Hearth and Pages: The Dollmaker of Krakow by R. M. Romero

“No one is ever really lost as long as their story still exists.”

I received a free digital copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Karolina is a living seamstress doll who lives in the Land of Dolls. When the rat army attack the Land of Dolls and overthrown the king and queen, a kind wind spirit carry Karolina to the human world. Karolina then landed at Krakow, Poland. There Karolina met with the Dollmaker with a dark past, who just finds out that he has magic inside him. Karolina who believes that the Dollmaker might hold the key to save Land of Dolls from the rat decided to help the Dollmaker masters his magic and get over his dark past and reconnect with other humans. While she lives with the Dollmaker, Karolina’s nature pushes the Dollmaker to befriends a Jewish violinist who happens to be a single father and his daughter. Karolina noticed that the Dollmaker life slowly turns into a more positive direction, he smiles more often than before. But then the Nazi invades Poland, and threaten the lives of their friends. And as things getting worse, Karolina and the Dollmaker determine to save their friends, no matter what the risks.

The Dollmaker of Krakow is a fantasy historical fiction middle-grade book sets in 1940s Poland. I really love the world building in this book. The magic and fantasy aspect of this book is wonderful and blends well with the reality aspect. The magic in the human world is described as something little and subtle, but still give a great impact to the story.

The characters are really charming, and I like the dynamic between the Dollmaker and Karolina. I also love the magical creatures in this book. Living dolls are not the only magical creatures in this book, some creatures comes from Slavic mythology and since I’m a sucker for any mythology story, so I am pretty excited about it.

The story is charming and devastating at the same time. I am sobbing by the end of the book, just so you know. While its magical parts–which might bemused younger readers, R. M. Romero clearly did not held it back with the devastating facts of the history. It’s not as blatant as an adult book about this issue might be, the story telling of the historical event at that times is subtle, but it does a great job of explaining all the horror the Nazi did. As for the technical, at beginning the story pace in this book is a bit slower for my liking, but it catches up on around the middle of the book which is good enough for me. This is just a personal preference though, if I think about it objectively the author does make a right decision to kind of slow it down at the beginning. As for the writing itself is lovely, and I like it. When it comes to children books, I notice that some authors struggle to find a nice balance between good and understandable writing for young readers. I have to say that R. M. Romero pretty nailed it with this book. It really suits the whole theme and reader’s age target.

This is the second Nazi themed book for young readers I read this year. I have to say a book like this one is quite fitting to read now. I kind of a hope that younger generation can get a better understanding of what happened in the past, and why fascism shall never rise again in any forms through this book. I do think The Dollmaker of Krakow is one of the best book to read to/with young readers when we want to explain about this issue. It has enough charms but also realness in it that creates a great balance of entertaining and teaching young readers. I highly recommended this book.