<DIV><i>Patricia Polacco shares a never-before-told story about her mother's favorite doll.</i><p> "My Darlin Trisha, my mother wrote..." So begins the story of Patricia Polacco's mother's favorite doll.<P> Whenever Mary Ellen needed Betty Doll, she was there. She survived blizzards and thunderstorms, attended parties and weddings, and helped mourn the deaths of old friends. From the day Trisha's mother first sewed Betty Doll together stitch by stitch, to the day, many years later, when she discovered she had cancer, her soft, sweet Betty Doll was there. Now Betty Doll lives on in Patricia Polacco's soft, beautiful artwork as Trisha shares the warm and poignant moments of her mother's favorite doll with readers of all ages.</DIV>