Steal Away, Steal Away: Almost to Freedom by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson.

I started out no more than a bunch of rags on a Virginia plantation. Miz Rachel done a fine job puttin' me together, takin' extra time to sew my face on real careful, with thread, embroidery they call it.

When she's done, Miz Rachel give me to her little girl, Lindy. Lindy hugs me hard. "Your name be Sally." From that first day, when Lindy be somewheres, I be with her.

Lindy takes Sally to sit around the campfire after work, listening to the folks telling stories and sometimes talking softly about Freedom, saying you have to go somewhere called North to get it.

Sally goes everywhere with Lindy and her mother, tied with a string around her waist so Lindy can help her mother pick cotton in the field. She takes her to bed every night, and Sally doesn't mind if Lindy rolls on top of her.

But one morning, Lindy's daddy Henry is gone. Massa and some men go after him and bring him back, but Miz Rachel says he's been sold South, and after that Miz Rachel is sad and quiet. And when Lindy gets whipped all over her back for asking Massa's son how to spell her name, Miz Rachel is quiet and sad.

"Lord, don't let Massa be sellin' my baby away like he done her papa."

One night soon after, Miz Rachel wakes Lindy in the middle of the night and, with Sally tied around Lindy's waist, they steal away just like in the song and run toward the North. At the river they meet up with Lindy's father Henry and a man with a skiff who rows them across to the other side and takes them to a dark house. A kind man and a white-haired lady take them inside where the man pulls back a rug in the kitchen, removes some boards and opens a trap door with a ladder to the tiny room below.

"We almost to Freedom, Sally," Lindy whispers.

But after a few hours they are wakened abruptly. Slave catchers are coming, and they quickly leave the house to hide in the woods. But in the hurry up the ladder, Lindy drops Sally, who falls back down in the dark little room under the floor, where she lies for a long time, with no company but a mother mouse and her babies--until one night there's another family going North, and their little girl Willa finds the doll in the dark room.

Willa hugs me so hard. "Your name Belinda."

I like that. Sounds like Lindy.

Vaunda Micheaux Nelson's story of the Underground Railroad,Almost to Freedom (Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book) (CarolRhoda Books) makes use of the narration of a beloved doll to tell the story of a families seeking freedom in that period of slavery before the Civil War through the eyes of the girls who loved her. Nelson artfully uses dialogue to reveal the emotions of a family trying to stay together as they escape to the North. With the help of the Coretta Scott King Award-winning artist Colin Boatman's vivid oil painting illustrations, author Nelson poignantly reveals the pain of slavery through the eyes of a child, softened by the comfort of a doll which two girls share.  Says School Library Journal, "... ultimately a story of hope and resilience, love and friendship." Pair this one with Ellen Levine's Henry's Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad.

Upgrade and Unplug! Doll-E 1.0 by Shanda McCloskey

Charlotte was not one of those little girls who dote on dollies and tea sets.

Charlotte's head was always in the clouds.

No, not those fluffy clouds in blue skies. Charlotte's favorite clouds are the data-storage sort.

Charlotte is a techno-cyber-whiz who prefers downloads to dolls, coding to cuddling plush critters, and virtual reality goggles to giggly tea parties. Even her little dog is named Blutooth.

Mom doesn't know where Charlotte got her consuming interest in IT, but she is happy for her help with all their internet-enabled devices.

Still, Mom feels that Charlotte needs more experience interacting with actual reality--so she gets her a doll and doll stroller to play with.

"Are there instructions?" asked Charlotte.

"I was thinking you could play house or doctor with it," said Mom.

But no matter what commands Charlotte gives her, Doll-E just sits there with the same silly smile on her face. But when Charlotte puts the doll down, it speaks.

"MA-MA!

"I'm not your MAMA!" Charlotte says.

Investigating the source of the voice, Charlotte discovers something she recognizes--a panel in the doll's back with batteries and wiring inside. At last! Here's something she can hack! Charlotte's brain goes into hyperdrive.

"I know! I could run an update on you! It's going to be awesome!"

Charlotte works on her program all night and at last Doll-E is ready for the installation.

"HELLO. MY NAME IS DOLL-E 1.0!"

And with Charlotte with the controller and Doll-E fitted with the proper electrodes in her helmet, the two are ready to walk the dog outside, with Doll-E pulled in her stroller by Blutooth, in Shanda McCloskey's brand-new debut picture book, Doll-E 1.0 (Little, Brown, 2018).

Charlotte is an engaging little girl techno-geek, resourceful and inventive, drolly portrayed by first-time author-illustrator Shanda McCloskey, who appropriately combines her comic pencil and watercolor drawings with Photoshop digital artistry in the creation of the her little technical wizard and her new, updated techie toy. Says School Library Journal, " McCloskey's picture book debut is not one to miss. A fun addition."