The greatest challenge that a child can face, as any parent may know, is the want for more.

I could not have been more than eight when I first read this book. And it’s message stayed with me as a little wagging finger from a parent. But a very loving parent.

As a parent now, the wagging went away and I wonder about the loving part.

That loving part was definitely part and parcel of a very traditional upbringing. So, as a child I felt as though that my own mother would do exactly what the mother of Dulcy did in the book. She would give timely advice, while understanding all the circumstances.

As an adult looking back at my childhood self, I felt a tension between staying a child and growing up. As a child holding on to a dream while still a child IS the magic of childhood. It can be the very same dream that can help you grow up too.

This is what the Pulitzer Prize winner author, Phyllis McGinley, understood intuitively. And she also understood the circumstances in the times we live in. She understood that we live in a time of plenty and in a place of abundance. So how does a child, who can have everything and is doted on, grow into a smart, well-adjusted, self-assured human being?

The Most Wonderful Doll in the World would be her answer. Timely, even today after some seventy years since its publication.

In the book, when Mrs. Primrose singles out little Dulcy, the protagonist of the story, as her special young friend, she was already full of happiness. The child’s intelligence, words and preferences all mattered. Since Mrs. Primrose was packing things away for a journey, she decided to give Dulcy a doll named Angela as a going away present. The little girl was overjoyed.

It was in the moment of giving as an expression of affection that the gift grew into something little Dulcy could not explain.

As the little girl makes her way home she loses her new doll in a bonfire. This was too much for young Dulcy. When her parents try to make her feel better by promising a replacement, she becomes inconsolable. The idea that her lost doll could be replaced was more than she could bear. Little Dulcy could not accept that her doll could even compare to anything else. So she uses every reason another doll could be better than the her lost one and claims it as her own.

And so, when Dulcy clings to the missing doll, her happy daydreams of what made beautiful dolls wonderful were interrupted. And in that interruption, a childhood event happened that was so profound, the little girl hit a growth spurt.

An entire season passes with Dulcy’s growing tale about Angela the doll and what exactly she thought she lost. Her birthday comes and goes. Her tale of the wonders of Angela put off her friends. It even turns Dulcy off of her own favorited dolls.

When Dulcy finds a new friend, she narrates to her the entire story of Angela. As fate would have it, when the tale was still fresh in their minds, both Dulcy and her new friend Isobel find the long fabled doll. It had become dirty and faded. It was in no way extra-ordinary as she had imagined.

When faced with the reality of the real Angela, that strange feeling of embarrassment of being caught in a lie all dreamed up on her own was too much for her. So she runs back home. It is there when her mother recognizing the entire situation consoles her with the greatest words of warmth a mother could give.

The most wonderful thing about the doll was the dream of Angela the doll. A dream that need not be discarded. However, that dream does not need to be a source of dissatisfaction either. It can be a source for purpose that can multiply joy. It can be the source of her continued delight with her all her dolls, which were good just as they are. Indeed, they always were.

After these tumultuous turn of events, when Mrs. Primrose returns, she recognizes just how her young friend Dulcy has grown. Dulcy’s guileless story of how she passed the winter while Mrs Primrose was away reminds the woman of how fond she always was of the child. And how children do grow up, sometimes without even looking. And what happens in that moment?

A generation learned that dreams are good and worthwhile for a beautiful life.