My husband and I went to the library earlier in the week to vote. Afterwards, we walked down to the circulation desk to get a couple of library cards. Then we went to peruse the children’s section. It was absolutely overwhelming, the aisles and aisles of books to choose from. I was happy to see that “Not A Box” was on the shelves. We went to a birthday party recently, and the mother wrote on the invitation, “please, NO gifts. But if you must, bring along a book for my child to donate to the library.” And while I wasn’t sure how to read “NO gifts” and “if you must,” we brought the book mentioned above. (By the way, why would you tell revelers not to bring a gift for your 4-year old child? I get the whole “we have so much and don’t need anything standard,” but it’s a birthday party… for a kid!)

Moving on, I checked out a copy of “Madlenka” only because several years ago, my mother gave a Madlenka doll to Pea. I had no idea that Madlenka was a real character; I assumed she was just a little doll with blonde hair and a cool name. Turns out, she’s a little character with blonde hair and a cool name, who travels around the world without ever leaving her neighborhood. Love this clever book, the way you have to turn it in circles to read it. But more importantly, Pea adored it. We’ve read it over and over, with little Madlenka snuggled up in her arms. Suddenly, she’s the most popular doll around these parts, dug from the black hole of Pea’s toy box.

But consider yourself warned: there is an entire ‘cult’ of Madlenka. Not just a series of books, there are “I Love Madlenka” tee-shirts. For kids and adults! And coffee mugs. You name it, you can get it. I’m just thankful that we’ve moved on from “Dora the Explorer…”