8.6 /10 1 Votes8.6
4/5 Goodreads Publication date 1972 ISBN 978-0-06-443067-8 | 4.7/5 Barnes & Noble Publisher Harper & Row Pages 30 pp Originally published 1972 Genre Picture book OCLC 347798 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Similar William Pène du Bois books, Works by Charlotte Zolotow, Picture books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
william s doll read aloud
William's Doll is a 1972 children's picture book by Charlotte Zolotow about a boy who wants a doll even though dolls typically are considered a toy only for girls. His father, uncomfortable with William's request, tries giving William toys the father considers more gender-appropriate, such as a basketball and a train set; while William enjoys these toys, he continues to ask for a doll. Eventually, the boy's grandmother fulfills the request, explaining to the father that William will use the doll to practice being a good father.
Contents
Zolotow has explained that although she is a feminist and appreciates that many feminists enjoyed the book's message, her inspiration was more from personal observations about her husband's early attempts to bond with the couple's son, Stephen, and about how men of the time period missed out on some of the pleasures of being closely involved with their children's development. She observed, for example, that by always exiting the room during diaper changes, her husband missed their son's first smile.
The book often is used in the United States for lessons on gender roles, stereotypes, or general anti-bias education. For example, the journal article "'William's Doll' Revisited" was on a study comparing reactions of fourth-grade students in 1975 and in 2000.
Adaptations
A song based on the story, with music by Mary Rodgers and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, was included in the best-selling Free to Be... You and Me children's album and songbook in 1972, where it was sung by Alan Alda and Marlo Thomas. (This same song was sung by B. D. Wong at the Ms. Foundation's 15th Annual Gloria Awards ceremony in 2003, where Marlo Thomas and former Ms. Foundation president Letty Cottin Pogrebin received the Creative Philanthropy Award for the album's creation.)
When Free to Be... You and Me became a television special in 1974, ABC asked producer Marlo Thomas to make two changes to the material, one of which involved the Zolotow story:
William's Doll also became a 14-minute film in 1981. The 1981 film starred Craig Salles as William and was shot in Graceada Park in Modesto, California. In 2010, the producers of RiffTrax, formerly Mystery Science Theater 3000, released William's Doll. This was their "riff" of the aforementioned short.