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.

Monday, January 19, 2026

Wrapping Paper

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we're rerunning this story that appeared in The Doll's Storybook three years ago. We hope you enjoy it.

"How has your week been, Pauly?" Mariah asked, as the dolls' young friend climbed up to stand on one of the dining room chairs next to Billy.

"Short," was Pauly's reply. (His answer was short in more ways than one, but that’s often the case with Pauly.)

"It’s because of Martin Luther King Jr. Day," Pippa said, as if the other dolls didn’t know that they had just had a holiday.

"For Martin Luther King Day, The Writer and her husband made up some packets of food to keep in the car to give to people who need it," Pippa said. "Some of us helped!"

"They said it was something called…" Billy had to think. "They called it a 'National Day of Service' to honor him."

"On Monday," Pauly said, "Jeffy and his dad went with some other people to clean up trash along the highway. I guess that’s why. That’s service, isn’t it?"

The other dolls agreed that spending your holiday cleaning up trash was a service.

"When was he king?" Pauly asked.

"That’s his name," Billy explained. "He was an American. We have lots of human people named King in this country," he added, "but none of them are rulers. We don’t have actual kings or queens. It’s just their name."

"A king who rules a country is called a monarch [MAW-nark]," Mariah told him. We have a president, but that’s not the same as a king. Our president isn’t a monarch."

"So he was a president, then?" Pauly asked.

"He was a very important human person," Mariah told him, "and a great leader, but he was never a president."

"So," Pauly began thoughtfully, "if he wasn’t a king and he wasn’t a president, why do we get a holiday named after him?"

Mariah began stacking her books and moving them aside. This was going to take some explaining. "Well," she said, "Last week, my teacher asked me to give a talk about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. All the students in my class had to give talks on a subject they picked for themselves, but my teacher suggested this topic to me, because she thought I would be especially interested in finding out more about Dr. King." Mariah finished stacking her books and closed her notebook.

Pauly was about to ask something, but Mariah guessed what it was. Pauly notices everything. "No, he wasn’t the kind of doctor who looks after sick people," she told him. "He was called Dr. because he kept on studying after he finished college. It means that he graduated again on a higher level, just like doctors who look after sick people have to."

Pauly was thinking there was still a lot of things he didn’t know about the world.

"Why did your teacher think you would like to find out more about Dr. King?" Billy asked, while Pauly was thinking. "I mean, if all the others in your class just picked their own topics."

Mariah thought about that. Yes, it was true. She was the only doll in her class she knew of who was given a topic by the teacher. "She didn’t say," Mariah replied, "but I’m pretty sure it was because I’m almost the same color as Dr. King."

"You mean he had brown vinyl?" Pauly asked, astounded.

"No," Mariah laughed. "He was a real human person. Real people have skin, not vinyl, but his skin was brown, like my vinyl, although when they talk about real human people my color, they say they are Black and real human people who have pink skin like your vinyl are called White."

"That actually has a lot to do with why Dr. King was so important and why he has a special day," Mariah added.

"It must have been something very important," Pippa suggested, "other than his birthday, I mean."

"Well, it is sort of his birthday," Mariah told them. He was born on January 15th, so they picked the Monday closest to that for the holiday."

"What he did to make his birthday worth celebrating," the older doll said, "is that he made people realize that the color of a human person’s skin doesn’t mean that they should be valued more or less than others. All people have the right to be treated fairly and equally."

"Dr. King explained things so everyone could understand," Mariah declared. "He led Black people, and many White people, too, to march peacefully to protest unfair treatment of Black people. He insisted they do it without hurting others, even if others hurt them first. That’s why the protests were so successful. A lot of laws were changed because of those protests."

"They must have been very brave," Pippa observed.

Mariah nodded. "Yes, and many were hurt by people who were afraid of change," she agreed, "but it worked, and it's still working. When other people saw that the protestors stayed peaceful they took their side. Some laws were changed and new ones made. Many people changed their minds. There's still a lot to do, but things are better for everyone because of Dr. King. More people today wait until they know someone before they decide if they like them. They don’t dislike someone or treat them unfairly, just because of their skin color."

"But there are still some human people," Mariah continued, "who want to believe that being White makes them better than people who are Black. Maybe they don’t feel good about themselves, and believing their skin color makes them better than others gives them something they can feel proud about. Whatever it is, they don’t want that taken away. They don’t know that what’s on the outside of a human person—or a doll even—doesn’t tell you who they are."

