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, February 28, 2020

Rules for Success

"The game stopped being fun after Sarah changed the rules," Charlotte said, as Mariah sat down on the steps.

"I think so, too," Mariah agreed, making room for Charlotte. "Everyone knows you aren't supposed to step on a line in hopscotch."

"That's the first thing we told Billy when we taught him to play the game last summer," Charlotte added.

"I think Sarah wanted to change the rules," continued Charlotte, "because she didn't want to have to do four over again. She knew she was going to lose if she had to wait for another turn to try again."

"It was good, though," Mariah said, "that you insisted that stepping on the lines had to be OK for everyone, if it was OK for her."

"Except then no one was having any fun anymore," Charlotte complained. "I wonder why it wasn't fun when we could step on the lines."

Both dolls thought about that for a while.

"Maybe hopscotch is fun because it isn't easy," Mariah suggested. "I mean, when you finish your turn safely, without stepping on a line or losing your balance, or having your stone land in the wrong space, you just feel good that you did it right."

"Success!" Charlotte cried suddenly.

"It's success!" she explained. "It's like when I play my violin, I think. If it's an easy piece, and I only have to practice it a few times before I can play it right every time, I feel good, but if it's something harder, and I have to practice it over and over, it feels wonderful when I finally get it right."

Mariah thought about that for a bit. "I think I know what you mean," she said. "Sometimes I try to write a poem, and the words aren't quite right, or they sound OK, but it doesn't say what I want it to say. I have to erase and change the words. Then, suddenly I find the right word, and I just want to jump up and hug someone!"

"Then I wonder," Charlotte mused, "why Sarah doesn't know that."
"It's as if she is afraid to lose," Mariah pointed out.

"But it isn't winning," Charlotte said, "if you win only because you changed the rules. It isn't the same game."

Both dolls thought about that for a while.

"Do you suppose maybe Sarah has never done anything that was difficult?" Mariah suggested. "If she's afraid of losing, maybe it's because she has never failed at anything. We know losing a game isn't the end of the world. You find that out when you lose. It hurts for a while, but you get over it. You think about what you could do better next time, and you try again."

"Do you think that the human person she lives with never lets her try anything difficult?" Charlotte asked.
Mariah nodded. "Maybe when she goes home from doll school each day," she suggested, "she just has to go and stand on a shelf and look pretty."

"Aren't we lucky?" Mariah went on. "The Writer lets us run around the house when we get home. She lets us write stories and be in them."

"She lets us play music if we want," Charlotte said.

"There are rules for writing and making music," Mariah said. "If we didn't follow the rules for those things, they wouldn't be fun at all."

"Billy gets to take pictures with the special phone camera," Charlotte said. "He had to learn how to take care of the phone and how the camera works. He had to learn how to get the photos into the computer. There are rules for that."

"We can ride Brownie whenever we like, too," Mariah pointed out. "There are rules for that. Brownie might accidentally shake you off, if you don't get on her the right way."

"The Writer lets Veronika use her sewing machine," Charlotte added. "I know, because I've watched her do it. Veronika is very careful. She knows what she's doing. There are rules for that. She is teaching me. The machine won't work if you put the thread in wrong, and you have to be careful, so you don't sew your fingers."

Mariah nodded. "Mandy can use The Writer's knitting needles any time she wants," Mariah pointed out, "as long as she doesn't need them herself. Using knitting needles could be dangerous for Mandy if she didn't know how."
"She has to follow the knitting directions, too," Charlotte added. "If you don't do it right, what you make won't be any good."

"You might start out to knit a sock and find out you had a good start on a sweater, instead!" Mariah pointed out.

"Or you work hard on a sweater and find out you've made a sock!" Charlotte laughed.

"Jolena gets to cook when she likes," Mariah said. "She had to learn the rules, so she wouldn't cut off a finger or melt her vinyl."

"She even is allowed to do flips in the air on her skis," Charlotte said. "That could be dangerous for a doll who doesn't know what she's doing! She had to learn all the rules for how to do that."

"Almost anything we do can be dangerous," Mariah said, "but we learn how to do things the right way, so we stay safe, like wearing helmets when we ride bicycles."

"Or like wearing a seat belt in the car," Charlotte said.

"Imagine if people didn't know how to follow the rules for driving automobiles," Charlotte continued. "It could be a mess!"

"Some rules save us time," Mariah agreed, "and help us get along with other dolls."
"I can't even imagine a world without rules," Charlotte said. "I don't always like them, but I'm glad we have rules."
"I'm glad I don't have to go stand somewhere and just look pretty," Mariah said. "That would be fun for about five minutes!"

"Or have to stay in your box!" Charlotte exclaimed.

"It would keep us safe, but it wouldn't be fun." Mariah added flatly.
"I guess there are rules for more things than hopscotch," Charlotte decided. "Maybe we need to play games not just so we learn how to work to do something hard, and that losing isn't the end of the world, but also so we learn how to follow rules."

"Do you know what I think?" Mariah asked. "I think Sarah needs to get out more!"
Charlotte nodded. "And I think," she added, "Sarah needs to learn to follow the rules!"
"I think so, too," Mariah agreed. "Let's see if she will play hopscotch with us again tomorrow!"

