Ship of Dolls

This heartwarming historical novel, set in 1926, follows eleven-year-old Lexie Lewis, who desperately wants to leave her strict grandparents in Portland and rejoin her singer mother in vibrant San Francisco. When her class participates in a real-life historical event, sending friendship dolls to Japan, Lexie sees a unique opportunity. The girl who writes the best letter to accompany a doll will attend a farewell ceremony in San Francisco. Lexie's journey to win the contest is fraught with challenges, including a jealous classmate and her own struggles with honesty, making this a compelling story about family, perseverance, and cultural understanding.

It's 1926, and the one thing eleven-year-old Lexie Lewis wants more than anything is to leave Portland, where she is living with her strict grandparents, and rejoin her mother, a carefree singer in San Francisco. But Mama's new husband doesn't think a little girl should live with parents who work all night and sleep all day. Lexie's class has been raising money to ship a doll to the children of Japan in a friendship exchange, and when Lexie learns that the girl who writes the best letter to accompany the doll will be sent to the farewell ceremony in San Francisco, she knows she just has to be the winner. It is 1926, and one thing eleven-year-old Lexie Lewis wants more than anything is to leave Portland, where she is living with her strict grandparents. Can a ship carrying Friendship Dolls to Japan be Lexie's ticket to see her fun-loving mother again?