In 1903 the Michtom family of Brooklyn, New York, inspired by a political cartoon of Teddy Roosevelt, had come up with a new idea … “Papa sketched out roughly what he had in mind and Mama made the pattern: a wide head coming down to a pointed muzzle, round ears, tapered feet. Papa and I did the cutting. Mama did the sewing. Emily, the stuffing. Benjamin, the drooling. We finished two stuffed bears that night, jointed at the arms and legs. Mama stitched thread claws to make the bears look more real. The eyes she designed to resemble Benjamin’s. … We should have guessed we were on to something.” pg 9-10 Joseph Michtom Brooklyn Bridge
Brooklyn Bridge is the story of the family who invented the Teddy Bear, told by their oldest son, then 14 year old Joseph Michtom. Joseph is just a regular kid who likes baseball and just wants to go to the new amusement park on Coney Island. But his parents are too busy with their growing business, and even though Joseph knows he is lucky because they are well taken care of, he can’t help but feel unlucky because his parents don’t seem to have time for him.
“We feel cold inside.
Our dolls must go to Japan.
New friends wait for her.”
pg. 62 Lexie Ship of Dolls
In 1926, in Portland, Oregon, Lexie Lewis and her grandparents were one of the many families across the country taking part in the exchange of Friendship Dolls between the United States and Japan. Organizers hoped that this exchange would help children of the two countries understand and love each other and create peaceful relations over the years. But Lexie sees the exchange as an opportunity to go to San Francisco, were the dolls are being shipped from, to be reunited with her mother who is living there with her new husband.
Joseph and Lexie both have to deal with feeling like they don’t fit in, Joseph because his family is suddenly successful and Lexie because her “flapper” mother has run off and left her with very reserved grandparents. Both want more than they have, but is what they do have all they really need? Read Brooklyn Bridge by Karen Hesse and Ship of Dolls by Shirley Parenteau, and find out how Joseph and Lexie each deal with what life has given them.
Both novels are historical fiction, and you can learn more about the background of the stories by doing a little research just like the authors did. Read The Story of the Teddy Bear on the National Park Services web-site, and learn all kind of interesting facts about the Friendship Doll exchange on Bill Gordon’s web-site, plus view pictures of the dolls sent to Japan and the dolls the Japanese sent in return, as gifts to the United States.
Brooklyn Bridge is the story of the family who invented the Teddy Bear, told by their oldest son, then 14 year old Joseph Michtom. Joseph is just a regular kid who likes baseball and just wants to go to the new amusement park on Coney Island. But his parents are too busy with their growing business, and even though Joseph knows he is lucky because they are well taken care of, he can’t help but feel unlucky because his parents don’t seem to have time for him.
“We feel cold inside.
Our dolls must go to Japan.
New friends wait for her.”
pg. 62 Lexie Ship of Dolls
In 1926, in Portland, Oregon, Lexie Lewis and her grandparents were one of the many families across the country taking part in the exchange of Friendship Dolls between the United States and Japan. Organizers hoped that this exchange would help children of the two countries understand and love each other and create peaceful relations over the years. But Lexie sees the exchange as an opportunity to go to San Francisco, were the dolls are being shipped from, to be reunited with her mother who is living there with her new husband.
Joseph and Lexie both have to deal with feeling like they don’t fit in, Joseph because his family is suddenly successful and Lexie because her “flapper” mother has run off and left her with very reserved grandparents. Both want more than they have, but is what they do have all they really need? Read Brooklyn Bridge by Karen Hesse and Ship of Dolls by Shirley Parenteau, and find out how Joseph and Lexie each deal with what life has given them.
Both novels are historical fiction, and you can learn more about the background of the stories by doing a little research just like the authors did. Read The Story of the Teddy Bear on the National Park Services web-site, and learn all kind of interesting facts about the Friendship Doll exchange on Bill Gordon’s web-site, plus view pictures of the dolls sent to Japan and the dolls the Japanese sent in return, as gifts to the United States.
L: One of the original teddy bears, given to the Smithsonian in Washington DC, by the Michtom family.
R: Japanese Friendship Doll with nine American Friendship Dolls at The University of Nebraska State Museum of Natural History.