"I think I know what you mean," Pauly said, "about not knowing how a person or doll really is just from the outside. It’s like Christmas presents."

The other dolls looked at Pauly in surprise.

He knew they wanted him to explain. "Well," he said, "Jeffy got this beautiful present for Christmas. The wrapping was really special.

"He was so excited to open it," Pauly continued, "but when he did, he found out that what was inside was underwear."

"It was nice underwear," Pauly said, "but not his favorite thing for a Christmas present. Oh, and socks. The other part of the present was socks. The present was from his grandmother. He thanked her and gave her a hug, but he really was hoping for something more fun."

"Then," Pauly continued his story, "there was another present from his grandmother. The wrapping was nice, but not so fancy."

"When he opened that one," Pauly said, "guess what was inside!"

The other dolls just looked at him and waited. It’s hard to guess what’s in a present when it’s all wrapped in paper and tied with a bow. It was hard to guess what Jeffy might be getting when he unwrapped it. More underwear and socks?

"It was the special building set he had been wanting!" Pauly told them. "It was what he had been hoping for!"

"Don’t you see?" Pauly asked. "You can’t tell from the outside whether it’s something really good or just something OK, like other dolls and human people."

"I guess," Pippa said, "when my teacher said that you can’t judge a book by its cover, that's what she meant, but books usually tell you on the outside what the book is about, so I’m not sure."

"If you’ve never read the story inside," Mariah pointed out, "you don’t know whether you like the story or not, so it’s sort of the same."

"Not everyone likes the same stories," Pippa said. "Someone in my class said he didn’t like Alice in Wonderland, but it’s my favorite. Maybe that’s why we all have different special friends."

All the dolls had a think.

"So," Pauly observed, "we can’t know how good a present is until we unwrap it, and we can’t tell if we will like a book until we read it. We have a special holiday for a Dr. King, who isn’t a doctor and isn’t a king, so we also can’t tell who a doll or a human person is from their name, either. We have to get to know them."

They all had to agree with Pauly. He certainly had a lot to say today. Pippa was even remembering how she thought Pauly was "Polly."

"Good point, Pauly!" Mariah exclaimed. "Now you know what?" She asked. "He also wasn’t really a Martin Luther. His last name was really King, but when he was born, his name was Michael. I think the name he went by says a lot about the person he was, though, now that I have learned what he said and did."

Reader's Challenge:

What do you think Dr. King did that was the most important?

If you wanted to do something you think Dr. King would like you to do, what would it be?

What person do you like very much now but didn’t like at all when you first met?

Cast--
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London

Pippa: Götz Little Kidz Lotta

Pauly: Götz Little Kidz Paul

Photo of Dr. King: The Sun

Photo of people picking up trash: The Monroe Sun

Photo of protest: Life Magazine

Photo of Christmas Presents: Christina Bee and Sandra Seitamaa on Unsplash

Photo of underwear: So Vip Shop

Photo of building set: Magna Tiles Builder

Our older readers might like to know how Martin Luther King Jr. got his name. Find out here: https://www.ajc.com/lifestyles/why-martin-luther-king-father-changed-their-names/5ClNJ60MUtgsAZyCB4A4IN/

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:

The stories in Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Being Little, Besties and Distraction.

The stories in Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Best Buds, Getting What You Want and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The stories in Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

Our book of poems, Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook includes Valentine's Day, Keeping Pets, Back to School, Victor the Vulture, The Week Before Christmas, Insomnia and Veronika's Vocabulary Verses.

The stories in More Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Welcoming a Stranger, The Rescue, Unmasked, Fuzzy Town––A Play and Sky Blue.

Available now from BookBaby and other booksellers: Billy: Stories from The Doll's Storybook. The Stories in Billy: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Talking About Boys, Changes, Shhhhh!, Staying After and Money in a Jar.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. 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. Find our books at Barbara's Bookstore as well, or ask your library to get them 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.

<a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/19832501/?claim=j3fj3mbb8kt">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Friday, January 16, 2026

What's Behind the Door?

Pippa joined us in 2020. This is one of her early adventures.

"What are you doing up there, Pippa?" Mariah called up from where she was standing by the bathroom door.

