The Adventures of Holly Hobbie

by Richard Dubelman

Not a trace is found of celebrated arcaeologist Melville Dutton, who mysteriously vanished in the trackless jungles of Central America. His quest--the greatest of Maya ruins--the lost Jaguar City. Hope for the survival of the charismatic explorer is eventually abandoned. Only his daughter, Liz, tormented by a recurring nightmare, steadfastly believes that her father is alive.

On a snowy Thanksgiving in her grandparents' New England farmhouse, Liz is entranced by a portrait of her ancestor--a breathtakingly beautiful teen-age girl. The haunting picture, painted in 1803, seems to glow with an indefinable magic. Flames dance wildly in the old stone fireplace... heatwaves shimmer... definition is obscurred... then---Holly Hobbie. Is this intelligent, graceful young girl in colonial dress another of Liz's dreams? Or the portrait come to life?

The author takes us along with Holly and Liz on a fascinating odyssey triggered by scattered clues--the snarling jaguar pendant, Dutton's last jungle diaries, cryptic Maya inscriptions--all crucial in linking their destiny with that of Mel Dutton.

--Excerpt of book jacket description.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Childrens, Middle Grade, Adventure, Family, Mystery

261 pages, Hardcover

First published November 13, 1980

Reviews

[HeavyReader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book rocked so hard when I was a preteen! My mom's friend gave me a hardback copy one year for Christmas. Holly Hobby, the ancestor of the main character of the story, comes to life out of her portrait. Adventures ensue. The girls in this book kicked ass! Once again, why did I ever get rid of this book? Hmmm, maybe I can find a copy to give to my nephew.

UPDATE: I just reread this book after being given a copy as a gift.

I still enjoyed the book, but not as much as I did when I was 10.

What struck me most upon this rereading is how modern technology and security would have have truncated the girls' adventure. One cell phone call from Mom and the journey would have been all over. And no way would two unaccompanied 13 year olds make it onto an international flight without passports and tickets these days.

[Jai · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Adventures of Holly Hobbie was based on the character called of "Holly Hobbie", a bonnet and rag-dress wearing girl named after her creator. In this story the Dutton family is in mourning after the disappearance and believed death of Melville Dutton, an archaeologist working to find a lost ancient city in Guatemala. His daughter Liz is still unconvinced that her father is dead and one night the ghost of another girl, Holly Hobbie, an ancestor living in a painting at her family's farm appears and agrees to help Liz. Through some cunning and adults who didn't seem *that* alarmed about the missing girls travelling on their own, Liz and Holly manage to travel from Massachusetts to New York to Washington D.C, and then to Mexico and Guatamala investigating what her father was working on and discovering who could be involved in his disappearance.

Overall: Despite this book being a bit dated (it has lots of color illustrations that have people in very old fashioned clothes), and the strangeness (Is this a more paranoid view we have now?) of two teenage girls with so much independance, it was a pretty good read. I know why I liked the book so much - it's the type of book that teaches you along with having an exciting story. While Holly and Liz went about their adventures the reader picks up information about history and the Maya. I learned a few things reading it. It felt like the writer Richard Dubelman really researched his subject and wanted kids to learn about the Maya culture. It did not feel dumbed down either, and it was refreshing to have two smart girls as heroines. I also noticed that the writer had a film background as a producer, and I thought to myself that the book does read as an 80's kids adventure movie, sort of like "Escape to Witch Mountain" or something, I could see it in my mind's eye complete with a predictable bad guy. Still, this held up surprisingly well to time, and while it has a young adult audience it was well written and educational.

http://janicu.livejournal.com/46787.html

[Daisy · Rating 4 out of 5]

i don’t quite understand how this book ties into the holly hobbie franchise of which i know practically nothing about or if it is actually truly related to the other aspects of said franchise. but i read it when i was 13 after finally being intrigued enough having seen it hanging around on my mother’s book shelves for most of my childhood (she simply bought it in an op shop because she liked the cover but never read it) and i loved it. i was always drawn to south (and central) american imagery and stories as a child, without ever knowing why (i still don’t quite know why exactly) and i like how this story ties in with guatemala and explorers - not something you expect when you look at holly hobbie’s image. although it may have dated a bit by now, i think this is a perfect story for preteen and early teen girls.

