One of my favorite books as a kid...so enchanting!

I remember reading this sweet little book when I was in elementary school.

If I should ever decide to reread this for a third (?fourth?) time, it's avl. via openlibrary.org.

Another delightful whimsical book I never got to read as a child. The character of Belinda was quite annoying.

Now this book was the escapist read I needed in troubled times!

I read Little Plum in my childhood and loved this exquisite cover n  n but the cover of my edition n  n works in a different way. It shows the character of the untidy, boisterous Belinda and her cousin, the neat as a pin Nona.

Miss Happiness and Miss Flower was Nona's story. This is Belinda's.

& what a believable little girl Belinda is. Rude, tactless, aggressive and a bully. Probably not the sharpest knife in the drawer either! Yet her determination to befriend the wealthy but lonely Gem shows endearing side to her character.& she tries so hard to fix things, when - to no one's surprise but Belinda's her methods don't work.

If I could make one tiny criticism it would be that Japanese doll Little Plum remains - a doll. Yet Miss Happiness & Miss Flower still have their personalities.

A wonderful tale from an author who understands that real children are not PC. (although Ms Godden would have despised that term if she had ever heard it!)

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An old childhood favorite that I recently re-read. Loved it as much now as I did back then!

Children’s book; sequel to (or stand alone) “Miss Happiness and Miss Flower. A book that has stayed with me since my childhood, causing me to seek it out even though I could not recall the title or author! In other words: read this book to your daughter!

A book about a quiet little British girl with a beautiful Japanese dollhouse described in perfectionistic detail. The next best thing to actually having such a dollhouse.

The sequel to Miss Happiness and Miss Flower. It is not nearly as interesting.

This book centers on a disagreement between Belinda and the neighbor girl.

Ava really took to this one and finished the second half on her own. It was SO cute and simple plot but we loved the banter between Belinda and Gem next door. I loved the family dynamics of Belinda's family and as I didn't finish I'm relying on Ava's retelling of the ending and I'm satisfied. So glad we picked this one up.

A childhood favorite that is even better revisited.

I loved this second book in the Japanese Dolls 2 book series. The writing, characters and plot reminded me a lot of my beloved Noisy Village Children (by Astrid Lindgren). Also, the illustrations in the copy I read were just beautiful. Especially the Doll Festival illustration, so colorful and imaginative. Throughout the books I felt that the dolls' conversations were really the girls speaking, and the last line confirmed this in a perfect way in the very last line of the entire book, "'Sayonara,' would come back from the House Next Door. It sounded like Gem's voice, but it was Little Plum." page 98