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.

Showing posts with label St. Jude. Show all posts

Friday, November 8, 2024

Twinkle, Twinkle

"I love that song," said Emil. "Do you know what it's called?"

"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," Mariah replied. "Charlotte often plays it to warm up when she practices. It's one of the first things she learned."

Emil and Mariah were sitting on the windowsill in the workroom late in the afternoon when they heard Charlotte start practicing her violin.

They were quiet for a few minutes, listening.

"I thought stars were big," Emil said, as Charlotte started playing scales, going one step higher for each note. "I thought stars were like our sun, and our sun is much bigger than our earth, and that's very, very big. Why does the song say the stars are little?"

"It's a very old children's song," Mariah replied. "Before children learn that stars are really very big, they think they are little, because that's how they look when we see them."

"I know they look little because they are far away," Emil said. "I wonder why they twinkle."
"I wonder that, too," Mariah said.

Both dolls were lost in thought for a few moments.

Then they sat up. "Let's ask Mandy!" they both exclaimed at once.

Emil and Mariah found Mandy in the living room. Jolena was reading a story out loud to Mandy, who was knitting.

Mandy looked up from her work."What's up?" she asked.

"We were upstairs, listening to Charlotte play 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,'" Emil began, "and we started to wonder why stars twinkle."

"I would like to know that, too," Jolena said.

"Hmmmm. I may need to draw a picture," Mandy said as she moved her reading glasses to the top of her head.

"I left my notebook and pencil here," Mariah said. "You can use it," she offered, handing the notebook and pencil to Mandy.

The three younger dolls gathered around Mandy as she put her glasses back on her nose and drew a picture on the paper.

This is what she drew. (It wasn't easy, because her fingers don't move.)

"This is the earth," she said, pointing to what appeared to be part of a ball. "Here's the thick layer of air and stuff that covers the earth."

"That's the atmosphere (AT-mus-fear)," Mariah said. "I remember that from when you explained why we don't see the stars in the daytime."

"That's right, Mariah," Mandy agreed. "The stars are out here," Mandy went on, pointing to the area outside the atmosphere. "Their light has to go through our atmosphere for us to see it."

"The atmosphere is moving around all the time," Mandy continued. "Different parts of it are warmer or cooler, and there are other differences in it that bend the light one way or another and back again."

"Like looking through water that's moving in a stream or brook?" Mariah asked. "The moving water makes the rocks at the bottom look like they're wiggling."

"A lot like that," Mandy agreed, "only the water is thicker and there isn't as much of it, but that's the idea."
"So why don't the planets and the moon and the sun twinkle?" Emil asked.

"That's a very good question," Mandy said. "What do you know about the planets, the moon and the sun that might be different from the stars?" she asked.
The three younger dolls were quiet as they thought.

"The planets and the moon are like the earth" Jolena said. "They don't have light of their own. But the sun is like a ball of fire...but so are the stars."

"That's true," Mariah agreed, "The sun does have its own light, because it's a star, too. The planets that are close enough for us to see them get their light from the sun shining on them."

"I was just thinking," Emil said, "if there are planets too far away for us to see them, and the only star that doesn't twinkle is the sun, maybe the stars twinkle because they are far away."
"Very good, Emil," Mandy said. "Now you're on to something."

"But that's where I get lost," Emil sighed. "I don't see why that makes a difference."

"Because the stars are far away," Mandy explained, holding up her picture in Mariah's notebook again, "they look very tiny, like little dots. Very little of their light reaches us, so the little bit we see of it bends this way and that as it comes through the atmosphere."

"In the case of the planets, the moon and the sun," Mandy continued, "there is a lot more light light that reaches our eyes, and some of it bends one way as it goes through the atmosphere and some of it bends the other way. With all that bending back and forth, we don't see them twinkle."

All four dolls were quiet while each thought about that. Even Mandy, who knew all this already, had a lot to think about, because when you teach someone something, you learn new things yourself.

That's when they noticed Charlotte's violin music again.

"I'm glad I have my special glasses that help me see and hear," Emil said. "What is that she's playing now?"

They listened for a moment.

"That's a melody from 'The Moonlight Sonata (suh-NAH-tuh),'" Mandy said. "That music was written for the piano, but it's very nice on the violin, even though Charlotte is playing only one note at a time. 'The Moonlight Sonata' is one of my favorites."

They listened some more. Charlotte stopped to fix a mistake she had made, or maybe to turn a page. Then she started again.

"I wonder," Emil said, "why the moon goes around the earth instead of around the sun the way the earth does."

All three younger dolls looked at Mandy.

Mandy would have rolled her eyes, except that her eyes are glued into her head.

"It's getting dark," she said, "and Charlotte seems to be done playing. Let's go out and watch the stars twinkle."

Cast--
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
Emil: Götz Happy Kidz Emilia

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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, Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook and More Classic Tales Untold: 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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Friday, October 25, 2024

A Baseball Game With a Strange Ending

"I'm not the best one to ask," Jolena told Billy as they were walking home from school. "I think you should ask Veronika."

