- Picture Books
- Ages 3–7
- Everyday Life
The Paper Dolls
Part of the Julia Donaldson universeOpen the collection
One of Donaldson's most tender and artistically respected picture books: a deceptively simple story about paper dolls, imagination, loss and memory.
- Best for3–7
- FormatPicture
- Length32 pp
- Read aloud~6 min
The vibe
What it’s like.
Style
- Repetitive
- Lyrical
- Literary
Tone
- Gentle
- Bittersweet
- Heartwarming
- Warm
Themes
Experience meters
What’s it about?
The story.
A little girl makes a string of paper dolls with her mother: Ticky and Tacky and Jackie the Backie and Jim with two noses and Jo with the bow. The dolls travel through the house and garden, escaping a dinosaur, a tiger and an oven-glove crocodile, until a real pair of scissors changes everything. But the dolls are not simply gone; they live on in memory, imagination and eventually in the girl's own life as she grows up. The Paper Dolls is one of Julia Donaldson's most delicate books, with Rebecca Cobb's soft illustrations giving the story an intimate, handmade quality. It can be read as a celebration of imaginative play, but also as a gentle introduction to loss, memory and continuity. It is a crucial Donaldson title because it appeals strongly to adults as well as children.
Fit check
Right for your child?
Where it lands by age
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 7
- 9
- 11
- 13
- Best fit · 3–7
- Read aloud · 3–7
- Independent · 5–8
Prose load
Light
Visual support
Very high
Reluctant-reader friendly
Very
Read-aloud quality
Excellent
Works well for
- Reading aloud
- Bedtime
- Reading together
- Gift-buying
- Reluctant readers
Preview before sharing if a child is sensitive to: grief.
Bedtime suitability
5 / 5 · Bedtime-friendly
Sensitive-child
4 / 5 · Good fit
Graphic intensity
1 / 5 · None
Best for
- Poignant picture book
- Imaginative play
- Memory
- Beautiful illustrations
- Adult favourite
Avoid if
- Recent grief too sensitive
- Wants joke driven books
- Prefers high action
Particularly good for children who are…
- Interested in art and creativity
- Low self esteem
- Bereavement
In the classroom
How it works in school.
A tender, rhythmic Donaldson read-aloud about memory and growing up — a gentle prompt for talk about keeping loved things in our hearts.
A book children love that happens to support school — never a stand-in for the texts a class is taught with. Reviewed for the classroom · June 2026.
Why it lands
Why they love it.
Why kids love it
The specific weight is the scissors — a girl making paper dolls with her mother, the dolls escaping a tiger and a dinosaur and an oven-glove crocodile, a boy cutting them up one day, the dolls living on in her memory and eventually in her own daughter's life. The Donaldson about loss that never says the word.
- Magic powers
- Family belonging
- Friendship and belonging
Why parents love it
The Donaldson / Rebecca Cobb — her quietest and most emotionally serious picture book, loss and continuity handled entirely through the dolls themselves. Strong for bereavement, separation, growing-up, any kind of letting-go. Lands for adults as hard as for the child.
- Beautiful illustrations
- Conversation starter
- Bedtime appropriate
- Great writing
About the creators
About the creators.
If you liked this
Three ways out of this book.
If you liked this, try…
Lateral matches. Same shelf, different texture.
Come into this from…
Easier or preparing reads — perfect lead-ins.
Where to go next…
Escalation reads — a step up in scale, silliness, or stakes.
Buy or borrow
Pick up a copy.
- Bookshop.org ↗
- Waterstones ↗
- Amazon UK ↗
- Hive ↗
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