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, October 25, 2019

Talents

Mariah looked up from her writing. "How do you see and hear what dogs and cats are thinking?" she asked Emil.

Emil thought for a moment. "I don't really know," he replied. "I guess, when I noticed it with the dogs, I thought everyone could do that."

"What did you see with the dogs?" Mariah asked then.

"Nothing important," Emil said. "It was just things like finding a worm in the backyard, or chasing a squirrel, or it's time to go for a walk."

"I suppose," Mariah suggested, "the dogs are happy and have everything they need. What Marmalade needed to say was important."
Emil nodded. "Yes, Marmalade really wanted Mandy to know that he belonged to her now," he agreed.

Mariah was still puzzled. "I wonder why I can't see or hear the animals in my head," she said. "I wonder if Mandy can explain it.
"Maybe we should go ask," Emil said. "I would like to know, too.

The dolls found Mandy on the table in the workroom, selecting yarn for a project. She looked up when they climbed up onto the table.

"Mandy," Mariah began, "we have a question we think you might be able to answer."

Mandy put down the yarn she was holding. "What is it?" she asked.

"Well," Mariah began. "Emil can't see much without his glasses, and he can't hear at all without the hearing aids in his glasses, but he can see and hear what dogs and cats are saying, just the way we see and hear in our heads what other dolls are saying without using our eyes or ears."

"Yes," Emil agreed. "I don't know how I can do that when other dolls can't. We thought you might know."
"You know," Mandy began, "I had been wondering about just that very thing ever since we found out that Emil has this special ability."

"I decided to do some research," Mandy went on.

"What did you find out?" Emil asked.
"Well," Mandy continued, "We are made to be like people, so we react like people in a lot of ways."

Mariah and Emil looked at each other and nodded. They knew this already.

"I have known for a long time," Mandy went on, "that people who are born blind or deaf often grow to have special abilities,"like being really good at music or hearing things most people can't hear, for a blind person, or a deaf person noticing things they see that hearing people don't."

"I've read about that," Mariah said. "It's as if they have a superpower to make up for what's missing."

"I remember being in my box," Emil explained. "My box was lined up with with a lot of other dolls in their boxes. They were talking about what they could see, but all I could see was when it was light and when it was dark."

"Sometimes they talked about noises or sounds," Emil continued, "but I didn't understand what they meant. I didn't find out about hearing until I came out of my box and I got these special glasses with the built-in hearing aids."

"That's what I thought," Mandy agreed. "You are like a human person who was born deaf and nearly blind, because you couldn't hear, and you couldn't see much of anything."

"I thought, of course," Mandy went on, "that people who are blind or deaf just learn their special abilities to make up for not being able to see or hear."
"That would make sense," Emil agreed, and Mariah nodded.

"However," Mandy went on, "I found out that some scientists (SY-en-tists), those are people who study things in the real world and figure out how things work. They have learned that there is a part of the human brain for hearing and a part of the brain for seeing. When these parts of the brain are not used because the person is deaf or blind, they do other things that the person needs or can use."

"So that's why I can talk to animals," Emil said.

"I think so," Mandy agreed.
"Some of the dolls had pets, usually dogs, with them in their boxes," Emil went on. "There were doll pets alone in boxes, too. I could hear the animals, and see what they were thinking."
"Yes," Mandy agreed. "Maybe you were able to use that part of your brain to listen to the animals, because you weren't hearing anything with your ears or seeing with your eyes. At least I think that's what happened."

"I wonder what part of my brain that is," Emil said thoughtfully.

"Actually," Mandy said, "if we took your head off, we would not be able to see a brain in there. We might see the inside of your eyes, but no brain."
The dolls all thought about what that might look like. Emil didn't offer to take his head off.

"Dolls only have a pretend brain," Mandy continued, "but they work for us the way human brains work, and yours is like the brain of someone who was born deaf and blind but had some other ability instead."

"Wow!" Mariah exclaimed. "I wish I could talk to animals." She looked at Emil. "You're really special, Emil!"

"You're special, too, Mariah," Mandy said. "You have a gift for writing, and if you keep working on it the way you do, you can make your writing even better. You are really good at putting words together."

"I'm special, too?" Mariah asked.

"Yes," agreed Mandy. "We are all special, but the way each one of us is special is different for each doll. Children need us to be different from each other, because each child is different and special."

Just then, Marmalade came into the workroom. He jumped up on the table and came over to the dolls. He looked at Emil.
"Meow!" Marmalade said.

"Marmalade says that cats are very special," Emil said.

"Of course they are!" Mandy exclaimed. "Marmalade is sweet and beautiful. I'm glad he found me!"

"Meow," said Marmalade.
"He says he loves you, too," Emil told Mandy.

"I always wondered what meow meant," Mariah said, "and now I know."

"Meow means cats are special," she said, "but it also means 'I love you.'"

Cast--
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
Emil: Götz Happy Kidz Emilia
Marmalade: Purrrfect Cats from KTL

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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.

Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook and Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook are available from BookBaby and other booksellers worldwide, such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Author's page on Amazon.

Royalties (net proceeds) go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment. If you don't get free shipping elsewhere, buy from Book Baby. Half of the price goes to charity (specific information available upon request). Autographed copies of all three books are available from the author. (Multiple books to the same address have a discount on shipping.) To inquire, email thedollsstorybook@icloud.com.

