The Doll's Storybook

Stories about dolls who live in our world. Although these stories are suitable for children, they should check with their parents before reading and always be careful online. Readers are invited to donate to a charity supporting pediatric cancer treatment and research. Images shown are taken by the author or from a free image website with attribution and appreciation. The author has no connection with Götz Puppenmanufaktur, but gives them credit for the amazing dolls they produce.

Friday, September 18, 2026

Mandy's Mushrooms

"What kind of plants are these, Mandy?" Emil asked, showing her a picture in the book he was looking at.

"Those aren't really plants, Emil," Mandy replied. "Those are mushrooms."

"They sort of look like plants," Emil said. "They look more like plants than animals."

"It's true," Mandy said, "that mushrooms stay in one place, just like plants.
"Unless the plants are in a pot," Emil pointed out.

Mandy laughed. "You're right," she said. "Someone can move plants. They can take a plant from a little pot and put it into the ground, or they can move a potted plant from one window to another, but the plants don't move themselves. They can grow bigger, but they don't pick up their pots and walk away. It's the same with mushrooms. Come, I'll show you," Mandy added.

Mandy has started growing mushrooms in the house. She started out with a big lump of something that is sort of like a root system for the kind of mushrooms she wanted to grow. She put it into a dishpan.
Veronika came along to look. "It doesn't look like much," she said.

"The mushrooms haven't grown yet," she said. I have to keep it damp."
"Like watering the plants?" Emil asked.

"Just like watering the plants," Mandy agreed, "but this isn't sitting in dirt like plants."

Mandy picked up a spray bottle with water and sprayed the lump.

"Why are mushrooms not plants, then?" Emil wanted to know.
"Well," Mandy began, "partly because their cells are made up of different things," she said, "and partly because plants take in carbon dioxide and give out oxygen. Mushrooms, on the other hand," take in oxygen and give out carbon dioxide the way human people do."

"Do we do that, too?" Emil asked. "We look like human people."

"We pretend to breathe," Mandy replied, "and when we pretend to breathe we pretend to change oxygen into carbon dioxide, but I don't really think about it. Do you?"

Emil decided he didn't really think about it.

"Another difference between plants and mushrooms," Mandy explained, "is how they get their food. Plants make their own food using the light from the sun. Mushrooms need to eat, the way people need to eat."

"What do they eat?" was Emil's logical next question.
"They eat dead plants, mostly," Mandy said.

"In nature they help clean up the forest floor," Mandy continued. This lump is made up of clean, ground-up wood that has had mushrooms growing in it. The roots are there, and new mushrooms will come out. It will take a while, though," she added.

Mandy sprayed the lump with water several times every day. Sometimes the other dolls would come and watch. After a few days, some little bumps started to appear. Then they grew.

Every day they were bigger. Then they started to change shape.

In less than a week, the mushrooms were nearly two inches across. Mandy wanted everyone to see the mushrooms. There were two big ones and several more just starting. Emil came to see.

Jolena came to see. She was wondering when the mushrooms would be ready to pick. She wanted to cook with them.

There are mushrooms growing out in the backyard, but Jolena knows that some mushrooms can make you sick, so she only cooks with the mushrooms from the store. Now Jolena can cook with Mandy's mushrooms when they are ready.

It was amazing how fast the mushrooms grew. Emil admired the mushrooms. "They grow fast, don't they?" he said.

"They do," Mandy agreed. "We can almost see them grow."
"I know that children grow, too" Emil said, looking up from the mushrooms. "Will I grow?"

Mandy thought for a moment. "Not really," she said finally. "We can get taller sometimes, if our joints get loose, and sometimes we have to be restrung, if it's really bad. They have to take you apart to do that. When they put you back together, you will be the same size you are now."

"That's OK," Emil said. "I like how I am. It's fun watching other things grow, though."
The next day the dolls could pick one of the mushrooms. It looked like this underneath.

Cast--
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen
Emil: Götz Happy Kidz Emilia

You can follow The Doll's Storybook here.

Do you have questions or comments for us? Would you like to order an autographed copy of one of our books? You can email us at thedollsstorybook@icloud.com.

Note: No dolls were harmed during production of this blog. All dolls shown are Götz Happy Kidz, Classic Kidz or Little Kidz. If you like these stories and are willing, please make a donation of any amount to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or any organization that supports pediatric cancer research and treatment. We are not affiliated with St. Jude in any way other than these donations.

“The Doll’s Storybook” is not affiliated with Gotz Dolls USA Inc. or Götz Puppenmanufaktur International GmbH.

Watch for the next story each Friday afternoon at 1:00 PM Pacific Time.

Do you like our stories? Some of them are available in print.

Our latest book is available from BookBaby and other booksellers: Mandy's Little Science Lessons: Stories from The Doll’s Storybook. Mandy and her friends explore insects, atoms, weather, trees, gravity and fossils while they run around in The Writer's house and neighborhood.

