Bounce or Splat

 Jolena and Billy both like games and other activities where they have to move their whole bodies. They like to go for hikes or play outside in the snow, but it was a very cold day. They didn't want their vinyl to freeze. They would have to play indoors.

They decided to play with a ball. They have a tennis ball and a place where they are allowed to play with it.
The kitchen has a nice, hard floor, so the ball bounces. The dolls are small, and the cabinets are very big, so the ball won't go very high unless they throw it, and they know not to do that. They don't want to hit something that might break or make a mess.

Fly-swatter hockey is a favorite game.

They use fly swatters for hockey sticks, and a plastic food container for the goal. They played hockey for a while until they got tired of it and wanted to do something else.

They also like to play basketball, a game where you bounce the ball on the floor and try to get close to the basket, so you can toss the ball in. The plastic container would make a good basket, but they needed to put it on something high up, but not so high that the ball would get into trouble if they missed.

"You know," said Billy, as they were trying to think of a place to put the plastic container, "I've been wondering what makes the ball bounce."

"That's an interesting question," Jolena agreed. "If you drop an egg, it goes splat and makes a mess. If you drop a glass on the floor, it usually breaks, and that's hard to clean up, too. I wonder why the ball bounces instead of breaking."

"I think that's a Mandy question," Billy suggested. 
"I think you're right. Let's go ask her," Jolena agreed.
The two dolls went to find Mandy. They found her in the living room, reading a book.

"Mandy, we have a question," Jolena began.

"Yes," Billy agreed. "We were playing with the ball, and we wondered why the ball bounces. Maybe it has a kangaroo inside!" Then Billy giggled, because he knew a kangaroo wouldn't fit inside the tennis ball.

Mandy smiled. She is used to Billy's silliness. The dolls think Billy's silliness is fun. Then Mandy took off her reading glasses and put them on her head.
"I think this will be a long answer," Billy told Jolena, as they climbed up on the chair to sit on each side of Mandy.
"I'm glad you brought the ball along, Billy," Mandy said. "It will help me explain. First, try to squeeze the ball between your hands. What does it feel like?"

Billy squeezed the ball as hard as he could.

"It sort of bends if you push hard," Billy said, handing the ball to Jolena.

"Yes, it squishes, but when you let go, it goes back into shape," Jolena agreed.
"When you bounce a ball, the speed of the ball puts energy into it as it heads toward the floor," Mandy explained. "That's like the energy you used to squeeze the ball.

"The floor stops the speed and the ball squishes out of shape where it hits the floor," Mandy continued. "Then the ball goes back into shape again. That going back into shape pushes the ball back into the air, so the ball bounces. It's like how you bend your knees before you jump."

"Then why do some things break instead of bouncing?" Jolena asked. "If you drop an egg, it doesn't bounce. It just goes splat and makes a mess."
"Ah-ha!" Mandy exclaimed. "I can drop an egg, and it won't go splat and make a mess. It won't bounce like a ball, but it but it won't go splat."

Jolena and Billy looked at each other. They didn't think this was possible.
"Let's go back into the kitchen," Mandy suggested. "I'll show you, and it will help you understand why some things break and some don't, and why some things bounce."
Mandy went to the refrigerator. She found a carton of eggs and also a little dish with some eggs in it. 

Billy and Jolena helped Mandy take all the eggs out and put them up on the counter. Mandy opened the carton. "These eggs are raw," she said. "What happens if you drop one on the floor?"

"That's easy! It will go splat and make a mess," Billy said.
"Yes, so I don't have to show you," Mandy agreed, "and that's good, because then we would have to clean it up, and the egg would be wasted." Mandy showed them the little dish with more eggs in it. "These eggs are boiled. They were cooked in their shells," she said.

Then Mandy took one of the eggs from the little dish. She stood up and dropped it. It didn't bounce, but it didn't go splat, either.

Then Mandy picked up the egg. The shell was cracked where it hit the counter. 

Mandy held the egg so that Billy and Jolena could see the cracks in the egg.

"See?" Mandy said. "It didn't bounce, but it didn't go splat, either."

Next she carefully removed the shell. "Now watch this," she said standing up. Mandy took up and dropped the egg on the counter again. It gave a tiny bounce and then stopped at her feet.

"Can you guess why the boiled egg didn't go splat?" she asked.
"Well," Billy said, "cooking the egg must have changed it."

"Yes," said Jolena, "instead of being sort of liquid, the boiled egg is rubbery," she suggested. "The liquid egg can't keep its shape, so it goes splat, but the cooked egg is more like the ball."