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Friday, October 18, 2019

Talking to Animals

Emil gazed out of the window. "I'm happy here," he said to himself. He could do it without moving his lips, because his lips don't move.

Emil thought about how he had worried before he received his special glasses that he wouldn't find a place in the world because he was different. He could only see to tell whether it was dark or light where he was. He couldn't hear at all.

Of course, dolls can talk to each other in their heads, so they don't need to be able to hear when they talk to each other. If you look in a doll's ear, where the sound is supposed to go in, you will see that it's blocked off.

That's because dolls' hearing is pretend hearing. They need that to hear other sounds in the world, like cars and bicycles, or the alarm clock.
Somehow, however, Emil didn't even get that. He did get eyes, but he couldn't see much. He couldn't see much or hear anything until he was given his wonderful glasses with hearing aids built in.

Even with the hearing aids, he had been afraid he wouldn't find a family, because he is different. He was afraid, but he knew he had to tell them about this problem in his letter. Not telling them would be a lie. There are two kinds of lies, he thought to himself.

There is the kind where you say something that isn't true and there is the kind where you don't say something that is true but important to tell. This was the second kind, so he told them in his letter.

"I told the truth, and they still wanted me," Emil said to himself. "That makes me happy." Now he had a doll family that cared about him.

Emil remembered how Billy had shown him where the girls keep their dresses. "They sometimes borrow from each other," he had said, "but they always ask first."

Then Billy had said that he and Emil could borrow clothes from each other, now.

"I don't borrow the girls' dresses," Billy had said, and they had both laughed. Emil held up one of the dresses to see how it would look on Billy.

Emil thought about how the other dolls could do things he couldn't do. Jolena can dance.

She can flip through the air on skis.

She can cook.

Mariah can write poems that make you laugh and poems that make your pretend heart break.

Charlotte can play the violin, and you can sing along in your head if you know the tune.

Billy can take beautiful photos and then make them even better using the computer.

Emil knew he could go to Mandy if he had a question about how the world and even how the universe worked. If she didn't know something, you and Mandy would find out together.

Mandy also likes to knit. Emil thinks maybe she ponders how the universe works while she knits. Maybe that's why she understands it so well.

Emil knew if anyone had a problem they were worried about, and they didn't know what to do, they could ask Veronika, and she wouldn't just tell you what to do, she would help you understand. You could discuss it, and then you would see what to do for yourself. That makes you feel good about yourself. It also teaches you how to solve problems yourself.

Emil has seen Veronika sewing a quilt. It was fun to watch, and he especially likes to see her use a sewing machine, because he thinks machines are fun.

All of these dolls in his family have talents. They have things they can do that the others can't do or can't do as well. Now Emil knew he could hear in his head what animals were saying. That was something the others couldn't do.
Maybe he could learn to ski. Most dolls can learn how to ski, even if they can't see, but he was sure he couldn't fly through the air like Jolena. What if his glasses fell off?

Maybe he could learn to dance. Everyone should learn how to dance, but what if his hearing aids ran out of power while he was performing. He wouldn't be able to hear the music. Maybe dancing was just for fun for Emil.

Emil thought everyone should know how to cook. How can a doll pretend to eat without cooking something. You would have to have someone else do it for you all the time. He knew Jolena would make sure he knew how to cook at least a little. He thought that would be fun.

Everyone should learn how to write. Writing can be fun and useful, but Emil didn't think he could ever write as well as Mariah, even if he worked at it. He needed to have something important to say.

Everyone should learn to make music (even if just to hum, because your mouth doesn't open) but Emil thought it would be hard for him to learn to play a musical instrument, because he isn't sure that what he hears with his hearing aids is exactly what the sound is like. When you play an instrument, you want it to sound pleasant to dolls who can hear normally.

Everyone should learn to take photos. It's fun, and Billy is teaching him how, but Emil knows the photos are never as good as Billy's.

Everyone should learn about the universe works, but Emil thought he would have to be very interested in it to ever know as much about it as Mandy, and it would mean a lot of study. He knew Mandy had studied science for a long time. She must have started a long time ago.

Emil is learning how to knit, too, and it's fun. Emil thinks everyone should know how to knit. Even dolls who can't see can still knit, but he doesn't think it would be his favorite thing to do. He isn't sure that the way he sees colors is the way other dolls do.

Emil thought he could learn to be a good person and to do the right things. Everyone should learn those things, but he doubted he could ever help other dolls know how to deal with their problems as well as Veronika can.

Everyone should learn to sew. Emil likes to watch Veronika sew, but he isn't sure he would want sewing to be his life's work. He thinks he should know how to sew a tear in this clothes shut, though, or to sew a button back on if it came off. What if Veronika isn't around when it comes off?

Emil can hear and see animals' thoughts in his head. The other dolls can't do that. "I'm happy here," he said to himself again. His lips still didn't move. "I have my special glasses, and I can talk to animals. I have a family to love, and they love me, even though I'm different. In fact, I'm glad I'm who I am!"

"Meow," said Marmalade.
"Not everyone can talk to animals," Emil said.

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