Madame Alexander: The Creator of the Iconic American Doll

Description

With beautiful, vivid art by Sarah Dvojack, author Susan Goldman Rubin tells the powerful story of savvy, feminist entrepreneur Beatrice Alexander, who founded the Madame Alexander Doll Company and became one of America's most celebrated toy makers. Beatrice's family ran a doll hospital in their home in New York's Lower East Side, where she grew to love fixing and making dolls. Beatrice dreamed of becoming an artist, but her family couldn't afford to send her to sculpting school. She never stopped dreaming, even as she stayed home, graduated from high school, and got married. When WWI broke out, she made cloth dolls modeled after nurses to support the war effort. After the war, Beatrice founded Madame Alexander, creating some of the first plastic and collectible dolls, dolls that never break.

Susan Goldman Rubin grew up in the Bronx and attended the High School of Music & Art in New York, then Oberlin College in Ohio. As a young woman she illustrated her own stories, then turned to writing nonfiction for all ages. She is the author of many highly praised biographies for young readers including Degas, Painter of Ballerinas. She lives in Malibu, California. Sarah Dvojack grew up in Washington state, where she developed a passion for history, circus, and Irish dance. She graduated from Seattle's Cornish College of the Arts with a degree in graphic design and studied in the School of Visual Arts' MFA Illustration as Visual Essay program. She currently works as a book designer and lives in New York.