Being Green Makes It Easy

 "I think," Emil said, looking down at the brown grass on the front lawn, "when I arrived, most of the plants looked green."

Emil and Billy had come out of the house to sit on the deck, to watch the squirrels and birds.
"That's true," Billy agreed.
Emil looked at Billy. "You mean the plants don't look as green to you?" he asked. "I thought my eyes were getting worse, or my special glasses weren't working," he added. "That's a relief!"
Then he thought for a moment. "Well, if the plants aren't as green, that makes me wonder why," he said finally, as they sat down on the steps.

"I remember it was the same way last year," Billy told him. "You came in September, when everything was still green. When I came, almost a year before you, it was November. A lot of the plants and grass were already turning brown and the trees had lost their leaves. Don't worry, though. If it's like last year, they will all be mostly green again in the Spring."
Both boys were quiet for a moment, lost in thought.
"Why are plants green," Emil wondered, "and not another color?"
"Yes, I wonder why that is," Billy said.
The boys looked at each other. "Let's ask Mandy!" They both said at once.

Mandy was sitting on the windowsill in the living room, knitting. She looked up when they came in. "I know you have a question," she said. "I can tell by the way you're looking at me. What is it?"

"We were wondering why the plants stopped being green," Billy said. "I'm pretty sure it's connected with the snow somehow," he added, "but I don't know why."

"It isn't exactly because of the snow," Mandy said, "but the color of the plants changing, the leaves falling from the trees and the snow are all part of the seasons we have in this part of the world."

"I remember," Billy said, "when you showed us how the sun is at a lower angle this time of year, and that causes winter."
"Very good, Billy," Mandy said. "I'm glad you remembered that. You should explain to Emil how it works."
Billy nodded. He enjoyed teaching Emil things. He felt like a big brother.
"I know how the seasons happen," Billy said, "and I know that the plants and leaves change color, but I don't know why they're green during the warmer part of the year."
"Yes," Emil agreed. "I want to know that, too. That's our question. Why aren't they red or blue?"

"Flowers can be all different colors: yellow or red or blue or purple," Billy added, "or sometimes several different colors all on the same flower, but almost all of the leaves are green, except in the Fall when some of the leaves on the trees and bushes change to yellow, orange or red, before they fall to the ground."

The boys looked at Mandy.
"That's because leaves have something called chlorophyll (KLOR-uh-fill) in them" Mandy explained. "It's green. The plants use it to make their food."

The boys both repeated the word "chlorophyll."
"How does that work?" Emil wanted to know. "Is it like a kitchen?"
"Sort of, or like a factory," Mandy agreed, "but very, very tiny; so small you can't see it with just your eyes, or with your special glasses Emil."

"Even good eyes, like Billy's?" Emil asked.
"Even good eyes like Billy's," Mandy agreed. "We would need a microscope (MY-kroh-skope) to see it, and even then it wouldn't look like a kitchen or a factory."
"I know what a microscope is," Billy said. "It makes things bigger, so you can see things that are too tiny to see."

Mandy thought for a moment. Then she suggested they go to the other window, where one of the houseplants was.

"You will notice," she began, after she climbed up next to the plant, "that each of the houseplants is close to a window, and their leaves are green."
The boys nodded. "I know plants need light," Billy said. 

"I know most plants are green," Emil added. "Do they need light to make their food?" he asked.
"That's right!" Mandy exclaimed. "That's exactly what they do. We give plants water and a place where they have light. Plants use their chlorophyll to turn what they get from the water and the air they breathe in into food. They use the energy they get from light to do that. The way they do it is called photosynthesis (foto-SIN-thih-sis)."

The boys both said photosynthesis, the way Mandy had said it, so maybe they would remember it.
"So that's why we need to water plants," Emil said.

"Mostly," Mandy agreed. "Plants can dry out if they don't have enough water, and they need water to carry food and other things they need to the rest of the plant, but they also use parts of the water to make their food."

"Then why do most of the outdoor plants stop being green in the winter," Billy asked.
"They go to sleep," Mandy explained. "When the days get shorter, the leaves lose their chlorophyll. They dry up and fall to the ground. We say that the plants go dormant (DOHR-munt). That's how they live when the weather is too cold and the days are too short to make their food."

"Lots of trees are still green," Billy pointed out, like the big Christmas tree in the front yard."

"Yes," Mandy agreed. "The big tree in the front yard is a fir (fur) tree. It's one of the kinds of trees we call evergreen because they stay green all year. It has needles instead of leaves. The needles are sturdy and don't stay covered with snow for long, so they can keep working all year, even when it's freezing and the days are short."

The dolls sat down on the sofa to finish their chat. Marmalade climbed into Mandy's lap to be petted.
"Now I have another question," Billy said. 

