The Five Sisters

Grade 2-5. On a sweltering summer afternoon, Sally’s Nana cuts her a chain of paper dolls. They draw the features of the first doll, but the set is stolen by a bird when they go inside for lemonade. Thus begins an odyssey that only a consummate storyteller such as Mahy could spin. The first paper sister, Alpha, is a free spirit, an adventurer who welcomes the changes in life. As the breeze lifts her over the city, she catches a glimpse of an enchanted island. As the intrepid sisters journey on, they are saved from a lawnmower’s jaws, a bad-tempered porcelain pig, a towering rubbish fire, and, finally, an obscure life as a bookmark in a forgotten school text. Along the way, they meet a number of children who sense their magic in varying degrees. As these new characters draw or paint features for the remaining figures, each sister’s unique personality, only sensed before, comes to brilliant light. The people who encounter the dolls are all affected in subtle ways. In a fitting conclusion, Olivia and her brother (who are, incidentally, Sally’s children) find the dolls and take them to the sea, floating them in a toy boat. At last, the sisters are headed for the mysterious island. Mahy’s multilayered tale pays loving tribute to the power of story and imagination. MacCarthy’s illustrations are liberally peppered throughout the text, reflecting its light humor. Children who enjoyed Sylvia Waugh’s The Mennyms (Greenwillow, 1994) will also be captivated by this engaging story.