This story is about two little girls, Belinda and Nona, that do not get along with the new neighbor, a little Japanese girl named Gem. Her new neighbors are very rich and they believe Gem is stuck up because she keeps to herself. They constantly look out their window and into the little girl's room to see a little Japanese doll owned by Gem. Nona and Belinda covet the Japanese doll and thus the doll war commenced. They named the little Japanese doll "Little Plum", hence the name of the book. They quarrel about the little doll but can Plum bring them together?They start leaving mean little notes with gifts for the doll in the girl's window. The notes were about how she wasn't being a good mother to the little doll. Gem's own mother was absent because she was sick with polio and took great offense the the notes. They eventually come to blows with each other when Belinda takes Gem's doll from her. Eventually, they make amends and befriend the new, lonely neighbor and get to play with Little Plum and her owner. And Gem's mother comes back home where she can take care of her.

Lovely. A childhood favourite.

One of the first of Godden's "Doll Stories" that I checked out of the library at about age 10. I remember long car trips across the Midwest with my older siblings bickering and sometimes coming to blows, while I buried myself in a book to escape. One day I had this book along, and suddenly my mother asked me to read it aloud. This meant I got to sit in the front seat instead of in back between the fighters (as the youngest and shortest, I always had to sit in the middle on the axle bump). I started where I was, and was told, "No, wait, go back to the beginning." I did. It held their attention all the way to our destination, and all the way back. (By that time it was night, and I was reading by the light of a flashlight.)No one got bored or complained or fought.

I was surprised that my sister aged 13 and brother aged 15 could be interested in a "kid's story" about dolls, but they were. Perhaps because Belinda is a real child, who makes mistakes, fights with a new girl she's never spoken to, acts without thinking, and is selfish and totally unlike her obedient, "perfect" siblings and cousin Nona, who apparently can make anything she likes, no matter how miniature or difficult. Tom too is capable of building a Japanese doll's house, while sister Anne plays the violin (just like my older sister, also a Little Miss Perfect.) Belinda is untidy, clumsy, blunt and blissfully unaware of her bumptious personality until she meets the Tiffany-Joneses, the upperclass family who move in next door. ("Gem Tiffany- Jones", hyphen and all...ugh. Overkill. But for a "perfect" princess with private ballet lessons and her own grand piano and pony, I guess it fits.)

The book got me interested in Japan, and established the custom of me reading aloud on car trips. Thanks to Little Plum, our frequent road trips were much more peaceful and we discovered a lot of very good writers. From there it was a short step to Dickens, Austen and co. Thank you, Ms. Godden.

Demi, how could you besmirch the good name of this minor but beautiful writer? Please, people, if you aren't yet familiar with Rumer Godden, don't judge her guilty by association. It's not her fault.

It's been a year since Nona moved in with her Aunt, Uncle and Cousins. Nona and Belinda now get along and are great friends. But it seems the House Next Door that has been empty for a very long time, is now being lived in. A girl who is about nine years old is living there with her family and she has a Japanese doll! Belinda wants to make friends, but due to the girl's Aunt, she hasn't been able to. And soon it turns into a war between Belinda and the new girl next door.

Like the first, it is a cute book. It's a bit longer than the first and I think Belinda plays an even bigger part in this one as she tries to make friends with the neighbor girl. It's a bit crazy at times because of the lengths that Belinda goes to so she can get the neighbor girl's attention. But it's a good book.

4.5

Little Plum. What a delightful story. I enjoyed the way kids were allowed to enjoy being kids, understanding & respecting the need for personal space and being cognizant of others. The way Gem was sheltered reminded me a bit of Secret Garden. Reading the story once again reminded how one thoughtful / inquisitive/ fearless person with heart can reach out to a shy / seemingly stuck up once.

Thank you Rumer Godden for teaching young once about unintended yet cruel bullying and reaching out to someone who is so unlike us.

Finely detailed story of a rough girl who doesn't notice her slide into unkindness until it's almost too late.

I read Miss Happiness and Miss Flower as a child and I always wanted to read the next book in the series. Finally, nearly 45 years later, I ordered in a copy from Amazon. While it is still a sweet story, I found it better written than Miss Happiness and Miss Flower (which will always have a special place in my heart because I read and remembered it for so many years).

p 61 "There came a half-holiday at the beginning of February, one of those still, sunny February days that seem as if spring had come. The snow had melted, there were snowdrops in the garden beds, and a bee buzzed around the catkins. Belinda was in the garden quite alone."

3.5 stars. I didn’t like it as much as the first book because the focus was less on the Japanese dolls and their house and more on Belinda’s war with Gem. It’s still fun to revisit all the characters, though.

I liked this book very much. No sequelitis here. I think Ms. Godden must have fallen in love with Belinda, the little belligerent from the first book, who is less Mean Girl here and more Perverse Hoyden. She gets wrapped up in a very weird quarrel with the "poor little rich girl" next door, who is leading a much restricted life in the care of her aunt while her mother is in the hospital. Funny thing: it's not meant to be a fight in the beginning, but Belinda's amazing lack of tact and enthusiasm for a fight (once she realizes that it *is* a fight) make Things Escalate.

I wondered if we would get anything from the dolls' POV in this book. It took a while and at first feels more cursory in this book, although there is some as Miss Happiness and Miss Flower experience bewilderment and dismay at the actions of Gem and Belinda. Less so than the first book, though, and we never get a hint of interior life from Peach Boy or Little Plum. This book is quite emphatically a story about children, although the doll fantasy element remains faintly there.

LITTLE GIRLS AT WAR OVER JAPANESE DOLLS

Rumer Godden specializes in creating a gentle fantasy world where dolls have Lives--or in this case, Thoughts--of their own. Nona and Belinda Fell treasure their three Japanese dolls: Miss Happiness, Miss Flower and Little Peach. These special "persons" enjoy their own Japanese dollhouse and clothes, beds, foods (green paint water tea) and celebrate many traditional customs. While the dolls converse privately, the sisters (who are unaware of theri dolls' commuications) plan and dream of a new friendship. They themselves are very different: nine-year-old Nona is neat, polite and very talentd with her creative fingers. While eight-year-old Belinda is a fearless tomboy, a reckless daredevil who defies parental authority, common sense and even the laws of gravity, to satisfy her whims.

But things get really interesting when a rich family buys and improves the big House Next Door. What delicious opportunities to observe the doings and possessions as they move it--and there is a daughter too! Gem proves to be a "motherless" only child, waited on by her personal nanny and a large household staff--all supervised by an authoritarian aunt. The kindly father is often away on business, but after one trip he brings his daughter a Japanese doll of her own. Poor Little Plum--as the spying girls name her and discover--is neglected by her lonely mistress.

Belinda decides to teach the proper care of Japanese dolls to the sulking snob next door, but soon the teasing and critical notes escalate into a non-verbal war between the headstrong young ladies. Will that "rough child" ever be allowed in the front door of the wealthy but isolated Tiffany-Jones' mansion? And will Gem ever accept cultural tutelage from mere middle-class English children? This is a delightful read-aloud story for Girls Under Ten. And all women who fondly remember the dolls of their girlhood.

(June 16, 2011. I welcome dialogue with teachers.)