If the author really understood the character of Hitty, a real doll for whom Rachael Field wrote imaginary adventures, perhaps she would have written her book with more respect for the original story. The changes she made: (adding an elephant (?) to Phoebe and Hitty's coral beads, making the antique shop where the story ended into a pawn shop, etc. did not make the story easier to understand or more relevant. Any child who can read the adaptation could read the original. The illustrator certainly had never seen the real Hitty, as her doll bent in ways the real Hitty could not. It boils down, in my opinion, to frivolous changes to a story and pictures that need no changes. I would not have objected to a real picture book, with few words, if pictures and words had been faithful to the original and made the book appealing to pre-reading children.