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, April 12, 2024

Heat Wave

It was very hot. The dolls were sitting on the workroom table with the fan running. Veronika was helping Mandy put up her hair, because she was pretending her long hair felt hot on her neck.

"Nothing fancy," Mandy told her. "I just want it up off my neck."
"Why is it so hot," Charlotte asked.

"It's hot because it's summer," Billy observed.

Charlotte tried to roll her eyes, but it's hard to do, because her eyes don't move. "I know that, silly," she said. "I mean, why is it hot in the summer?"

The dolls all looked at Mandy, because it was a Mandy kind of question.

"Remember," Mandy began, "when we talked about the seasons? We pretended the old tether ball was the sun, and my ball of yarn with a needle through it was the earth."

The dolls all thought back.

"Yes," said Mariah, enjoying the breeze from the fan on her neck. "The needle was the earth's axis, except you can't see the real one."

"You can't knit with it, either," Billy added, which caused Jolena to poke him with her elbow.
"You said the axis in the part of the world we live in comes out at the North Pole," Mariah explained. "It's tipped more toward the sun in the summer. I remember, because I got to be summer when we were taking turns being the seasons. I got to hold the earth with the North Pole tipped toward the sun."

"That's right," Mandy said. "Now, think about what happens if the axis at the North Pole is tipped toward the sun. Remember that the air surrounds the earth. It's as if the earth is a ball inside a ball of air."

"I think maybe there is less air for the sun to go through in the summer," suggested Jolena.

"Very good, Jolena!" exclaimed Mandy.
"I have to use the air when I do my tricks on skis," Jolena said. "The air helps me, so I have to know a little bit about it." She could feel the moving air from the fan blowing her hair across her face.

"I can tell that you have been thinking about it," Mandy told her. "Now," Mandy went on, "the air that covers the earth is called the atmosphere (AT-mus-feer). When our part of the earth is tipped toward the sun, there is less atmosphere for the sun to have to shine through."

"But why is that?" asked Billy.

Mandy thought for a moment. "OK," she said, "just imagine you are standing on the diving board over the center of a pool. Suppose you dive straight down through the water to a point on the bottom that is right under the diving board."

"At the same time," Mandy went on, "Jolena is standing over on the side of the pool, away from the board. She dives toward the same spot on the bottom of the pool, but from the side. Who will get there first?"

"I will get there first," Billy said. "Boy dolls are faster than girl dolls."

Jolena gave Billy a playful swat. "No they aren't," she cried.

Mandy laughed. "You're right about who gets there first, but not about why."

Mariah had been looking thoughtful. "I think Billy had less water to go through than Jolena," she said.

"That's right," Mandy agreed. "When you dive at an angle, you have to go through more water before you get there. That's how it is with the sun's rays. In the summer the sun's rays are like Billy's path through the water in the pool. They don't have to go through as much atmosphere."

"I thought," Charlotte said, "that maybe it's hotter in the summer because the days are longer."

"Having longer days in the summer does add to how hot it gets," agreed Mandy, "because the sun heats up the earth during the day. We have to add that to how the sun has much less atmosphere to get through."

"So how can we cool off," Charlotte wanted to know. "I'm tired of pretending to be too hot."

"I feel cooler when I go for a bike ride," Billy said.

"Good point!" Mandy exclaimed. "That's because you're moving through the air. The air moving across your vinyl cools it off and makes you feel cooler, the way this fan cools us," she explained, "so riding your bicycle is a good way."

"We could play in the sprinkler," Veronika suggested, "but we will have to wear swim goggles if we're going to get our faces wet. We don't want water to get into our heads and make the inside moldy."

"Yes," agreed Jolena. "They will have to take your head off to clean out the mold!"

"That's right," Veronika said. "I'd like to keep my head on!"

"How does playing in the sprinkler cool you," Billy asked.

"There are two things," Mandy said. "First, the water coming out of the pipes in the ground is cool, because not so much heat from the sun can reach it. The water makes you feel cooler right away."

"Second," Mandy continued, "when you get your vinyl wet, the water evaporates (ee-VAP-er-ates). It turns back into a gas and goes into the air. It uses the heat from your vinyl to do that, so that cools you off."

"I remember," Charlotte said, "when we did the experiment where we took the salt out of the salt water. We made the water evaporate."

"Yes," Billy agreed. "We used the sun's light to do it." They thought about that fun experiment.

"That's right," Mandy agreed. "It's the same thing that happened in our pan of water. The sun warmed the air under the plastic wrap. That made the water in the pan evaporate. Then it condensed back into water when it reached the plastic wrap covering the pan."
"If we get tired of playing in the sprinkler," Mariah said, "we could go to a movie. They have air conditioning, so it's cool inside."

The dolls talked for a bit about what movie they would like to see. They decided on the Disney movie "Frozen."

Then Charlotte had another idea. "We could make popsicles," she said. "We could sit in the shade and pretend to eat them. That would make us cool inside, because the popsicles are frozen."

"I have a good recipe for popsicles," Jolena said. "I pour the mixture into plastic cups and put them in the freezer. Later, after it starts to freeze, I put a plastic spoon in it." Then she smiled and continued, "but I don't have to worry about the heat for a while."

All the dolls looked at Jolena. She could tell they wanted to know why, so she told them.
"I'm going to fly to Argentina (are-jen-TEEN-uh) tomorrow," Jolena said, "with my skis and the other dolls on the Doll Ski Team. It's winter there, because that part of the earth is tipped away from the sun. We're going to practice skiing in real snow for a week."

