DOLL BABY

In keeping with her willingness to take risks, Bunting (The Memory String, see below, etc.) tackles another “difficult” subject in this poignant, but unusual, cross between a picture book and a problem novel. Ellie’s love for her doll Daisy quickly transfers to her own child, Angelica, born when Ellie is only 15 years old. With the somewhat grudging help of her parents, Ellie juggles school and motherhood, savoring the joys of her daughter while lamenting the loss of her own childhood. It’s difficult to imagine the audience for this betwixt and between book. With the cover of a first reader, the illustrations of a picture book, and the content of at least a middle-grade reader, if not a young-adult novel, librarians will be hard-pressed to decide where best to shelve it. Teens, put off by the childish look of the book, will pass it by while young children, drawn by the artwork, will find the story far above their level of understanding. Although Bunting handles the subject matter skillfully and sensitively, it’s so obviously neither fish nor fowl that it likely will remain tucked away on a shelf rather than finding its way into the hands of young girls like Ellie. (Fiction. 11-14)