"Maybe if we explain first why following the rules is so important," Charlotte added, "she'll understand."

"Let's read her this story first!" Mariah exclaimed. "Reading about it in a story is better than having someone explain."

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

Traffic photo by Sorin Gheorghita on Unsplash.

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, Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook and More Classic Tales Untold: Stories 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, February 21, 2020

Twinkle, Twinkle

"I love that song," said Emil. "Do you know what it's called?"

"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," Mariah replied. "Charlotte often plays it to warm up when she practices. It's one of the first things she learned."

Emil and Mariah were sitting on the windowsill in the workroom late in the afternoon when they heard Charlotte start practicing her violin.

They were quiet for a few minutes, listening.

"I thought stars were big," Emil said, as Charlotte started playing scales, going one step higher for each note. "I thought stars were like our sun, and our sun is much bigger than our earth, and that's very, very big. Why does the song say the stars are little?"

"It's a very old children's song," Mariah replied. "Before children learn that stars are really very big, they think they are little, because that's how they look when we see them."

"I know they look little because they are far away," Emil said. "I wonder why they twinkle."
"I wonder that, too," Mariah said.

Both dolls were lost in thought for a few moments.

Then they sat up. "Let's ask Mandy!" they both exclaimed at once.

Emil and Mariah found Mandy in the living room. Jolena was reading a story out loud to Mandy, who was knitting.

Mandy looked up from her work."What's up?" she asked.

"We were upstairs, listening to Charlotte play 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,'" Emil began, "and we started to wonder why stars twinkle."

"I would like to know that, too," Jolena said.

"Hmmmm. I may need to draw a picture," Mandy said as she moved her reading glasses to the top of her head.

"I left my notebook and pencil here," Mariah said. "You can use it," she offered, handing the notebook and pencil to Mandy.

The three younger dolls gathered around Mandy as she put her glasses back on her nose and drew a picture on the paper.

This is what she drew. (It wasn't easy, because her fingers don't move.)

"This is the earth," she said, pointing to what appeared to be part of a ball. "Here's the thick layer of air and stuff that covers the earth."

"That's the atmosphere (AT-mus-fear)," Mariah said. "I remember that from when you explained why we don't see the stars in the daytime."

"That's right, Mariah," Mandy agreed. "The stars are out here," Mandy went on, pointing to the area outside the atmosphere. "Their light has to go through our atmosphere for us to see it."

"The atmosphere is moving around all the time," Mandy continued. "Different parts of it are warmer or cooler, and there are other differences in it that bend the light one way or another and back again."

"Like looking through water that's moving in a stream or brook?" Mariah asked. "The moving water makes the rocks at the bottom look like they're wiggling."

"A lot like that," Mandy agreed, "only the water is thicker and there isn't as much of it, but that's the idea."
"So why don't the planets and the moon and the sun twinkle?" Emil asked.

"That's a very good question," Mandy said. "What do you know about the planets, the moon and the sun that might be different from the stars?" she asked.
The three younger dolls were quiet as they thought.

"The planets and the moon are like the earth" Jolena said. "They don't have light of their own. But the sun is like a ball of fire...but so are the stars."

"That's true," Mariah agreed, "The sun does have its own light, because it's a star, too. The planets that are close enough for us to see them get their light from the sun shining on them."

"I was just thinking," Emil said, "if there are planets too far away for us to see them, and the only star that doesn't twinkle is the sun, maybe the stars twinkle because they are far away."
"Very good, Emil," Mandy said. "Now you're on to something."

"But that's where I get lost," Emil sighed. "I don't see why that makes a difference."

"Because the stars are far away," Mandy explained, holding up her picture in Mariah's notebook again, "they look very tiny, like little dots. Very little of their light reaches us, so the little bit we see of it bends this way and that as it comes through the atmosphere."

"In the case of the planets, the moon and the sun," Mandy continued, "there is a lot more light light that reaches our eyes, and some of it bends one way as it goes through the atmosphere and some of it bends the other way. With all that bending back and forth, we don't see them twinkle."

All four dolls were quiet while each thought about that. Even Mandy, who knew all this already, had a lot to think about, because when you teach someone something, you learn new things yourself.

That's when they noticed Charlotte's violin music again.

"I'm glad I have my special glasses that help me see and hear," Emil said. "What is that she's playing now?"

They listened for a moment.

"That's a melody from 'The Moonlight Sonata (suh-NAH-tuh),'" Mandy said. "That music was written for the piano, but it's very nice on the violin, even though Charlotte is playing only one note at a time. 'The Moonlight Sonata' is one of my favorites."

They listened some more. Charlotte stopped to fix a mistake she had made, or maybe to turn a page. Then she started again.

"I wonder," Emil said, "why the moon goes around the earth instead of around the sun the way the earth does."

All three younger dolls looked at Mandy.

Mandy would have rolled her eyes, except that her eyes are glued into her head.

"It's getting dark," she said, "and Charlotte seems to be done playing. Let's go out and watch the stars twinkle."

Cast--
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
Emil: Götz Happy Kidz Emilia

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