"I had better finish packing," Jolena added. "I have to go tomorrow."
"We'll help," Mariah suggested.

The dolls all helped Jolena pack her clothes and her ski equipment.

That gave Jolena time the next day to mix up some juice and yogurt in a bowl for popsicles, so her friends could use them to cool off while she was gone.

"Now we'll keep cool," said Billy. "We know lots of ways we can cool off when it's hot."

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

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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, April 5, 2024

Ice Cream Social

Billy and Mariah found Jolena in the kitchen. "How was your week in South America, Jolena?" Mariah asked.

"It was fantastic," Jolena said, looking up from what she was mixing. "I learned a lot!"
"What did you learn?" Billy asked.

"I perfected my triple flip," Jolena replied. "It's good practice when you land in the pool during summer workouts, but it isn't quite the same as landing on snow."
Jolena was stirring something in the bowl.
"What are you making?" Mariah asked, eyeing the bowl.

"All that snow made me think of ice cream," Jolena answered, "so I decided to make some as soon as I got back."
"You're making ice cream?" Billy asked in surprise. I thought ice cream only came from the store!"

"We have a special ice-cream freezer," Jolena explained. "I'll show you. I'm making this with yoghurt (YO-gert)." Jolena stirred her mixture a little bit more. Then she was satisfied. "We need the ice-cream freezer now," she said. "I'm glad you're here. It takes more than one doll to carry it in from the freezer in the garage."

Billy and Mariah helped Jolena carry the ice-cream freezer container to the kitchen. It was comfortable to hold by the handle and the outside, but it was very cold on the inside. They were careful not to touch it there, because they didn't want to freeze their vinyl fingers.

Mariah held the container while Billy helped Jolena connect the paddle to the motor. They followed Jolena's instructions to help attach the motor to the container.

Jolena plugged in the ice-cream freezer and turned it on. The paddle started turning. Then she poured the ice-cream mixture into the container through the hole in the cover.

"Why do we need to use this machine?" Billy asked.
"Well, Jolena began, "a lot of this ice-cream mixture is water, and when water freezes, it makes ice crystals. If you just put the mixture into the freezer and leave it until it's frozen, you will end up with something you can't eat with a spoon or put into a cone. It will be hard, like an ice cube."
"Like a popsicle?" Mariah asked.

"Yes," Jolena said. "That's why, when you make popsicles, you pour the mixture into plastic cups and put a popsicle stick or plastic spoon into each one."
"What's an ice crystal?" Billy asked.

"We saw some on the car windows during the winter, Billy," Mariah said.
"Yes, Jolena agreed," and I saw some in Argentina last week."
Billy pretended to close his eyes and tried to remember the windows of the car during the winter. He thought about the car and how cold it was. Then he thought about how one of his human family members used a scraper on the windows. He saw this with his mind:

"So what does the ice-cream freezer do?" Billy asked, pretending to open his eyes again.
"Watch," Jolena said, as she showed the other two dolls what the ice-cream freezer was doing.

They could see the paddle going around and around. "The container is made with two layers," Jolena explained. "Between the layers is a special liquid that can freeze so it's very, very cold. That's why it was in the big freezer in the garage."

"After you put the ice-cream mixture into the container and turn on the motor," Jolena continued, "the paddle scrapes the inside of the container over and over, as the cold from the container freezes the mixture. The paddle keeps mixing the ice cream, so the ice crystals can't form."

"That's interesting," Mariah said.

Billy nodded.
The three dolls left the ice-cream freezer working and went to do some other things. From time to time, one of them would check on it.

"Hey," called Billy from the kitchen when he checked on the ice cream. "It's getting bigger!"

Jolena and Mariah came back in to see.
"It always does that," Jolena said. "I don't know why, but it grows."
"I'll bet Mandy knows why," Mariah said."

The dolls could hear from the other room when the ice-cream freezer stopped. That meant it was done. Mariah and Billy helped Jolena remove all the ice cream to freezer containers.

"Now we have to let it sit in the freezer for several hours to let it harden before we can eat it," Jolena said. "Thank you for your help!"
After the dolls carried the containers of ice cream to the freezer, they washed the countertops because they had been walking all over them. When they finished cleaning up, they went back to what they had been doing before.

When the ice cream was ready, Jolena invited the other dolls to help pretend to eat it. They sat out on the porch in the shade.

"Now maybe we can find out why the ice cream grew when it was freezing," Jolena said, as they all enjoyed their ice cream.

Billy turned to Mandy and said, "Yes, Mandy! We noticed that the ice cream grew while it was freezing. Do you know why?"

"Water grows when it freezes," Mandy said, "but that isn't the main reason the ice cream grows."

"Churning the ice cream––that means letting the paddle stir it around and around while the ice cream freezes––churning mixes the air in with the ice cream, so it grows."

"Like blowing up a balloon?" Billy asked, sliding off his perch on the back of the couch so he could pay attention to Mandy.

"Well, maybe," Mandy agreed, "if you think of thousands of tiny balloons making up the ice cream."

"That's really cool," Billy said.
"No," Mariah said. "That's really cold!"

Their mouths were really cold when they had finished pretending to eat the ice cream.

(Veronika would like to remind real children that they should not stand on the countertops, but if they ever do have to, they should not be wearing their shoes and should wash the countertops afterwards.)

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

Ice Crystals photo by Osman Rana (@osmanrana) on Unsplash.