"I've been thinking," Billy continued, "about how you said the plants breathe in air. I don't breathe in air, because I'm a doll, but I know real children breathe in air."

Mandy nodded.
"So why is there still air all around us?" Billy asked.
"I wanted to know that, too," Emil put in. "With people and animals and plants all breathing in the air, why isn't the air all gone?"

"That's the best part," Mandy explained. "People and plants don't use up the air. "When plants breathe in the air, they only take out what they need from it. What they need is called carbon dioxide (KAHR-bun dye-OX-ide). It's made of one part of something called carbon (KAHR-bun) and two parts of something called oxygen (OX-uh-jun). The plants use the carbon and breathe out the oxygen."

"People and animals need oxygen," Mandy continued, "but they can't take it out of the carbon dioxide. When they breathe, they take the oxygen out of the air and breathe out carbon dioxide. That way plants help people and animals breathe, and people and animals help plants breathe."

The three dolls sat and thought about that for a few minutes. They thought it was amazing. Mandy had understood this for a long time, but she still found it amazing.

"You know," Billy said finally, "I was thinking about that plant we were looking at. "It had red flowers on it. If the green chlorophyll helps the plants make their food, why don't they put it in their flowers, too?"

"That, my dear brother," Mandy replied, removing Marmalade from her lap, "is another long story, and one for another day. I need to get back to my knitting!"

Mandy knows that if you give a doll too much new information at once, they don't remember it as well.

Cast--
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015

Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London
Emil: Götz Happy Kidz Emilia
Marmalade: Purrrfect Cats from KTL

New words: chlorophyll, microscope, photosynthesis, dormant, carbon dioxide, oxygen

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.

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 Retold: 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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Copyright © 2021, 2024 by Peggy Stuart

It's Spring!

Billy and Charlotte each have a dog. Billy's dog is named Freckles. She is a girl. Can you guess why she is named Freckles?

Charlotte's dog is named Pierre. You say it "Pee-air." Pierre is a boy dog. Can you guess why she named her dog Pierre?

Billy and Charlotte both know that dog owners have to be responsible for feeding and walking their dogs, making them behave and cleaning up after them. They often walk their dogs together, because it's more fun for the dolls and more fun for the dogs.

On Tuesday, they were walking the dogs around the neighborhood. The weather was sunny and almost warm. 

When they had been all around the block, they decided to sit on the front porch and enjoy the warm air for a while.

"It feels like spring is here," Charlotte said.

"What is spring?" Billy asked.
"Spring is when the weather starts to get warmer," Charlotte explained. "The birds who left to go south for the winter come back. Like hummingbirds. They should be back soon."

"The trees that lost their leaves in the fall start to grow new ones," Charlotte continued. "Flowers start to grow, like the bulbs we planted last fall."

"Then will it be warm forever?" Billy wanted to know.
"No," Charlotte replied. "Spring only lasts until summer starts. Then it gets hot sometimes. We can get on our bathing suits and play in the sprinkler or go swimming...or just sit out on the porch and pretend we have been doing those things, because our kind of dolls shouldn't go into the water."

"But dolls can play in the snow," Billy said. "Will we ever get to do that again?"
"Yes," Charlotte explained. "After we have summer for awhile it starts to get cooler again. We will have fall, which is also called autumn. The birds who can't live in the cold fly south and the leaves change color."

"Then does it snow?" Billy asked.
"After it has been fall for a while, and all the summer birds have left and the trees have lost all their leaves," Charlotte agreed, "then the snow comes back."
"Why does that happen?" Billy wanted to know.
Charlotte thought for a moment. "I think it has something to do with how the earth moves, but Mandy can tell us."

Billy and Charlotte went to find Mandy. She was sitting in the family room with Mariah. They were looking at some photos together on the iPad.

"Mandy," Charlotte began, "what makes the seasons?"
"Yes," Billy said, "why is it spring now?
"Do you have any ideas?" Mandy asked.
"Maybe God turns up the heat on the sun?" Billy suggested.

"That's an interesting idea, Billy," Mandy replied, "but the way it works is more clever than just turning up the heat."
"In school I learned that the earth goes around the sun," Charlotte said. "Maybe it gets closer to the sun, and that makes it warmer."

"You're right about the earth going around the sun, Charlotte," Mandy said, "but how close we are to the sun is not what causes the seasons to change."
Mariah had been thinking. "I think I read something about how the earth is tilted or something," she said.
"You're getting warmer," laughed Mandy. "just like spring! Let me show you what you probably read about." Mandy dug around in her knitting basket and came up with a ball of tan-colored yarn and a knitting needle. She pushed the knitting needle through the middle of the ball of yarn. She was very careful not to point the knitting needle at anyone.
"Pretend this is the earth," she said, "only you have to pretend it's blue, because that's what the earth looks like from far away."