"That's right," agreed Mandy. "The cooked egg mostly keeps its shape, but not enough to keep the shell from breaking. That's because the shell is brittle, it's both hard and thin, so it cracks or breaks instead of bending, and the cooked egg can still be squished a little, like the ball. Out of the shell, the boiled egg squishes when it hits the counter, but then it goes back into shape."
"The ball bounces much better, though," Jolena said. 
"Yes," Mandy agreed. "The egg is rubbery, and it's not as hard as the ball. It's softer. When it goes back into shape, it doesn't have as much energy. That energy is what makes the ball bounce."
"The ball is better to play with because it bounces nicely, too," Billy suggested. "The egg bounced to one side, not back up."
"Is that because the egg isn't round?" Jolena wanted to know.

"Very good!" Mandy said. "Yes, you can guess where a round ball will go when it bounces, but a different shape can go in different directions, depending on what part of the shape hits the floor."

Then Mandy took another cooked egg out of the dish. "I want to show you another fun thing about eggs," she said, handing the egg to Billy. "Give the cooked egg a spin, Billy," she said. Billy put the egg on the counter and twisted it quickly.

The egg spun quickly around and around on the counter, finally slowing to a stop. "It spins almost like a top," Billy said.
Then Mandy took a raw egg out of the carton and gave it to Jolena. "Now watch what the raw egg does. Give it a spin, Jolena," Mandy said.
Jolena put the egg on the counter and twisted it quickly. The egg turned very slowly. It didn't spin much at all.

"It sort of wobbles," Jolena observed.
"It doesn't spin well, does it?" Billy added.
"Why do you suppose that is?" Mandy asked the dolls. "Why does the cooked egg spin fast and the raw egg just wobble?"
"It must have something to do with why the raw egg splats if you drop it and the cooked egg doesn't splat," Billy suggested.

"Yes," Jolena agreed, "because the raw egg is sort of liquid inside, and the cooked egg is solid."

"Maybe the solid inside just keeps going when you spin the egg, but the liquid just swishes around?" suggested Billy.
"You are both right." Mandy said. "The cooked egg is solid, so doesn't move inside the shell. The uncooked egg sloshes around inside the shell, almost like water in a bottle. The sloshing keeps the egg from spinning evenly and fast. You are very smart dolls," Mandy added, "and now you know how to tell whether the eggs are cooked or not, even if the cooked eggs are in the carton and the raw eggs are in the little dish."

"One more think I want to know," said Jolena. "Why do things fall when you drop them? Why don't they go up, instead of down?"

"Yes," said Billy. "I was wondering about that, too."
"Well," Mandy said, "I think you've learned enough for one day. We'll have a chat about it later on."

With that, Mandy got down off the kitchen counter, washed off the boiled egg she had removed from its shell, and put all of the eggs back into the refrigerator, while Jolena and Billy used some cleaner to wash the counter, because they had been up there with their shoes. Then Mandy went back into the living room, put her glasses back on her nose and picked up with her reading where she had left off.

"Tomorrow, I think I need to read up on gravity," Mandy said to herself.

If you want to find out what Mandy learned about gravity, you can read it here.

Cast--
Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily of London
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015


Game ideas came from Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls.

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 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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Copyright © 2019, 2025 by Peggy Stuart

A November Story

“What did Holly say,” Veronika asked.

Emil was just finishing the letter from his friend.

“She says they’re going to Sam’s grandparent’s house for Thanksgiving,” Emil replied. “She sounds very excited. It’s a long drive, but it will be fun, because Sam reads to her in the car, and sometimes they get to watch a movie on the tablet.”

“Sam puts Holly and her wheelchair in a cloth grocery bag, along with her clothes and things,” Emil explained.

“I imagine Sam can’t take much,” Veronika said. “I think you said they have a pretty small car, and they have to put Sam’s wheelchair in, too.”

“That’s true,” Emil agreed, “but Sam’s parents got a box that goes on the roof to hold their belongings that won’t fit into the car. Holly says they got it for this trip, but now they will have it to use it every time they travel by car. They’re going back to visit Sam’s grandparents again for Spring Break.”

Emil continued to look at the letter.

“I thought everyone would be interested in this,” he said. “She said she enjoyed reading about how we watched the eclipse (ee-KLIPS), and she just found out that they will be able to see the next one. It’s during Spring Break. She wrote that it’s supposed to go right over where her grandparents live.”

“That will be fun,” Veronika told him. “We really enjoyed going out into the backyard and watching the sun disappear.”

“We had to take turns using the special glasses, except when the clouds came,” Emil remembered.

“It was really interesting to see,” Veronika put in, “especially when the sun was completely covered up by the moon, and it got almost dark. I’m glad the clouds had moved off by then. We each had a quick peek at the sun completely covered up by the moon.”

