Newton Free Library

How did the Storybook Dollhouse come to be?

In 1994, the Children's Room received an undecorated dollhouse as a donation. The Children's Librarians thought it would be great to have a dollhouse decorated with characters or scenes from children's books and then place it prominently in the Children's Room where all could admire and enjoy it. The next step was finding some creative individuals to make the vision a reality.

Pam Bator and Amy Radin, frequent Library patrons and mothers, took up the challenge. After much thought, they decided to make each room in the style of a picture story book. The question was then WHICH book to base the rooms on?

Details like the poster by Max complete "Where the Wild Things Are" bedroom

The Great Green Room from "Goodnight Moon" by Margaret Wise Brown was the easiest choice, but it took many more discussions to decide what the other five rooms would be. Pam and Amy finally decided to use favorite "classic" picture books for the kitchen, bathroom, dining room, living room and the remaining bedroom.

Being mothers, they both loved working on the bathroom inspired by "Five Minutes Peace" by Jill Murphy. This book speaks to all harried parents! Tomie DePaola's "Strega Nona" was a natural choice for the kitchen.

"Goodnight Moon" Bedroom

Being a quilter, Pam's selection of Patricia Pollacco's "The Keeping Quilt" was a beautiful choice for the dining room. "A Chair for my Mother" by Vera Williams, a story about saving money for a comfortable chair, seemed a perfect choice for the living room. Using Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" managed to bring the outside into the dollhouse and was a great choice for the second bedroom.

The overflowing pot of spaghetti in the "Strega Nona" kitchen was made with a garlic press!

Following the Open House for the Dollhouse, Pam thought it would be fun for the children to match up the characters with the rooms from the stories so she added pictures of some of the characters on the side of the dollhouse.

Pam and Amy met once or twice a week for a number of months to complete the project. Some materials were bought, others were gathered from their craft collections and some made from scratch. For example, the spaghetti in the kitchen was made by pushing dough through a garlic press and the table in the bathroom was made from the top of a can.

Because of the endless creativity and the many tireless hours from Pam and Amy, the Children's Room has a wonderful dollhouse for all patrons to enjoy.

Thanks Pam and Amy!


	A view of the finished dollhouse