Mollie and the Unwiseman Abroad

A girl, her living rubber doll, and a wonderfully misguided old man set out to conquer Europe and instead discover the joy of unexpected friendship. Mollie bursts with excitement at the chance to see the world, while her animated companion Whistlebinkie frets about leaving the Unwiseman behind. But the Unwiseman, whose peculiar logic and strange beliefs have long baffled everyone around him, decides he simply cannot miss the Alps. What follows is a charmingly bumbling adventure through foreign lands, where misunderstandings become opportunities and the journey matters more than the destination. John Kendrick Bangs writes with a light touch, letting humor arise naturally from his characters' idiosyncrasies rather than forcing jokes. The Unwiseman is neither wise nor foolish in any conventional sense he simply sees the world through a lens entirely his own, and somehow this makes him the perfect companion for a girl and her doll dreaming of mountains and marvels. This is gentle, old-fashioned whimsy, a book that trusts its young readers to delight in the strange and find wisdom in unlikely places.