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, March 26, 2021

Ripples

"So, what do you do at a slumber party?" Pippa asked when the dolls had settled around the fire.

"I think," Jolena told her, "we're supposed to stay up past our bedtime and talk about hair and clothes and boys. Is that right, Veronika?" she asked, looking at the older doll.

"Bo-ring!" declared Billy and Emil in unison. The only way they cared about clothes and hair was that those things made them look like real boys, and boys were to play with, not talk about.

"Why would you talk about those things," Pippa asked, "if they're boring?"

"Most slumber parties don't include actual boys," Mariah explained, "unless it's boys having a sleepover."

"We could talk about other things, " Jolena suggested. She wanted Billy and Emil to feel included.

"I have an idea," Veronika put in. "Let's each tell about something nice that happened this week."

"Who would like to go first?" she asked, when she saw that all the other dolls were in agreement.

"I have something," Charlotte exclaimed. "Something my teacher told me today made me feel very good."

"Tell us what it was," Mariah urged. Charlotte usually tells her everything, but she hadn't mentioned anything special that happened today.

"Well," Charlotte began, "two days ago, Susan––that's a girl in my class––needed to go to the library and return a book that was due, but her brother needed help learning his spelling words. She didn't know how she could get both things done before it was time for her to pretend to eat supper, so I said I would take the book back to the library for her. I had to go to the library anyway. She gave me the book and thanked me. Then she went home to help her brother study."

"I took the book back," Charlotte said, "and then I forgot all about it. Today, my teacher took me aside and told me how that one thing caused a lot of other things to happen."

"I know Susan's brother, Jackson," Billy said. "He's in my class. He got all his spelling words right on the test we had yesterday!"

"That's right," Charlotte agreed. "My teacher told me about it. She said he was so happy and proud that he stayed after school and cleaned off the white boards for his teacher. Then he helped tidy up the classroom, and when his teacher was ready to leave, he carried some boxes to her car for her."

"The next thing that happened," Charlotte went on, "was that because Jackson had helped her after school, his teacher was able to leave the school fifteen minutes earlier than usual."

"When she got home," Charlotte continued, "Jackson's teacher discovered that her neighbor was having trouble getting her car to start. The battery was dead. The neighbor was ready to take the bus, because she was going to be late for work. The teacher had some kind of gizmo that could use the teacher's car to start the neighbor's."

"Jumper cables," Emil put in. "It's a set of wires with metal clips on the ends. You put two of the clips on one battery and two on the other, and then you can use the good battery to start the car."

"Yes," Charlotte agreed. "I had forgotten. The teacher had jumper cables. They were able to get the neighbor's car started. The neighbor wouldn't have taken her car if Jackson's teacher hadn't been home in time to help start it! She would have taken the bus, and her car would have been at home."

"Well," Charlotte continued the story, "the neighbor works at the doll hospital. When she got to work, she found out that a doll had just arrived who needed help. This doll had fallen into the street. A human boy on a bicycle had accidentally ridden over her arm, and her arm was not only squashed, but pulled off entirely."

"The people who work in the doll hospital," Charlotte went on, "were going to have to order a new arm for the doll, because they didn't have the right kind in stock, and the arm could not be repaired. It was going to take two weeks."

The dolls all thought about having to sit around with only one arm for two weeks! What can you do with only one arm? But what did this have to do with the story. The dolls waited.

"Fortunately," Charlotte explained, "Jackson's teacher's neighbor who works in the doll hospital, had a box of doll parts (don't ask) in her car."

"She ran out to the car and got it," Charlotte continued. "They went through the doll parts and found an arm that was just the right kind and size. Now who do you think the doll who needed repair was?" Charlotte asked.

No one had any idea. It seemed as if it was someone Charlotte knew, but they all knew lots of dolls.

"It was Milly!" Charlotte exclaimed. "Milly, who plays the cello (CHEH-loh) in the school orchestra."

