Editorial Review
Natasha isn't really a bad girl. It's just that she wants to play on the swing
now, not after the wash has been hung up to dry. And she wants her soup
now, not after the goats have been fed. Looking after Natasha keeps Babushka, Natasha's grandmother, very busy.
Then, after lunch, Natasha notices a doll sitting on Babushka's shelf...a doll Babushka tells Natasha she played with just once when she was a little girl. When Natasha plays with the doll while Babushka goes to the store for groceries, she discovers why once is enough with Babushka's doll...and finds out just how tiring it can be to take care of a child who wants everything now.
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Customer Reviews
The A mazing Doll 
2002-10-23
It is a book that is full of surprises. The biggest, most interesting surprise is when Natasha uses her grandmother's doll. It came to life and the doll was mean to Natasha. I loved the drawings. This story could be a lesson for us not to be mean to our mothers...
Close to Best Book 2001-06-06
I like the book because it's not real but it seems like it could have happened in real life. It taught a lesson to Tasha. The lesson was you should realize what you're doing before you do it. Tasha didn't understand why she always had to wait for everything.
Not reallistic, but an excellent book. 1999-03-20
This book is an excellent book!!! It is about Pat and her doll come to life. I don't want to have to review all her books, but I just want to say that all of her books should have a 1,000,000 star.
Gotta Have This One! 2008-02-29
I'm a third grade teacher and wouldn't be without this book in my classroom library. I have almost all of Polacco's books, but my students particularly enjoy this one. My most recent purchase of Babushka's Doll was for a 4 year old friend of my family... I read it to her and we had such fun laughing about that naughty little doll. Even at the tender age of four, Patricia Polacco's timeless message of learning to be patient and considerate came through loud and clear. This book is an absolute delight!
A Good Lesson 2008-02-09
Babushka's Doll is a very entertaining book because it let's us see how giving and demanding orders makes you feel, aswell as how being at the receiving end of all of these demands can really affect you. My daughters and I enjoyed it very much.
come sit on my shelf, doll 2007-04-29
Polacco's illustrations are vibrant and energetic, a wonderful combination of the organic with the geometric.
It's gorgeous to look at, but really, you must read this story if you have a four year old daughter. You hear a lot about the terrible twos, but nobody tells you about the f***ing fours, when kids often get demanding and try on selfishness for size. Not that I'm speaking from experience or anything.
Sit down with that girl and read Babushka's Doll. Her eyes will be opened.
We love this book. 2004-06-27
My children love this story, and I enjoy reading it. I particularly like the illustrations. Very accurate portrayal of rural Russia--the windows, the well... I have ordered more of her books, we enjoy this one so much.
4.5 Morality With Warmth 2004-06-24
"Children's Books > Literature > Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths > Multicultural"
This book's archetypal story elements (e.g., magic, a moral, intergenerational conflict) are indeed part fairy tale and myth. A young girl, overly demanding of her grandmother ("Babushka"), learns what it's like on the receiving end when her grandmother's doll comes to life and makes demands on the girl. This is not, however, typical Polacco because there's a subtle punitive quality to the doll's incessant demands and misbehavior: "'You didn't do it right," said the doll... Natasha began to cry. "I'm just a little girl," she said between sobs. I wish you were just a doll."'
However, I think that Palocco's evocation of a fairy tale (which often contain gruesome scenes, unlike the mild consequences here), and her warm, very colorful illustrations soften the doll's "vengeance." This is not "Chuckie." And in the end, her grandmother slyly tells her that she must have been dreaming (although we are led to believe that the doll really did come to life), and we are reassured that `Natasha turned out quite nice after all.'
Palocco's large, loopy illustrations are always a treasure, and here, the pencil, pen, and acrylic bring some enchantment and a sense of fun to Natasha's "lesson."