“The Writer told me I had to wait my turn to use the special glasses, even though I don’t see the same way as other dolls,” Emil added.

“Maybe it was because we have to set a good example for real children,” Veronika suggested. “I mean, our eyes are made of a sturdy acrylic plastic, and looking at the sun shouldn’t really hurt them, but real children can damage their eyes by looking right at the sun.”

Emil had to agree that what Veronika thought made sense. They also had taken the vegetable steamer out with them, so they could watch the shadow the moon made through the tiny round holes. The writer had held the steamer over a piece of light-colored material she had brought out from the shed, and the dolls watched as the little holes went from round to crescent-shaped and then almost dark, and then slowly back to round again.

He looked at the letter from Holly again. “Holly says to thank Mandy for explaining the difference between a solar (SO-ler) eclipse and a lunar (LOO-ner) eclipse.”

“Holly says she told Sam,” Emil said, “that a solar eclipse is when part or all of the sun is covered by the moon, and that solar means it has to do with the sun, like how the solar panels on the roof of the trailer make electricity from the sun.”

“And lunar is when it’s the moon,” Veronika pointed out, “because lunar is a word like solar but having to do with the moon, only we can’t make energy from the moon, I don’t think.”

“Mandy said in a way we do,” Emil countered. “It’s pretty new, but it isn’t from the moon’s light, because that’s really just the sun shining on the moon. The moon pulls the oceans like a magnet as it goes around the earth, making the tide go in and out, and there are places that make energy using the water moving back and forth and not just running downhill.”

“I never thought about that,” Veronika said. “Water moving downstream in rivers has been used for energy for a long time. They used to use it to grind grain to make flour or to saw wood. There are still some old mills around that aren’t used anymore.” 

“Now we have big dams that use the water moving downstream to make energy,” Veronika said thoughtfully. “They use the energy to make electricity, so grinding and sawing can be done anywhere.”

“Tides going in and out must make a lot of energy, too, only they change direction, instead of always going the same way,” Emil pointed out, “so I guess they had to figure out how to use the power, no matter which direction it was coming from.”

Emil looked back at Holly’s letter. 

“Holly said she liked how Mandy explained that with the solar eclipse, the moon’s shadow falls someplace on the earth,” he told Veronika.

Emil continued, “and that with the lunar eclipse, the earth’s shadow falls on the moon.”

“She told Sam all about it,” Emil explained, “and showed Sam Mandy’s diagrams I sent her, so now Sam is going to try to make a project for the science fair, showing how that happens.”

“A science fair!” Veronika exclaimed. “That sounds like fun! I like the thought of a real human child entering the science fair with a project inspired by dolls!”

“You know,” Emil said then. “I was just thinking about how Holly is going to Sam’s grandparents for Thanksgiving. That made me think about Thanksgiving and being grateful for things.”

Veronika nodded. She had been thinking about that, too. She didn’t say anything, though, because she felt that Emil had more to say, the way we sometimes feel things if we pay attention.

“I’m grateful to be here,” Emil told her. “I mean, I’m glad I was made in the factory, even though they accidentally messed up my eyes and ears.”

“Maybe,” Emil went on, “maybe I’m even grateful they did that, because that’s why they sent me to the doll hospital, where I got my special glasses that let me see and hear, and if they hadn’t done that, I would never have met Holly, and we wouldn’t be writing each other.”

“Knowing Holly is like having more family,” Emil explained, “and other adventures. I mean, Holly’s life is different from mine. I enjoy my life, and I feel very lucky to be here, but it’s also interesting to hear about what other dolls––dolls who are different from me––get to do. It’s almost like getting to do those things, too.”

“I’m grateful you’re here, too,” Veronika told him, “and I’m grateful for your special glasses. Watching the eclipse was more fun because we were all doing it together!”

Cast--
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
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

Pauly: Götz Little Kidz Paul

Photo of wheelchair going into car from Invacare, cropped.

Eclipse photo by Delia Dallas on EarthSky, cropped.

Photo of colander: Joy Ng, NASA, cropped

Photo of solar panel on trailer: Forest River Inc., cropped.

Photo of tidal power facility: Derby Tidal Energy Project, cropped.

Photo of mill: Dave Hoeffler on Unsplash, cropped.

Photo of hydroelectric dam: JeswinThomas on Unsplash, cropped and exposure adjusted. 

Solar Eclipse diagram: NASA

Lunar Eclipse diagram: NASA

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.

Image on Mariah's yellow T-shirt used with permission, from Free To Be Kids, where human-size shirts with this image are available.

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Copyright © 2023 2024 by Peggy Stuart