matching hairstyles! I can't wait to read The Friendship Doll! Congratulations, Kirby!

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  2. Beautiful picture, and delightful serendipity, Kirby! I just finished The Friendship Doll on my iPad, and now I can't wait to buy a physical copy at the Humboldt Festival and have you sign it for me! A beautiful, elegantly (yet simply) written book that spans so many hard times, and hopefully will remind readers that we all face hard times in every generation, but with the right mindset (and a good doll friend's loving advice) we can deal with them with grace and friendship.

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