Royalties go to an organization that provides pediatric cancer research and treatment. If you don’t get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to our designated charity. Other booksellers pay much less, because the vendor gets a cut. The Writer’s author’s page at Book Baby is here. Scroll down and click on any of the books that interest you, or ask your library to get our books for you.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

<a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/19832501/?claim=j3fj3mbb8kt">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Friday, September 11, 2026

Bear

Veronika thought Mariah looked sad.

She climbed up next to Mariah, moving Mariah's notebook and pencil aside. "Is something the matter?" she asked.

"I'm feeling bad about myself," Mariah said. "I'm not sure if I did something wrong. I didn't mean to."
"Tell me about it," Veronika suggested.

"Well," Mariah began, "We were supposed to write a poem for school, so I did."

"It sounds like a good thing to do," Veronika said.
"I was happy with it," Mariah said. "I thought about your Mato and pretended he was a real bear. I wrote about Mato and me."

"I typed it on the laptop," Mariah continued. "Then I printed it off, so it would look nice. I got a good grade on it, but Blair, that's a girl in my class, said I copied it from someone else. She said I cheated."

"Did you?" Veronika asked.
"No, I don't think so," Mariah said, "but I've been thinking that maybe I read it somewhere and it stayed in my mind, but maybe I forgot that I read it."
"May I read your poem?" Veronika asked.
Mariah nodded. She took a piece of paper from her notebook.

Veronika read:

Bear

By Mariah

Bear peeks in my window.

I know he is my friend.

I know my big friend likes me,

And Bear knows I like him.

I don't play with this friend,

And he stays far from me.

Still we can share a moment

Every now and then.

I was made by people

Who live very far away.

My friend's a part of nature.

In nature he must stay.

Bear peeks in my window.

I give my friend a nod.

He lumbers off contented

To find food in the wood.

"It's very nice," Veronika said when she was done reading. "I like it. I can just imagine Mato as a real bear, looking in the window at you."

"Blair said it doesn't rhyme (RYM)," Mariah said. "That made me feel bad, too. Some of the ends of the lines don't sound the same as some of the others."
"Poems don't have to rhyme," Veronika pointed out.

"Of course, a nursery rhyme will rhyme," Veronika said, "or else it's a nursery poem, but some poems do and some don't. 'Away' and 'stay' rhyme, but those are the only two words that rhyme exactly in your poem, and that's OK." Veronika looked at the poem again. "Your poem has a rhythm (RIH-thum) to it," she went on. "I like to think of rhythm as the beat, like in music. Your poem has a beat to it, but a poem doesn't have to have rhythm, either."

"But what if I just remembered it from having heard it before?" Mariah asked. "I didn't mean to copy from someone else."

"I think your teacher would have known," Veronika said, "but just to be sure, let's go upstairs and get the laptop. We can look up Bear poems."

The two dolls found the laptop and brought it into the living room. Veronika opened it up. She typed in "Bear poem" in the little slot at the top. Poems about bears came on the screen. There were lots and lots of them. Most of them mentioned honey and bees. Some of them rhymed and some had rhythm. Some had both rhyme and rhythm, and some didn't have either.

"I don't see your poem here," Veronika said after they had read all the poems.

"They are all nice poems," Mariah said. "They made me see pictures in my head."
"But yours isn't here!" Veronika said.

Mariah still looked doubtful, so Veronika picked up Mariah's pencil and pointed to the end she doesn't write with. "What's this?" she asked.

"That's the eraser," Mariah replied. "I use it when I want to change words I don't spell right or when I change my mind about how to say something."
"It's a well-used eraser," Veronika said. "You didn't copy your poem. I've seen you write. You write and erase, and then rewrite. If you had it in your head already, you would have just written it out."
"Then why did Blair say those things to me?" Mariah wanted to know.

"Without knowing what's going on in her life," Veronika said, "I can only guess. It seems, though, is if she might have been trying to hurt you."
Mariah thought about that. "Why would any doll want to hurt another doll?" she asked. "That isn't how dolls behave!"

"Sometimes dolls who try tohurt others are suffering inside." Veronika explained. "If someone is mean to them, they think being mean to someone else will make them feel better."
Mariah thought about that. "But being mean to someone would make me feel bad," she said. "That's why I don't do it...at least not on purpose."
"That's smart," Veronika agreed, "because it doesn't work. You can't feel better about yourself by hurting others."

Mariah thought for a moment about what Veronika had said. "Blair must feel really bad if someone has been mean to her," she said finally. "Maybe I should pretend she is my friend. If I do it long enough, maybe she will be. Maybe she will feel better about herself, too."

"I think that would be nice," Veronika agreed, "but if it doesn't work and she still wants to hurt you, at least you should know that it isn't your fault, and whatever she says about you can't hurt you if you don't let it. You should feel sorry for her instead."

Mariah thought about that, too. Then she said, "I know what I'll do! I'll write a poem about that!"
"That's a great idea," Veronika agreed.
"Maybe this one will rhyme," Mariah said, "or maybe it won't."

Veronika got Mato and brought him to the windowsill where the girls had been sitting. Mariah read her poem to Mato.

Then she gave Mato a kiss, because he had been a very helpful bear.

Cast--
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
Mato: "Mato" (Lakota for "bear") by Running Strong for American Indian Youth