Miss Happiness and Miss Flower by
Rumer Godden
Love At First Sight
When little Nona is sent from her sunny home in India to live with her
relatives in chilly England, she is miserable. Then a box arrives for her in
the post and inside, wrapped up in tissue paper, are two little Japanese
dolls. A slip of paper says their names are Miss Happiness and Miss
Flower. Nona thinks that they must feel lonely too, so far away from home.
Then Nona has an idea that she will build her dolls the perfect house! It will
be just like a Japanese home in every way. It will even have a tiny
Japanese garden. And as she begins to make Miss Happiness and Miss
Flower happy, Nona finds that she is happier too.
Personal Review: Miss Happiness and Miss Flower by Rumer
Godden
This was one of the first "sophisticated" books I read as a child, and it
turned me into a rabid and lifelong fan of Rumer Godden. Any child who
feels different from her peers, owing to culture, experience, or merely
personality and interests, will be able to identify with young Nona Fell, who
after years in India is sent to the home of her English aunt and uncle for
her education. Shy and lonely, Nona begins to make unusual friends when
she and her cousin Belinda are sent a pair of Japanese dolls -- the Miss
Happiness and Miss Flower of the title -- and she embarks on a plan to
build them a proper Japanese dolls' house. (Plans and instructions
included!)
Godden was a master at understanding and portraying the minds of
children, particularly "misfits," and her prose was the first to teach me that
there can be such a thing as a literary style, even in books for young
people. Equally important, this book and others by Godden are excellent
ways to introduce children to other cultures: as an American child, I was
fascinated by both the Englishness of the book and its explorations of
Japanese customs, via the dolls and Nona's research. Nona's difficult

relationship with Belinda also suggests some useful talking points for
parents.
A wonderful book for little girls. I read it and its sequel, "Little Plum," at 6,
but it should appeal to children as old as 10 or 11. Boys who shy away
from books about dolls might prefer Godden's "The Kitchen Madonna,"
which offers similar qualities but has a young male protagonist.
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