"OK, everyone," Veronika said as she came into the workroom. She was waving a sheet of paper. "We have a job to do, and I think it will be fun!"
All the other dolls climbed up to places where they could join Veronika around the table.
"Are we cleaning the house for The Writer?" Pippa asked. "May I ride the robot vacuum cleaner?"
"That's a great idea," Veronika replied, "but that isn't what this is about."
Everyone was waiting to hear what the job was. Veronika could sense their excitement, which they picked up from her, because dolls do that sometimes, so she jumped right in. "Remember the Writer's friend," she said, "the one who's a teacher, who gave copies of our first book to her students? Well, this year she wanted to give copies of our second book to all of her students."
"I remember that," Pippa said. "It was fun. Do we get to do it again?"
"Why, yes, Pippa," Veronika agreed, pointing to the list in her hand, "and most of the students are the same ones. There are ten this year."
Emil asked. "I remember I got to write to Judy. She loves horses. I love all animals, but Brownie is my special friend."
"Some of the students are the same," Veronika said, "but some of them are new."
"Should we draw names again?" Mandy wanted to know. That was how they had decided who would write to which student the last time.
All the dolls thought that was a good idea, so Veronika got out a basket to use.
Jolena cut ten strips of paper, one for each student, while Emil and Mariah got some pencils and pens to write with.
Then each doll wrote a name from the list. Veronika assigned the names, going down the list, making sure they got each name and only once each. The first doll finished got to write another one, because there was still a name on the list.
As the other dolls folded their pieces of paper in half, Veronika passed the basket around, so the dolls could put their folded strips of paper into it.
There was one slip of paper left over when they were done. "I just noticed we only have nine names, but there are supposed to be ten," Veronika said. "We missed someone!"
Veronika looked at the list and thought to herself. She knew the names of the students. "Who's missing?" she asked herself, but out loud. "Oh, yes! We don't have Maryanne!" She grabbed a pen and wrote the name at the bottom of the list.
"Who gets to go first?" asked Pippa. "Should the youngest go first?"
"If you all want to do that," Veronika said. "That's a good idea."
"I'm the youngest," Pippa said, in case anyone didn't know.
Veronika held out the basket to her. Pippa reached in and pulled out a slip of paper.
"I got Judy!" she exclaimed as she unfolded the paper she pulled out. Then she looked at Emil to see if he was disappointed.
"It's OK, Pippa," Emil said. "It's good we get to write to different students this time. We might say some of the same things, and it wouldn't be as interesting for the kid who gets the letter."
"Well," Pippa said, "you're next, anyway."
Veronika wrote down on the list that Pippa got Judy.
Mariah leaned over as far as she could and slid the basket over to Emil.
Emil reached into the basket and tried to wiggle his fingers around. He found he couldn't do that, so he sort of stirred the papers around with his hand, then pulled out a slip of paper.
"I got Joey!" he exclaimed, reading the name on the slip of paper.
"You will like writing to Joey," Veronika assured him. "He has animals, so you have a lot in common."
"Cool!" agreed Emil.
Veronika wrote Emil's name next to Joey's.
Billy was next. He reached into the basket and pulled out another slip of paper. He unfolded it slowly, building the suspense. Then he looked around the room. "Guess who I got!" The other dolls just waited. They knew he didn't expect an answer. "I got Philip!" he told them. "I'll have lots to write to him about!"
Emil slid the basket back to Mariah, whose turn it was, giving it enough of a push so she wouldn't have to lean over so far to reach it.
Mariah reached in and pulled out a slip of paper. "Jackson!" she exclaimed. "I can hardly wait! I have lots of ideas about what to write."
Veronika continued to write the name of each doll next to the name of the student, so she could keep track and make sure all the letters were written.
"It's my turn next, Jolena said.
Mariah slid the basket back to the boys, who passed it on to Jolena. Jolena reached in and felt around.
She swirled her hand around and around and pulled out..."Patrice!" she exclaimed.
"I had Patrice last year," Mariah told her. "You won't have any trouble figuring out what she would like to read about."
"I already have some ideas," Jolena agreed, sliding the basket to Mandy, so she could pass it to Charlotte.
Charlotte reached into the basket, and pulled out her slip of paper. Opening it up, she said, "Maryanne! Isn't she the one who loves kitties?" she asked.
"Doesn't everyone?" Mandy laughed. "Who doesn't love kittens? Well, I guess I'm next," she added, moving the basket to where she could reach in.
"I got Harry!" Mandy exclaimed when she looked at her slip of paper. "Hmmmm...I will have to give this some thought," she added, trying to add a twinkle to her eyes. "Your turn, Veronika," she said as Charlotte slid the basket to Veronika.
"Ivan!" Veronika said when she opened her slip of paper. "We have a lot in common," she added.
There were still two slips of paper in the basket. "We have two more students," Veronika said, looking into the basket.
"I'll do another one," Emil offered. "I have a pen pal," he added. "I like writing letters."
"I can do an extra one, too," Veronika added, before anyone else could speak up. She offered the basket to Emil to draw one of the two remaining names.
Emil reached in and pulled out one of the last slips of paper. Opening it, he said, "Raymond. Raymond is my second one!"
"That means I get David as well as Ivan," Veronika said. "Last, but not least! That will be fun!"
The dolls went off to write their letters. Some of them wrote the letters by hand, and then The Writer typed them on the computer.
Others, like Billy and Mariah, used the computer to compose and type their own letters. Each doll had one of the others proofread their letter. That means the other doll read it and looked for words that were wrong or misspelled. (It's good to have someone else read what we have written, because we don't usually see our mistakes right after what we have written. We know what we meant to say, and so that's what we see, unless some time has passed.)
Next Billy put each doll's portrait photo at the top of each letter. Mariah checked each one on the screen one more time, because sometimes the computer changed the spelling, and the computer doesn't always know what you mean to say.
Then The Writer sent them by email to the teacher, who would print them off and put them inside the books for her students.
Now that the dolls were finished with this exciting assignment, they decided that it was time to pretend to have some tea.
So they did.
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
"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.
Like our Facebook page: The Doll's Storybook
<a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/19832501/?claim=j3fj3mbb8kt">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>
Copyright © 2021 by Peggy Stuart
I can't wait for my students to read this story. I think I will print this post for each one of them to have!
ReplyDeleteThank you, writer! You always come through for me!