As you may have noticed from yesterday's post, I am utterly enchanted by M. B. Goffstein's book Goldie the Dollmaker. I was aware she'd authored & illustrated a number of other books, however I'd only ever seen two others. Our local library system owns 7 of her books; I wanted to have a look at the others so, a few nights ago I went Alibris to see what I could find. Today a package arrived with a bundle of books!My favorite among them is Me and My Captain. It's narrated by a small wooden doll who imagines what her life would be like with the captain of a toy fishing boat set on the window sill below her shelf. It's a tiny book filled with whimsical melancholy & the loneliness of a little doll:
I dream of her captain somehow coming up to see me. He would notice at once that I have a ship in a bottle and a collection of sea shells, and ask me to marry him. Then I would invite him to stay for dinner.
The little doll goes on to sing the praises of eternally appetizing doll-house food (which is made of plaster!) Toward the end, she says:
Since the captain of a fishing boat is often gone on long voyages, my dog and I would stay here, and our life would be just the same as before. But we would have someone to watch for and wait for and hope for good weather for...
Even without knowing him, when I look down at the captain's boat on the window sill, I feel happy because he is there.
A sweet little book full of longing.
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