"That's a good idea," Billy replied. "I'll ask her as soon as we get home."
"I'll come, too," Jolena said. It's something I really want to understand. It's very puzzling."

When the dolls arrived home, they saw Veronika on the couch in the living room.

She was sewing a button on one of Emil's shirts.
"Welcome home," Veronika said with when she saw them. "Did you have a good day?"

"Well," Jolena said. "Like most days, there was some good and some not so good."

"Did you have a problem today,?" Veronika asked, putting down her sewing, as the other two dolls climbed up onto the sofa to sit with her.

Jolena looked at Billy. That's my cue, he thought. It means Jolena wants me to explain.

"Lauren hit me!" he blurted out. "I don't know why. I didn't get into trouble this time, because I didn't hit her back, but I don't understand why she hit me. I thought we were friends."

"Why don't you start at the beginning," Veronika suggested. "Most dolls don't just go up to someone and hit them."
Billy thought for a moment. Then he said, "Well, we were playing baseball, because it didn't rain, and the field is dry.

"I was on first," Jolena said. "The game was almost over. The other team was ahead by one run, and our team had two outs. I would have been biting my fingernails if I'd had any. Billy was on second."

"It all depended on Lauren," Billy added. "She was at bat. She swung at the ball twice and missed. Then she hit the next pitch."
"The ball went way over my head and then over the fence!" Jolena exclaimed. "We were so excited!"

"It was a home run," Billy said. "I got to run home and score!"
"Then I scored," Jolena added.
"Then Lauren scored," Billy said. "I was so happy with her I gave her a hug!"

"That's when Lauren hit Billy," Jolena said. "She bopped him right on the nose!"

The dolls were quiet for a moment to let Veronika think. Billy thought he could almost hear wheels turning in Veronika's head. He often wondered if Veronika had a little machine inside her head that helped her figure out why dolls act the way they do, and what's the right or the wrong thing to do. While he was still thinking about that, Billy thought he heard the wheels stop.

"I don't think it's your fault, Billy," Veronika said. "I think Lauren was upset by the hug, but you didn't mean to upset her."
"Why would a hug upset her?" Billy asked. "I was excited to win the game. She looked happy and excited, too, until I hugged her."

"Well," Veronika began, "we do a lot of hugging in our family," she explained. "It's perfectly natural for you to give someone a hug if they have just done something you like, or if they are unhappy, and you want to comfort them. Not everyone likes hugs, though, or they only like hugs from dolls who are close to them, like family members."

"So Lauren doesn't want Billy to hug her?" Jolena asked.
"That's my guess," Veronika agreed. "Not every doll would hit you, though. Some might say not to touch them again, or they might not say anything but just look unhappy, or laugh and pretend it was OK."

"What should I have done?" Billy asked. "I can see I did something she didn't like."
"If you want to give someone a hug, Billy," Veronika said, "it's best if you ask if it's OK. We shouldn't touch anyone without asking first," she explained. "It's sort of like borrowing their things without asking."

"Well, now I have question," Jolena said. "There's a boy doll in my class, Johnny, who keeps coming up behind me and touching me or grabbing me before I know he's there. I don't like it. I don't know what to do about it. It makes me feel very uncomfortable, but I know I shouldn't hit him."

"You have a right, Jolena," Veronika said, "not to be touched if you don't want to be. You can tell Johnny to stop it or push him away, and if he doesn't stop doing it, tell one of the teachers."
Jolena looked down at her hands. "I have been worrying about it," she said. "I thought I was doing something wrong to let him touch me at all, but I didn't know what to do."

Veronika gave Jolena a hug. She knew Jolena would like a hug, because Jolena often gives her hugs. "I think I understand how you feel," Veronika said, "but you did nothing wrong. It isn't your fault."

"Some dolls just haven't learned how to behave with other dolls. They think it's OK, or they want to do it even if it isn't OK," Veronika explained.
Billy had been thinking. "Did I make Lauren feel bad the way Johnny made Jolena feel bad?" he asked.

Now it was Billy's turn to have a hug. "You didn't know, Billy," Veronika told him, "and giving someone a hug isn't the same as sneaking up on them and touching them or grabbing them."

"If you feel bad about what happened," Veronika went on, "is there something you can think to do to feel better about it?"

Billy thought some more. "How about," he said finally, "how about I tell Lauren I'm sorry I hugged her, and I won't do it again? I'll tell her I didn't mean to upset her. I'll tell her she has the right not to be touched if she doesn't like it."

Veronika laughed. "She may not need the whole explanation," she said, "but when you talk to her you can figure out how much you need to tell her."
"Lauren hit a home run," Jolena said. "That's pretty cool!"
"With two dolls on base!" Veronika added.

"We can ask if it's OK to give her high fives," Billy suggested.
Billy and Jolena got down from the couch. They had homework to do.

Billy went into the kitchen to get a cookie to pretend to eat. Jolena stopped at the door to the living room. "Thanks, Veronika," she said.

Then she was gone.

Cast--
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London