Ophelia’s Voyage to Japan

Title: Ophelia’s Voyage to Japan or The Mystery of the Doll Solved
Genre: Children’s
Series: Ophelia the Teddy Bear
Author: Michele Durkson Clise (1936-)
Text By: Anne Conover Heller (1950-)
Photography: Marsha Burns (1945-2011)
Publisher: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., New York, New York
Year: 1986 (First Edition)
Pages: 90
Format: Hardcover, with dust jacket.
Provenance: Unknown
Chapter Titles: The Letter; The Voyage; The Disappearance of a Doll; The Little Tailor; A Shopping Excursion; A Party with an Uninvited Guest; At the Baths; The Discovery of the Doll; The Capture of the Dollmaker; The Doll’s New Home.
Dedication: “This book is dedicated to ‘The Tailor of Gloucester’ and the memory of Beatrix Potter’
Opening Sentence: “Once upon a time, early on a February morning toward the end of a long and sleepy Paris winter, a sweet and thoughtful (but slightly disorganized) bear named Ophelia B. Clise sat, sorting through a trunk brimming with lace and ribbons.”
Random Passage: “Before bed it was decided that M. Ritz, Clarence, and Ricky would accompany Schnuffy to the festival and that Mona, Zenobia, and Ophelia—who were worried about Yukiko being cold—would buy something warm for the doll to wear when they found her.”
Goodreads Review: “Another fun book about an amazingly well-dressed bear-of-the-world. The stories are delightful!” — Linda, April 5, 2012.
Notes: An exquisite Japanese doll disappears, leading Ophelia and her intrepid teddy-bear friends to a photo-filled adventure in the Land of the Rising Sun. Michele Durkson Clise authored several books on Ophelia (weirdly, another person gets a “text by” credit), although this and 1984’s Ophelia’s World appear to be the only ones with a single, self-contained story.