"Jello?" asked Pippa. She was trying to think of what that might sound like.

"No," Charlotte said. "You can't make music with Jello. It's a cello. It looks just like my violin, only bigger, and it stands on the floor instead of being tucked under your chin. It has a deeper voice than a violin."

Pippa had to think about that. She didn't know a thing could have a voice. The wondered if cellos could talk to each other in their heads the way dolls do.

"Well," Charlotte went on, "as you know, we were having our big concert today. Even if the teacher's neighbor had brought her car to the doll hospital today, Milly would have had to wait to get her new arm. Milly is the only doll who plays the cello, so we could not have played some of the pieces without her! "

"It's impossible to play the cello with one arm!" Mandy exclaimed.

Charlotte nodded. "You can't play a violin with just one arm, either," she pointed out.

"We would have had to postpone the concert," Charlotte explained, "and Harry's family is moving away this weekend. He would have missed out."

"My teacher," Charlotte said finally, "wanted me to know that Milly was able to play in the concert all because I took the book back to the library for Susan."

The dolls all had to think about how one thing led to another. It took a lot of doll-brain activity to imagine it. They followed each step in their heads, backwards from the concert to the library.

"It was nice your teacher found all this out," Veronika pointed out. "Usually when we do something good for someone we only see what happens right then, while we're watching. Maybe it makes the person smile, or they say thank you, but every good thing we do is like when you touch water. Ripples leave that spot and move away. Finally they disappear. You never find out what happens to them."

"That one thing we do often leads to another," Veronika said, "and that leads to another. We may never see it, but every time we do something good for someone, it goes out into the world. Sometimes it keeps doing good forever."

All the dolls thought about Charlotte's story. When it was their turn, they wanted to have something good to tell everyone. Charlotte's story would be hard to beat, but maybe that was OK. It was nice to think about.

"The concert was lovely to listen to," said Emil, who knew what it was like not to be able to hear music. "Everyone did a good job. I'm glad Milly got to play!"

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

Pippa: Götz Little Kidz Lotta
Marmalade: Purrrfect Cats from KTL

Photo of ripples in water by Yoann Boyer on Unsplash

Doll parts photo by Random Institute on Unsplash

Jumper cables photo by Daniel @ bestjumpstarterreview.com on Unsplash

Photo of cello being played by Adi Goldstein on Unsplash

Photos from Unsplash edited to fit the story.

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 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, March 19, 2021

Special Glasses

Pippa was looking for Emil. She found him in the kitchen, playing ball with Freckles.

"Emil," Pippa said, "could I ask you a personal question?"

Emil looked down at the smaller doll. "Sure, Pippa," he replied. "If it's too personal, I'll just tell you so."

"Well," Pippa began, "I've noticed that Mandy only wears her glasses when she's looking at something real close, like her knitting or a book. She takes them off if she's talking to someone."

Emil nodded. He knew this about Mandy.

"But I've also noticed," Pippa continued, "that you wear your glasses all the time. Why is that, if it isn't too personal?"

"No, it isn't too personal," Emil assured her. "I can explain it to you, but it's a long story." He threw the ball for Freckles.

The dolls began to walk down the hallway, so they could sit on the stairs and talk.

"You see," Emil said when they reached the stairs, "Mandy can see just fine, but she wears glasses because she was told when she was still in her box that she should wear them for close up work, and maybe she wouldn't have to wear glasses all the time."

"Mandy had the glasses right in her box," he added. "They were fastened to the box, right behind her head."

Pippa thought about that. She remembered that Mandy was always reading or knitting or doing homework when she wore her glasses.

She knew that Mandy had two pairs of glasses, so she could always find a pair to use if she needed them.

She knew that if Mandy was wearing her glasses and you asked her a question that needed a lot of explaining, she would take her glasses off. Then she usually put them on her head.

"So why don't you take your glasses off?" Pippa asked then.

"Well," Emil began, "I do take them off at night, but my problem is very different from Mandy's. I'm almost blind without them. I can only see if it's light or dark."

