Big News

 "Wow!" exclaimed Veronika. She was holding a letter and reading it.

The boys climbed up next to Veronika to see what was so surprising. 

The other dolls looked to see if she would say what it was about. They waited.

"We're getting another new family member," Veronika explained. "This letter is from the warehouse, letting us know. The new doll will be here next week, if all goes well."

"Is it another boy?" Emil asked.

"The letter doesn't say," Veronika replied, looking at the letter. "It just says this new doll will be like us, but different."

"We're all alike in some ways," Jolena pointed out.

"We all have the same kind of knee joints and elbow joints," Billy said.

"That's true," Mariah agreed, "and we all have eyes that don't close, so we have to use sleep masks to sleep."

"Besides those things," Charlotte put in, "We all have the same two fingers stuck together on our right hands. That's why I couldn't play the piano."

"We're all different, though," Mandy said. "I wouldn't confuse Billy with Emil, even though they are both boys, and each girl is different, too."

"We have different color hair and eyes," Veronika agreed, "and our faces are different. Jolena and I look a lot alike, because our faces are shaped the same, but no one ever gets us mixed up."

"We're different inside, too," Charlotte added. "We have different personalities, and we're good at different things."

The dolls all agreed that they were all alike in some ways, but that they were all different from each other.

"What else does the letter say?" Billy asked, looking over Veronika's shoulder.

"It just says," Veronika replied, "that the new doll is someone we didn't know we needed." 

The dolls all looked at each other and thought about what that might mean.

"It will be a surprise," Mariah said.

"How will we get ready?" Jolena wondered. "Usually we make sure the new doll has pajamas and a sleep mask and a warm sweater, but we don't know whether to get girl's clothes or boy's clothes."

"At first," Charlotte suggested, "the new doll will have to borrow from us."

"Well," Veronika said, "we will work it out. We always do, and it will be fun to have a new addition."

The dolls all thought back to their last new addition. That was Emil. It had been more than a year.

"We will need another group photo," said Billy suddenly. Then he smiled. He loves to get out his tripod and sit all the dolls down on the steps and tell them not to blink. (That's an inside joke.)

Life in a house with dolls is never boring! What will the new addition be like? What will make him or her different from the others?

(To be continued.)

Cast--
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen
Charlotte: Götz Happy Kidz Anna in Paris
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London
Emil: Götz Happy Kidz Emilia
Marmalade: Purrrfect Cats from KTL

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:

The stories in Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Being Little, Besties and Distraction.

The stories in Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Best Buds, Getting What You Want and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The stories in Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

Our book of poems, Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook includes Valentine's Day, Keeping Pets, Back to School, Victor the Vulture, The Week Before Christmas, Insomnia and Veronika's Vocabulary Verses.

The stories in More Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Welcoming a Stranger, The Rescue, Unmasked, Fuzzy Town––A Play and Sky Blue.

Available now from BookBaby and for presale from other booksellers: Billy: Stories from The Doll's Storybook. The Stories in Billy: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Talking About Boys, Changes, Shhhhh!, Staying After and Money in a Jar.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less, because the vendor gets a cut. My author's page at Book Baby is here. Scroll down and click on any of the books that interest you. Find my books at Barbara's Bookstore as well, or ask your library to get them 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>

Copyright © 2020, 2025 by Peggy Stuart

Saying It Right

"I can't decide whether it's a Mandy question or a Veronika question," Billy told Emil as the boys were walking home from school.

"I thought it was a question for Veronika," Emil said, "because Justin is being teased because he's different."

"That's true," Billy agreed, as the boys reached the front steps, "but I was thinking that why he's being picked on might be more of a Mandy question."

"I know," said Emil, "that dolls who are different sometimes get teased, because that happened to me. Teasing isn't so bad, but some of the dolls even laughed at me, which is worse."

The boys took turns helping each other up the stairs to the house, not because either of them needed help, but they liked to practice helping others. Some dolls need help from time to time.

"Picking on other dolls isn't nice," Billy said. "I wanted to hit them, but I remembered that Veronika told me that hitting was wrong. That was when some of the other dolls were picking on Mariah for being different."

"You got in a fight, didn't you?" Emil asked as the boys reached the door to the house. (It was before he came, but he remembered hearing about it.)

"Yes," Billy agreed, "but now I know there are better ways to handle bullies. Veronika helped me understand that bullies often have problems we don't know about."

"Veronika," Billy continued, "explained that bullying is just a way to get attention and to feel better about something they feel bad about. If you ignore them it stops being fun, and they stop."

The boys found both Veronika and Mandy in the living room, reading, so they didn't have to decide which one to look for. Mariah was there, too, helping Pippa with her homework. The girls all looked up when the boys came in.

"We have a question," Billy said to the girls. "Maybe you can help us with something."

"What's up?" Veronika asked. She closed her book.

"Well," Emil began, "our friend Justin is getting picked on because of the way he talks."

"I know we aren't supposed to hit the other dolls," Billy said, "but I was really tempted to."

