The Boy Toy

Overview

The Boy Toy is a 1988 Lollipop Power Books picture book by Phyllis Hacken Johnson about Chad, a boy whose attachment to a doll is tested by peer expectations and later reclaimed during a hospital experience. It is not an LGBTQ-parent picture book, and that restraint is important. The title belongs in the collection because it documents the gender-role challenge that helped make later LGBTQ-family representation more legible. Lollipop Power’s feminist children’s publishing argued against fixed roles for girls and boys; here, the focus is boys, dolls, tenderness, and comfort. The record also preserves a late Lollipop publication question, since external catalog records list Lollipop Power Books in 1988 after the collective’s documented closure.^[2][4][5][7]

Gendered Toy Rules

The book’s central conflict is a child’s fear that a friend will reject him for having a doll. That makes the title a gender-role object rather than a sexuality or gender-identity declaration. Chad’s doll Dan becomes a test of what boys are allowed to love, care for, and take seriously. The local catalog’s interpretation is useful because it links the book to a wider feminist claim: if toys and tenderness are not gender-locked, then family roles need not be gender-locked either.^[1][2]

Care, Comfort, And Hospital

The hospital plot gives the doll a practical emotional function. Chad does not simply make an abstract point about equality; he needs Dan when he is frightened. That movement from embarrassment to comfort makes the book concrete for children. It shows nurturing as something a boy may both give and receive. In collection terms, the book sits near Martin’s Father, another Lollipop title that challenges the assumption that care belongs to one gendered role.^[1][2]

A Late Lollipop Record

Open Library records The Boy Toy as a Lollipop Power Books title from Durham in 1988, while UNC’s finding aid states that Lollipop Power ceased operations in 1986 and remaining stock moved to Carolina Wren Press. That tension is part of the object’s research value. It may reflect residual publication, catalog simplification, or imprint persistence after collective operation ended. The public record can identify the title as a late Lollipop-associated item while leaving exact publication mechanics to physical-copy inspection.^[2][4][5]

Author Context

Phyllis Hacken Johnson has a sparse but relevant public trail. Open Library identifies her as the author, and Duke’s alumni profile describes her as a retired educator and teacher. That professional background fits the book’s concern with children, classroom assumptions, and care. The absence of a large author afterlife also matters: many small feminist children’s books were made by educators and local networks whose records are thinner than those of mainstream trade publishers.^[6][7][2]

Timeline

1. 1970Lollipop Power begins publishingUNC records Lollipop Power’s first publication year.^[4]
2. 1971Early anti-sex-role booksTitles such as Did You Ever? and Martin’s Father establish early Lollipop concerns.^[4][5]
3. 1979When Megan Went AwayLollipop Power publishes a later lesbian-parent family landmark.^[13][14]
4. 1986Collective ceases operationUNC records Lollipop Power’s closure and transfer of remaining stock.^[4]
5. 1988The Boy ToyExternal records place The Boy Toy with Lollipop Power Books.^[2]
6. 2020sArchival recoveryLollipop Power’s history is preserved through finding aids and retrospective reporting.^[4][5]

Citation

The Boy Toy. Phyllis Hacken Johnson. Lollipop Power Books, 1988. Tarpey-Schwed LGBT Families Children's Book Special Collection, Mechanics' Institute. Collection ID: KB-132.

Sources

Cover image from Open Library.

1. Local collection catalog record for The Boy Toy · catalog
2. Open Library record · library
3. Open Library alternate record · library
4. UNC finding aid for Lollipop Power records · archive
5. WUNC feature on Lollipop Power · news
6. Open Library creator record · library
7. Duke alumni profile for Phyllis Hacken Johnson · institution
8. Marian Buchanan on Bruce Mack · creator
9. Marian Buchanan on versions of Jesse’s Dream Skirt · creator
10. Marian Buchanan reissue availability post · creator
11. Marian Buchanan reprint permission post · creator
12. Woodland Pattern page for Jesse’s Dream Skirt · bookseller
13. Open Library record for When Megan Went Away · library
14. Mombian retrospective on When Megan Went Away · article