Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 11/01/2022 For children who love dolls, especially collectible dolls, Rubin's picture-book biography of the Jewish American woman who came to be known as Madame Alexander will prove fascinating. Alexander, born Beatrice, loved helping out in her stepfather's doll hospital on New York's Lower East Side. In the early 1900s, his shop catered to a clientele from throughout the city, specializing in fixing dolls imported from Europe. Beatrice, who wanted to be an artist, loved reading and imagining dolls that brought the characters to life. The opportunity to make and not just fix dolls came during WWI, when imported dolls weren't available. Nurse dolls, baby dolls, and soon character dolls—all unbreakable, using a formula Alexander pioneered—became a successful, well-known business. The story is accompanied by Dvojack's detailed and charming pictures capturing the early years of the twentieth century in warm red and sepia tints. An inspiring story of a businesswoman who turned childhood interests into a unique company at a time when businesses were rarely owned by women. Back matter adds more fascinating info. - Copyright 2022 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 11/01/2022 PreS-Gr 3—This delicately illustrated picture book biography describes in simple prose the upbringing and rise to success of the founder of the Alexander Doll Company, known to many as she was dubbed by a reporter, Madame Alexander. Alexander's parents were immigrants living in New York City, where her father ran a doll repair shop under the family apartment. The eldest of four daughters, Beatrice entered the family business at a young age, helping to repair fragile porcelain dolls that had been imported from Europe. During World War I, she began to design her own dolls to bring in business. Her first doll sold so well that she continued to create new prototypes, eventually leading to an order for dolls from the New York City toy store FAO Schwarz. With this success, she had the resources she needed to work with her own team of employees to create new kinds of dolls and clothing, have a doll hospital like her father's for mending the toys, and eventually have her own production facility. End notes share the company's history and give more information about Alexander's family and philanthropic activities, along with a bibliography for further reading. This is a gentle read, lacking in tension, and filled with an entrepreneurial spirit. Dvojak's hand-drawn and digitally colored illustrations feature realistically positioned, fluid depictions of the key players in this biography in calming shades of cream, brown, and blue—like snapshots of the era, one can almost imagine the characters captured in the middle of movement. VERDICT Recommended for early nonfiction collections.—Lauren Younger - Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 11/01/2022 For children who love dolls, especially collectible dolls, Rubin's picture-book biography of the Jewish American woman who came to be known as Madame Alexander will prove fascinating. Alexander, born Beatrice, loved helping out in her stepfather's doll hospital on New York's Lower East Side. In the early 1900s, his shop catered to a clientele from throughout the city, specializing in fixing dolls imported from Europe. Beatrice, who wanted to be an artist, loved reading and imagining dolls that brought the characters to life. The opportunity to make and not just fix dolls came during WWI, when imported dolls weren't available. Nurse dolls, baby dolls, and soon character dolls—all unbreakable, using a formula Alexander pioneered—became a successful, well-known business. The story is accompanied by Dvojack's detailed and charming pictures capturing the early years of the twentieth century in warm red and sepia tints. An inspiring story of a businesswoman who turned childhood interests into a unique company at a time when businesses were rarely owned by women. Back matter adds more fascinating info. - Copyright 2022 Booklist.