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Brother and sister Peter and Jessica Blake convince their parents to buy a dollhouse inhabited by five circus dolls at an auction. There they meet Clara Clapshaw, the old woman whose stuff is being sold so she can move into a nice retirement home… which is at risk of going under. Uh-oh. And for added uh-oh, a weird magician bids against them and is angry when he doesn’t win.
Clara tells them that she got the dolls and house from Selena Pico, the last of a circus family, and that the dolls—the Picolinis—were based on the Pico family. She adds that they might be magical and oh yeah, there was possibly a Pico treasure that Selena had meant her to have that could save her retirement home but who knows where it’s gone?
Back at the Blake home, we learn that the Picolinis are alive and eager to get the treasure to Clara, BUT if anyone who doesn’t already believe in them sees them, they will become dolls. (The Picolinis are living replicas of the Picos but not their souls incarnated in dolls, as they were alive when the Picos were alive and mourned their deaths.)
A series of adventures ensues in which the Picolinis send messages to the kids by means of getting around the house in delightful ways like stringing wire between banisters so the tightrope walker can walk across it, the acrobat doing hand-springs down stairs, etc. The kids and their parents, meanwhile, follow the clues, search for the treasure, and evade the evil magician.
Finally, a book about tiny and/or circus people that was actually about tininess and circusness! It is very charming and also has delightful illustrations.
Thank you to everyone who recced this!
Picolinis, The
Clara tells them that she got the dolls and house from Selena Pico, the last of a circus family, and that the dolls—the Picolinis—were based on the Pico family. She adds that they might be magical and oh yeah, there was possibly a Pico treasure that Selena had meant her to have that could save her retirement home but who knows where it’s gone?
Back at the Blake home, we learn that the Picolinis are alive and eager to get the treasure to Clara, BUT if anyone who doesn’t already believe in them sees them, they will become dolls. (The Picolinis are living replicas of the Picos but not their souls incarnated in dolls, as they were alive when the Picos were alive and mourned their deaths.)
A series of adventures ensues in which the Picolinis send messages to the kids by means of getting around the house in delightful ways like stringing wire between banisters so the tightrope walker can walk across it, the acrobat doing hand-springs down stairs, etc. The kids and their parents, meanwhile, follow the clues, search for the treasure, and evade the evil magician.
Finally, a book about tiny and/or circus people that was actually about tininess and circusness! It is very charming and also has delightful illustrations.
Thank you to everyone who recced this!
Picolinis, The