[wildbriarose · Rating 4 out of 5]

È stato onestamente una rivelazione.
Ho deciso di leggere Le Avventure di Holly Hobbie una volta finito Lolita, che mi ha alquanto destabilizzata, pensando di trovare un libro dai toni vintage e romantici.
Nulla del genere: un vero e proprio Indiana Jones per adolescenti con una trama movimentata, un antagonista subdolo, un cucchiaio di mistero e tante morti cruente.
Per quanto inaspettato, il libro mi ha piacevolmente sorpresa. Mi dispiace solo che sia rimasto sepolto in libreria per 35 anni circa senza che nessuno lo leggesse, pensando fosse “per bambinette”. Holly Hobbie io so chi sei e ti ho apprezzata!

[Channing · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an odd story. I bought it for my daughter since I loved my little Holly Hobbie dolls as a child. I was expecting a delightful doll story. It was an entertaining adventure story, although a little gruesome at times for my daughter. I would love to know the connection between this story and the dolls. It is not a book I will reread.

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a gigantic Holly Hobbie fanatic as a child, even down to having a Holly Hobbie costume and sunbonnet made from Holly Hobbie fabric that my mother made for me (often worn to Loyalist Days celebrations), so this book came as a big treat to me. It is a very fine story, a bit of adventure and mystery, but my very favourite thing in this book are the sumptuous painting plates by Kathy Lawrence. They are absolutely gorgeous! I recommend this book to any girl (or boy) whose imagination takes them anywhere but here. And any adult who may feel the same way! I recently re-read it to see if it was still as I remembered and it was.

[Diletta Nicastro · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Le avventure di Holly Hobbie' è, a quanto so, l’unico romanzo scritto da Richard S. Dubelman (1930-1999), produttore televisivo e regista di spot commerciali dal carattere amabile e da sempre vicino ai bambini. L’Holly Hobbie del titolo è un personaggio fittizio che negli Anni Settanta andava molto di moda e che portava il nome della sua creatrice, che aveva realizzato decine di cartoline, biglietti e acquarelli con questa ragazza della vecchia America, con un grande cappello blu che ne copriva i lineamenti (chiunque quindi poteva identificarsi in lei).
Il libro ebbe un discreto successo all’epoca e fu tradotto in varie lingue. Oggigiorno, viceversa, è possibile trovare delle copie solo nei mercatini (siano essi virtuali o reali) e non si vedono ristampe all’orizzonte.
Il libro è confezionato molto bene (e anche quello conta!). Un cartonato con una copertina meravigliosa, capitoli ricchi di disegni Maya e mappe (ed anche pagine come se fossero vergate a mano, quando si riportano le lettere del padre di Liz). La storia scorre via abbastanza velocemente (anche se a volte ci si intreccia un po’ con i nomi – io avrei messo un elenco personaggi nella prima pagina).

A pag. 23 si parla della Mayflower, senza spiegare assolutamente niente. Ovviamente per i lettori americani è di facile comprensione, ma per un lettore medio italiano, ancor più se di giovane età? Srarebbe stato meglio inserire una nota.
La Mayflower, infatti, è la prima nave che arrivò in America e dire che “stando alla documentazione più degna di fede, gli antenati della madre di Holly Hobbie erano arrivati con la Mayflower” significa dare un’impronta ben precisa al personaggio e assegnarle una sorta di ‘nobiltà’. Ancor di più dicendo che è un’eredità che viene dalla madre (negli Usa vi è una sorta di titolo tramandato per via femminile dalla madre alla prima figlia femmina fino ai giorni nostri per coloro che discendono dai primi colonizzatori arrivati dalla Mayflower).
Nella stessa pagina di fa cenno che il dipinto di Holly Hobbie (da cui uscirà poi il ‘fantasma’) sia stato realizzato da un certo Nigel Kirkwood, seguace di Gilbert Stuart. Non trovo informazioni su questo Kirkwood ed anche il modo in cui è scritto mi ha fatto pensare che sia un riferimento magari a qualche avo della vera Holly Hobbie, forse realmente artista, per dare un legame al personaggio…

Complessivamente è un fantasy archeologico piuttosto originale che appassiona e diverte, consigliato ai lettori di tutte le età, in special modo a chi ama le rovine Maya.

Per leggere la recensione completa visita il mio blog:
https://dilettanicastro.blogspot.com/...

