Miss Hickory is very worried. Her owner has moved to Boston, and how can Miss Hickory survive a harsh New Hampshire winter all alone? After all, she is just a doll whose body is an apple-wood twig and whose head is a hickory nut, and whose house is made out of corncobs.

But Miss Hickory has ingenuity, and the help of neighbors like Crow, Bull Frog, and Ground Hog to see her through. And near the end of those cold, dark months, something unexpected happens to Miss Hickory - something even more welcome than the coming of spring.

1947 Newbery Medal Winner

This one was a quick read. I read it in the bathtub over several days.

Miss Hickory, a doll on a New Hampshire farm with a hickory nut for a head and an apple branch for a body, gets kicked out of a couple of different homes by various animals, snaps at others a lot, misses out on a strange Christmas miracle due to her hardheadedness (a bunch of animals both local and exotic somehow appear at the barn to witness the impression of a baby Jesus in a trough), and eventually ends up grafted to an apple tree branch after her *head gets eaten by a fucking squirrel.*

One could look at the symbolism of Miss Hickory losing her stubbornness via the destruction of her head and finding faith by becoming part of the tree of life... which made the story kind of interesting and original, but it was still a really really weird story.

I liked the various animal characters and that Miss Hickory was the only doll or human artifact among them. The author evoked the atmosphere of the New Hampshire seasons, although I couldn't appreciate it from any nostalgic viewpoint since I've lived in the Pacific Northwest my whole life.

I didn't like the story about Fawn. He follows a trail of his mother's blood home without realizing that a hunter had shot her. I guess it had a "good" outcome since he didn't find his mother's body and made friends with Wild-Heifer, but I didn't need that flashback to the trauma of Bambi. Plus now that I'm a mom, it made me think of my daughter being left motherless. Too horrible. :(

Overall, the book was worth a read, but super strange. ( )

Miss Hickory is very worried. Her owner has moved to Boston, and how can Miss Hickory survive a harsh New Hampshire winter all alone? After all, she is just a doll whose body is an apple-wood twig and whose head is a hickory nut, and whose house is made out of corncobs.

But Miss Hickory has ingenuity, and the help of neighbors like Crow, Bull Frog, and Ground Hog to see her through. And near the end of those cold, dark months, something unexpected happens to Miss Hickory - something even more welcome than the coming of spring.

Most dolls lead a comfortable but unadventurous life. This was true of Miss Hickory until the fateful day that her owner, Ann, moves from her New Hampshire home to attend school in Boston—leaving Miss Hickory behind. For a small doll whose body is an apple-wood twig and whose head is a hickory nut, the prospect of spending a New Hampshire winter alone is frightening indeed. In this classic modern day fairy tale, what’s a doll to do? ( )

What a bizarre, disturbing book. And yet, it has a wholesome feel to it. I'm conflicted as to how I really feel about it.

(I randomly found it today in the library of one of the middle schools I work at... Somehow I doubt any of my students appreciating it!) ( )