"Maybe the earth will look like your ball of yarn if we don't take care of it," Charlotte suggested.
"I hope not," Mandy replied, "but you're right. We need to keep our earth clean, just the way we have to keep our room clean."
"What's the knitting needle for?" Mariah asked.

"The knitting needle is supposed to be the earth's axis," Mandy said, "only we can't really see the real one. It's just an imaginary post that goes through the middle of the earth. The earth turns on this imaginary post. Turning is what makes day and night, as the place where you are on the earth turns toward the sun and then away."

"Now," Mandy went on, "for this next part, I will need some volunteers. I need some dolls who are willing to help out."
All three dolls raised their hands.

"That's good," Mandy said, "because we need four dolls. If I volunteer, too, we will have what we need."
Mandy told the other dolls to wait a minute because she needed something else to help demonstrate. 
She came back with the old, broken tether ball from the backyard and left it on the floor.

"Now," Mandy said, "we can pretend this big ball is the sun, only the sun doesn't have that big loop on one side. We'll just pretend it isn't there."

Mandy gave each doll a role to play. Each doll would get to pretend to be a season of the year. Mariah would be summer, Mandy would play fall, Charlotte was to be winter, Billy would play the role of spring. Mandy reminded the other dolls to be very careful with the earth's axis, because it was sharp and could damage them if they got poked with it.
Billy picked up the earth and its axis and held it very carefully.

Mandy had the dolls sit around the ball that was supposed to be the sun. She had Mariah sit to her right, then Billy across from her and Charlotte to the left. That way, they would be in the order the seasons come.

Mandy asked Billy to pass the ball of yarn that was supposed to be the earth to Mariah. She told Mariah to point one end of the knitting needle toward the sun. Mariah held the earth with one end of the axis pointed toward the sun.

"This is how the earth is in summer," Mandy explained. Where we live is closer to the part of the knitting needle that's sticking out toward the sun. We call where the knitting needle comes out of the ball of yarn the North Pole."
"That's where Santa lives!" Billy exclaimed.
"Yes, that's where we believe Santa has his workshop," Mandy agreed. "The sun heats up that part of the earth more than the other end, the South Pole, so we have summer. It still stays very cold at the poles, even in summer, because the sun never shines directly on them. Even then, the sun is very low in the sky, and most of the year it's dark or almost dark."

"Now," Mandy went on, "the earth is going to go around the sun. The axis is always going to point in the same direction. Which season comes after summer?"
"I know," said Mariah. "Fall comes next. That's you, Mandy!"

Mariah handed the earth to Mandy.
"That's right, Mariah," Mandy agreed, "so it's my turn to hold the earth. I have to hold it like this, because the axis always points in very nearly the same direction."

"Mandy," Billy said, "we dolls must be very strong, if we can hold up the earth!"
"You're right, Billy!" Mandy agreed. "We dolls are very strong, but the real reason we can hold the earth is because we're good at pretending."
The dolls could see that both the North Pole and the South pole could get about the same amount of warmth from the sun.
Next it was Charlotte's turn. Mandy told Charlotte to hold the earth with the North Pole pointing away from the sun.
"Now it looks like the part of the earth where we live is getting less sun," Charlotte said.
"Yes," Mandy said, "and this is where the earth is closest to the sun, so you can see, it doesn't make us warmer after all. You were right, though, that how far we are from the sun changes as we go around the sun."

"My turn!" Billy cried.
Charlotte passed him the earth. "Now it's spring!" she said.

"So this is where the earth is now?" Billy asked.
"Yes," Mandy agreed. "It's a little closer to Charlotte, because spring is just starting, but we are on your side of the sun."
Mandy stood up, so the dolls knew the game was over. She put the earth and its axis back into the knitting basket.
"I was wondering," said Charlotte, "if the sun warms the part of the earth that's pointed toward it more than the part that's pointed away from the sun, do the people who live on the other side of the earth, closer to the South Pole, have winter when we have summer?"

"That's right," Mandy agreed. "Right now, while we're at the early part of spring, they are just starting fall."
"That means our friends in Australia and New Zealand are starting to have cooler days," Mariah said.

"Yes," Mandy agreed, "and the southern part of Africa, but also human people who live in South America, especially Argentina and Chile."
"We have friends there, too," Billy said. "If I could visit them this summer, I could use my sled! Whoopie!"
"Yes, Billy," Mandy agreed. "That's why Jolena and the ski team sometimes go there to ski."
"But all we have to do is stay here and wait for winter," Mariah said. "We can do that. Dolls are good at being patient."



Cast--
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
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

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: Billy: Stories from The Doll’s Storybook. The Stories included are Talking About Boys, Changes, Shhhhh!, Staying After, and Money in a Jar.

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.

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Copyright © 2019, 2026 by Peggy Stuart