SOLVED. 80's YA book with a girl who talked through her owl figurines to work through problems, one who may be named Olivia [s]

[s]

This was a YA book (slightly younger, perhaps?) that was about a girl who had some kind of issues that she "worked through" by talking as her owl figurines and coming up with an elaborate fantasy world in which they lived. i think one of the owl's names was Olivia, and there may have been a character named Gretchen in the book (main character possibly?)

i do remember the girl had to go to a psychiatrist and he handed her dolls to play with /use in the same fashion but it wasn't the same as they weren't her owls.

...this sounds like i potentially invented this book in a feverish dream, but i swear i read it! :D

[Tab]

There's the Olivia Sharp series. http://www.goodreads.com/series/69268...

However, the premise sounds a bit different. The girl's name is Olivia and she has a pet owl. It seems lighter than the subject matter you are looking for.

Do you remember if going to the psychiatrist is a major part of the story? Was the book more on the serious side?

[Andria]

Will the Real Gertrude Hollings Please Stand Up?

It's mostly about Gertrude coming to terms with her dyslexia, I think, but she does have a rich fantasy life and there is an Olivia the owl, IIRC.

[Cheryl]

I just read Gertie's wonderful story last week, and the owls bit fits perfectly, but there was no psychiatrist. I think Andria's right, and I also think that you may be mixing up two books (which happens to all of us, and often).

[Andria]

Cheryl, you've read it much more recently than I, but isn't there some sort of special ed teacher/therapist that she meets with, that Shannon may have misremembered as psychiatrist?

[Cheryl]

That's true, actually, the one who helps her with her learning disability. But still, the substitution of dolls doesn't ring a bell. It may have been in there, but there was so much else in the book that I found so much more memorable. I hope the GR description helps shannon figure it out.

[s]

oh thanks y'all, that is definitely it! i love how i completely forgot the plot and remembered a completely insignificant detail, haha. really appreciate the help, thank you!

[Andria]

You're welcome!

I'm always fascinated by the random things people remember and misremember about their lost books. If you look on this group's shelf of things requested more than once, sometimes two people will remember such different details, that you'd never guess they were describing the same book!

[s]

i am totally going to go try and help some other people find some books, because it's a great feeling to finally find them :)