Do-It-Yourself Dollhouse: Making More With Less by Shannon Anderson & Giulia Pintus

Firstly, I should note that this isn’t technically a how-to manual, but it’s certainly very inspirational for being able to make a dollhouse on your own!

Secondly, wowzers, I wish I’d had a book like this when I was a kid! I always kinda resented my mom for throwing away the three story Barbie dollhouse with elevator that a neighbor gifted me before we moved to Malaysia. My sister and I would subsequently build apartments for our Barbies out of random toys — my brother’s Hot Wheels case inserts were excellent room dividers and decor shelves — and once we got older we’d play clothing store by rearranging our bedrooms and figuring out new and fun ways to show off the clothes we already had. But the real fun, as we both acknowledged, was less in the playing than in the constructing, which always made us feel kinda weird. Weren’t we supposed to have fun playing pretend? How was the building and designing part more fun for us than the actual “play”?

Do-It-Yourself Dollhouse quickly assures readers that this is, as a matter of fact, totally normal. There really is only so much you can do with a finite set of toys, especially when lacking both outside input and interest in conflict. My youngest child will patiently sit for ages by his homemade store, waiting for someone to come by and purchase things from him (as I discovered, to my astonishment and guilt, after coming back to the living room one evening from cooking dinner) whereas I would 100% set up the store, put everything on display, then get bored after a few transactions and leave. I’ve always been an imaginative sort of person, but I also like play that’s more dynamic than static.

This is the lesson that best friends Charley and Lucy learn. Charley has the perfect store-bought dollhouse but quickly grows bored of it. The rest of her toys aren’t that interesting either. When she sees Lucy foraging for leaves and nuts outside one day, she asks what her bestie is doing. Turns out that Lucy is collecting things to go in her own dollhouse. Charley has a big moment of “is that even allowed?!” before the best friends fully embrace the joy of designing and creating, an effort that one hundred percent supplements play and imagination.

Even as an adult, that lesson hits hard! I am definitely the kind of person who agonizes over having beautiful, fancy things, then loses interest without a feedback loop. It’s a bit like Legos for me and millions worldwide: the fun is in the building. My kids and I regularly put together Lego kits — the Minecraft sets were a big favorite a while ago — but I don’t think any of us have actually “played” with them post-construction for more than ten minutes at a time. I’m sure there are plenty of people who do enjoy reenacting iconic scenes or thinking up new ones to stage, but it’s reassuring to know that it’s just as okay to have the most fun building the set. Which is ironic because I’m an actor and writer through and through, and never had an interest in stage design, further making me feel that something was wrong with me for finding a static playset boring. This book makes it clear that incorporating design into play only enhances the experience, and that of all the things I truly was a weird kid for, this is definitely not one of them.

Giulia Pintus’ art is perfect for this sweetly encouraging tale! Her characters feel like normal yet visually distinct and diverse people who haven’t been airbrushed into some idealized and unrealistic version of themselves. The soft color palette she uses complements the gentle excitement of both pacing and tone. The details throughout are brilliant.

I really enjoyed this book, not just for assuring me that I wasn’t weird for feeling this way as a kid, but also for reminding me that those same qualities have helped me become a grown-up who believes in upcycling and creativity. This is definitely the kind of book you want to give to any kid who complains, “I’m bored!” tho be 100% prepared to have them start a Someday Maybe box like the girls have in these pages! Honestly, I think that that’s a great idea for anyone of any age, and am currently trying to figure out when I’ll have the time to put all of the Someday Maybe items I’ve squirreled away in different places around the house into one central container. Wish me luck, lol.

Do-It-Yourself Dollhouse: Making More With Less by Shannon Anderson & Giulia Pintus was published October 1 2024 by Cardinal Rule Press and is available from all good booksellers, including