Emma

Kearney is just 8 years old and is already an

accomplished doll maker and historian.

With a

large box containing her hand-crafted doll of Louisa Mae

Alcott, a tiny biography of Alcott and a miniature trunk,

Kearney flew to New York City to compete as one of 40

national finalists in the Amazon.com Toy Quest.

The young

Peachtree City designer and creator was accompanied in

the "Big Apple" by her parents, Shery and

Philip, twin brother Will, and younger sister, Julianna.

Emma had

only three minutes to present and explain her idea for a

line of Young Writers Dolls, to include Maud Hart

Lovelace, author of the Betsy Tacy series, Beverly Cleary

and Laura Ingalls Wilder. But the detail of her work may

have been lost on the judges, who awarded first place to

the creator of "Mr. Itchy Pants," a singing

funny man with ants in his pants.

Nevertheless,

Emma probably learned more in the process of researching

and assembling her entry than most of the thousand or so

children under 12 who sent in their ideas.

"Emma

really likes reading biographies and likes to read about

people that wrote books," her mother explained.

Louisa Mae Alcott is one of Emma's favorite writers. In

fact, her plans for the future include being the owner of

"Alcott Creek," an historically authentic

resort she dreams of building somewhere in the northern

United States.

The Kearney

children are home schooled by their parents, who have the

daily challenge of keeping up with their inquiring minds.

"They were high intensity from the very

beginning," said Shery, who is a teacher by

profession.

The idea

for entering the contest came about when Emma spotted the

ad in the Kids Pages of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

"She organized it and carried it out in a two-week

period, which was pretty astonishing," Shery said.

As a

home-schooler, Emma had the time to do the reading, write

the mini-biography, design and sew the clothes for the

doll and actually make the doll from a prefabricated

head. "When she dressed the doll, she actually

started weeping," her mother said. "She's so

beautiful," she recalls her daughter saying.

"Little

Women" tops the list of Emma's favorite reads.

Favorite character? "Jo," she said without

hesitation. Emma leaped from reading very little around

kindergarten age to reading chapter books, her mother

said. "Little House on the Prairie was my first

chapter book," she announced. When she comes upon a

difficult word Emma said she turns to her brother for

help. "He reads mostly nonfiction books and has a

large vocabulary," she said.

As the

future developer of Alcott's Creek, Emma envisions a

village of period-style homes with names like Queen

Victoria's Getaway and Alcott House, which would serve as

the hotel, and "flowers all over the place."

Until that happens, Emma will continue to read, dream and

enjoy being an 8-year-old girl with lots of friends and a

supportive family.