Pippa thought this was interesting. "How long have you been this way?" she asked.

"Always," came the reply. "When I was in my box I could reach out and feel the inside of the box, but I couldn't see it."

"I could hear the other dolls talking about things they saw through the window in the front of their boxes, but I didn't understand," Emil went on. "They also talked about sounds they heard. They heard things I couldn't hear, like the phone ringing."

"But you heard them talking," Pippa pointed out.

"Yes," Emil agreed. "Dolls can hear each other talking, because we talk to each other in our heads. Our mouths don't move, so we can't talk out loud."

Pippa thought about that. It seemed that human people needed to move their mouths to talk. She had noticed that when The Writer and her husband were talking. She had wondered why they did that.

"So when I was in my box," Emil continued with his story, "I could hear the other dolls talking, and I could talk to them, but I didn't hear the people talking. It was very confusing, trying to understand what the other dolls were talking about."

"Then one day," Emil explained, "someone took me out of my box and put these glasses on me. For the first time, I could see and hear."

"It was nice of them to do that for you," Pippa said.

"Yes," Emil agreed, "but then I had a new problem. No one seemed to want a doll who was defective (dee-FECK-tiv). That's like buying a toy that's already broken."

Pippa thought that was sad. She felt sorry for Emil. "How did you get here, then?" she asked.

"Well," Emil explained, "I found out that The Doll's Storybook needed another boy. I thought maybe they wouldn't mind that I needed my special glasses to see and hear. I wrote them a letter. I told them I would like to come here, but they should know about my problem."

"Weren't you afraid they wouldn't want you?" Pippa asked.

Emil agreed that he was afraid. "I had to tell them about my problem, because they would find out when I got here. I didn't want them to think I would lie to them."

Pippa knew lying was wrong, so she understood.

"I sent them a letter and explained my problem," Emil said. "Veronika read it to everyone, and they voted on it."

"They were happy to have me," Emil said. "They told me that some real human children need hearing aids to hear or glasses to see, so it's nice for them to read about a doll who is like them. That made me feel very welcome!"

"I don't wear my special glasses all the time, though," Emil said. "Come, and I'll show you where I plug them in at night, so they can charge."

They went up the stairs to the bedroom Emil shared with Billy. Emil showed Pippa the charger he used for his special glasses at night.

He explained that he had a special alarm clock that shook the bed instead of making a sound. He showed Pippa where the thing that made his bed shake was.

He explained that it was Billy's job to wake him if something happened during the night, like the time the smoke alarm went off by accident.

He explained how the ear pieces of his glasses made the sound go right through his head into his doll brain, because there's no hole in his ears for a hearing aid to go.

Pippa had a lot to think about. The dolls left the boys' bedroom and sat down at the top of the stairs.

"Am I defective, too?" Pippa asked. "I mean, I'm different from everyone else, because I'm so small."

"No," Emil reassured her. "You're small because you were made that way on purpose. There are lots of dolls like you, but it's good you're smaller than the rest of us, because some real human children never grow to be big, so they can enjoy reading about a doll who is like them."

Pippa was quiet for a long time. "That's a big responsibility," she said then.

"I'm glad I'm just small," Pippa said, "but I'm sorry you have to wear your special glasses to be able to see and hear."

"I'm very lucky, though," Emil told her. "Some real children can hear better with hearing aids, and some can see better with glasses, but there are some who can't hear at all, and there are some who can't see."

"I'm lucky for another reason, too," Emil said. "Some human people develop a special ability. Human people who can't see sometimes hear things others can't. I have a special ability. I can hear what animals say. None of the other dolls can do that...and Freckles says it's time for Billy to feed her!"

Pippa was impressed! Freckles was not impressed. It was what she expected.

Pippa: Götz Little Kidz Lotta

Freckles: Götz dog that came with Billy
Marmalade: Purrrfect Cats from KTL