"I know we're supposed to just be friendly with Justin and pay no attention to the bullies," he added, "so they get bored and go do something else."

"That's right," Veronika agreed, nodding. Mandy was nodding, too.

"It's because of the way he talks," Emil explained, as the boys climbed up onto the couch. "He has trouble getting words out."

"Some of the other boys said Justin was faking," Billy said. "They said he was pretending to talk that way to get attention."

"Why did they think he was pretending?" Mariah asked.

"It's because he doesn't do it when he sings," Emil pointed out, leaning back so he could look at Mariah.

Emil climbed all the way up onto the couch, so he could see Mariah easily when she had something to say.

"Yes," Billy agreed, "and he can recite poetry, too, with no problem, but I don't think he's faking."

"Justin stutters," said Mandy, who knew all the dolls at the school. "That means he sometimes repeats one sound over and over until he can get the word out out. Sometimes even the wrong word comes out."

"Yes!" Billy exclaimed. "That's exactly what he does! He can sing songs, though, without having a problem."

"It's because singing uses a different part of the brain," Mandy explained. "It's a problem that human children sometimes have. It's genetic (juh-NEH-tik). That means it runs in families," Mandy explained. "Some dolls stutter, too, because dolls have to be like real children."

"It starts when a child is young," Mandy explained, "and sometimes they need to have speech therapy. That's special training to be able to talk so other human people can understand them. Many still have a problem speaking when they are adults." Mandy thought for a moment. "Dolls are supposed to be like real children, so maybe Justin was made that way so he can go live a with a child who stutters."

"I think," Mariah said, "that you should tell Justin that the person who wrote Alice in Wonderland stuttered. I think that's why he was such a good writer. He could say what he wanted in writing and not stutter." "I didn't know that about Lewis Carroll," Pippa said. "Alice in Wonderland is my very favorite book!"

"Lots of people who stuttered or still do," Veronika pointed out, "are famous, but not for their stuttering. Some are famous athletes, singers, actors and writers."

"Yes!" Mandy agreed. "Some people write or recite words they've memorized because they can, and go on to be very good at it. Practice will do that sometimes. Or they put their energy into something where you don't have to talk much."

"And some," Veronika explained, "have gone on in spite of their problem with speaking and done something great in some other field where they have to talk a lot, even though they have to work extra hard to talk." 

Then she paused and looked as if there might be something more she wanted to say, so the boys waited. Actually, everyone waited.

"I wonder if Justin knows this," Veronika suggested. "Maybe he feels bad because he doesn't talk the way everyone else does. Sometimes dolls who are picked on start to think that they are broken."

"Yes," Emil agreed. "I can see that. It's what I thought about myself before I came here and found out how much I could do. I don't have trouble talking, but without my special glasses, I can't see or hear. I need help from others when my glasses are charging."

"Let's tell him tomorrow," Billy suggested, "about all the famous people who stutter. We can look up 'famous people who stutter' on the computer and make a list for him." Then he looked at Veronika, to see what she thought.

Veronika nodded. "That's a great idea!" she agreed, turning to Emil. "You two can tell him all the athletes, singers and actors you know of who had to overcome stuttering as they grew up!"

"What's the matter, Mariah?" Pippa asked suddenly.

Mariah was staring off into space. "Well," she said, "I was just remembering that Lewis Carroll had planned to be a clergyman. That meant he would have to get up and talk in church. That's why he wrote instead."

"Can you imagine a life without Alice?" Pippa asked. "What if he hadn't stuttered. He might not have written my favorite book."

Pippa's eyes would have become big and round, except that they don't move, so she just stared at the other dolls. And they stared back.

"I'm sorry Lewis Carroll had to go through all that," Pippa said finally, "but I'm sort of glad, too."

Life without "Alice." It didn't bear thinking about.

Cast--
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London
Emil: Götz Happy Kidz Emilia

Pippa: Götz Little Kidz Lotta

You can learn more about stuttering from the Stuttering Foundation.

You can see a boy who stutters who spoke to millions of people on television here:

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:

The stories in Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Being Little, Besties and Distraction.

The stories in Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Best Buds, Getting What You Want and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The stories in Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

Our book of poems, Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook includes Valentine's Day, Keeping Pets, Back to School, Victor the Vulture, The Week Before Christmas, Insomnia and Veronika's Vocabulary Verses.

The stories in More Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Welcoming a Stranger, The Rescue, Unmasked, Fuzzy Town––A Play and Sky Blue.

Available now from BookBaby and for presale from other booksellers: Billy: Stories from The Doll's Storybook. The Stories in Billy: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Talking About Boys, Changes, Shhhhh!, Staying After and Money in a Jar.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less, only 8%, because the vendor gets a cut. My author's page at Book Baby is here. Scroll down and click on any of the books that interest you. Find my books at Barbara's Bookstore as well, or ask your library to get them 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>

Copyright © 2020, 2025 by Peggy Stuart