[MQR · Rating 4 out of 5]

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The reason this book is not of Harry Potter status and fame is because the protagonist is a girl. I suppose that was bad in the early 1980s. Also. seance-sacrifices, voodoo, groupies, and double-cross academic criminal espionage. I would rate this book five star if I felt it was recommendable to the age group it is marketed. But it simply isn't. And no Tom Clancy/Dan Brown reader is going to pick up a book with a girl wearing a bonnet. But actually this book was pretty amazing. I wish this author had other books. Maybe he does. Maybe this is one a pen name.

[Tamara Van dishoeck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Livs vader is archeoloog en is verdwenen in de jungle in Zuid-Amerika en een ieder waant hem dood behalve Liz. als ze bij haar opa en oma slaapt in zijn oude kamer stapt Holly Hobbie uit haar schilderij en samen gaan de meiden op avontuur om de vader van Liz te vinden. een leuk boek wat soms ook wel spannend was. tussendoor zitten er hele mooie tekeningen en dagboekstukken van de vader van Liz en je leert ook een beetje over de Maya cultuur.

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird book bought remaindered and read because I was originally going to write my dissertation on fantasy fiction for children. I remember thinking that it was actually for a slightly older audience more attuned to gritty action. I also remember it being a rather fun read. Holly was a fairly realistic character here, and there was a lot of adventure.

[NebulousGloom (FK) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this a very very long time ago. I was somewhere between 9 and 12, probably. It was amazing. I haven't read it since and have no idea how well it has held up, but I at least still remember it quite fondly.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange. The adventures were pretty intense, for any children's book but especially for a novel based on a rag doll. What's next, The Care Bears rescue the 'working girls' of Thailand? LFL find.

[Azar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another obscure YA fantasy favorite which I think, unfortunately, was hampered from being more successful by its title, which makes it seems as if it's intended for a much younger audience than it actually is, and also doesn't tell much about the story.

What the story actually is? Part ghost story, part mystery, part Indiana Jones for kids (although published a year before Raiders of the Last Ark came out in theaters). When 13-year-old Liz Dutton's archaeologist father goes missing in South America while looking for a lost Maya city, her fear for him draws the spirit of a distant ancestor (Holly Hobbie) out of the portrait she has haunted for two centuries, and the two girls embark on an adventure to rescue him that takes them from Sturbridge, MA, to the heart of the Guatemalan jungle.

The protagonists are likeable, the dialogue crisp, realistic and at the same time entertaining, and the book is packed with fascinating details about the Maya culture, both ancient and their contemporary descendants. Definitely worth a read if you can get your hands on it: it's unfortunately been out of print for years.

[Saschki · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's no getting around it, this is a weird book. Time-traveling Holly Hobbie, Central American jungle ruins, black helicopters, a compound leg fracture described complete with leg bone poking out. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't read it myself as a girl, then quite traumatically forgot it on top of the TV in a shore motel. Never to be reunited...wondering if perhaps I had in fact dreamt up such a strange plot...till years later, thanks to DARPA, Al Gore, and their miraculous "internet", I was reunited with a copy.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is not at all what you'd expect. I read this as a kid, and it has stuck in my psyche ever since. It has nothing to do with the doll. This book is actually a well-written and fast-paced YA mystery story, with Holly as one of the characters. I'd recommend it to any girl who has an interest in mysteries, archaeology, or family history--it's a combination of all three!

[Linnea]

I was fascinated by this book as a child, but I was too scared to read it as it dealt with "the occult" (or at least that's what the inside front cover claimed). Now it's out of print and I will never know if it's actually connected with the doll Holly Hobbie or whether the name was just an unfortunate coincidence.

[Deborah]

Even though I don't have kids, I enjoyed the book. It is a book I think any young girl or eccentric women would enjoy. It's a story that is both mysterious and fast-moving. There's never a dull moment in this book, and is probably ideal for kids in middle school. Highly recommend it.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this as a young teen! Part time-travel, part Indiana Jones, part friendship story, part mystery. This book really captivated me. I loved learning about the Mayan culture, and I especially love Holly Hobbie!

[Cassandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

wow...I read this book YEARS ago...I must have been about 8 or 9. Seeing the cover brought me back! Still think it was an interesting storyline.

[Deanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Remember this being read to me years ago as a child by my mother, read it to myself a year later.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of my forever favorites!!

[L.J.M. Owen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful children's book.