Pippa peeked over the edge of the counter. "I'm checking out what's in the cabinets here," she said.

"How did you get up there?" Mariah called up to her.

"Right here," Pippa said, pointing to the drawers in the lower cabinet. "I used the drawers and their handles to climb up. It was easy."

Mariah looked at how Pippa had climbed up. "You little monkey!" she exclaimed. "I don't know if I can get up there from here."

Mariah is not very big, but she's bigger than Pippa. She had to pull out each drawer a bit to climb on.

"It turns out," Pippa said, when Mariah had reached the top of the counter, "I'm pretty good at climbing."

"I thought you must have sprouted wings," Mariah said. "Now, tell me, what are you doing in the cabinets?"

"Well," Pippa began, "I remembered how Emil said that sometimes you look in the drawers and cabinets when the old people are away. I thought this cabinet on the wall looked interesting."

Mariah looked up where Pippa was pointing. "That's the medicine cabinet," she said.

"Well," Pippa said again, "I decided to check out what's in it. I found lots of interesting bottles and things."

Pippa pointed to an assortment of bottles on the countertop. "I found all this!" she explained.

Mariah looked at all the things Pippa had pulled out of the cabinet. "You know," she said, "these things are mostly medicines."

"Yes!" Pippa agreed. "They're interesting! Smell this!" Pippa took the cap off of a bottle of blue liquid. "This stuff smells yummy!"

Mariah took a sniff of what was in the bottle. "Yes," she said. "It does smell yummy, but we have to be very careful with these things."

"I know!" Pippa said. "They don't belong to us! I'm going to put them all back." She put the cap back on the bottle.

"It isn't just that," Mariah said. "We shouldn't mess with things that don't belong to us, but some of these things could make a child very sick. Children should not take things from the medicine cabinet, and especially they shouldn't eat or drink any of it. Not only that, but this stuff is mouthwash. People rinse their mouths with it after they brush their teeth, and then they spit it out. They're not supposed to drink it!"

"I didn't think about eating or drinking any of it," Pippa said. "Not even to pretend to!"

"Well," agreed Mariah, as the two dolls sat down on the edge of the counter, "we're dolls, so pretending to eat medicines wouldn't hurt us, except just make us pretend to be sick, but we have to set a good example for the children who read our stories."

"Why do they have these things," Pippa wanted to know, "if they can make them sick?"

"It all depends on what it's for," Mariah said, as Pippa picked up one of the bottles,"but grownup humans know to read the labels. If it says to take two every four hours, for a headache or a tummy ache, that's what they do. If it says not to take it if you're taking some other kind of medicine, they don't."

"Many children know how to read directions," Pippa said, holding out the bottle. "They would know how many pills to take," she added, as Mariah took the bottle from her.

"That's true," agreed Mariah, "but human children have smaller bodies than human grownups. What is safe for a grownup to take might not be safe for a child. Besides, small children might have trouble reading this. The print is very tiny!"

"Children have smaller bodies, like mine?" Pippa asked.

"Not that small," Mariah said. "Even human babies are bigger than you are, Pippa."

Just then, both dolls heard something.

"It's the garage door!" Mariah exclaimed. "The Writer and her husband are back."

"What do we do?" whispered Pippa.

"Let's just hurry and put everything back where it was," Mariah said.

The dolls worked quickly. Pippa climbed up to where she could reach the medicine cabinet. Mariah handed the bottles up to her, and she put each one away.

Then they climbed down and closed the drawers, just as they heard the door to the house open.

They ran to The Writer's workroom and got back to their places on the windowsill, where they had been when the old people left to go out.

After she put away her hat and coat, The Writer went upstairs and into the bathroom to comb her hair. "Sweetie?" she called to her husband. "Did you take my mouthwash out and leave it on the counter?"

She was sure she had put it away before they left. Hmmmm....sometimes it seemed as if they weren't alone in the house, she thought, as she put the mouthwash away where it belonged. They often found things out of place when they had been out or when they got up in the morning.

The Writer went to the workroom to check on the dolls. Everyone was right where she had left them, but Mariah and Pippa seemed to be looking at the ceiling.

"I wonder what they think about all day," she said to herself as she slowly closed the door to the workroom.

Cast--
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London
Emil: Götz Happy Kidz Emilia