Locked Out

The dolls were all out for a walk together when they came home and found their human family had gone out and locked the door. Uh-oh!

"We will just have to wait for our family to come home," said Veronika. She climbed up and sat down on the outdoor couch that sits on the front porch.
The other dolls joined her on the couch.

"I hope they aren't gone too long," Billy said, as he climbed up to join Veronika.
"I'm glad I don't have to pretend to use the bathroom," Jolena added.

"It's good to sit down," Mariah said. "Our legs are so short."

The dolls waited. Dolls are good at waiting. They are good at being patient.

Maybe Billy isn't as patient as the girls. Soon he began to feel bored. "I wish I had something to do," he said.

Veronika looked around to see what was on the front porch. "Look!" she cried. "The recycling is here!"

Veronika was right. The recycling was sitting on the porch, waiting for someone to take it to the recycling bin.

"There's paper in it," she added. "Let's play a game! Everyone think of something we can do with paper."
The dolls thought for a few minutes.
"I have something!" Jolena cried suddenly. 
The other dolls looked at Jolena.
"I like to fly through the air on my skis," she said. "Maybe it would be fun to make a paper airplane and fly it through the air!"

The dolls agreed that would be fun.
"We could make a hat out of a piece of paper," Charlotte suggested. 

"I have an idea, too!" Billy exclaimed. "If we had scissors, a pin and a pencil, we could make a pinwheel!"

"I have pins," said Veronika, "but they are in the house."
"I have a pin in my knitting bag," Mandy said, "and scissors and a pencil."

"Do you take your knitting with you everywhere?" Billy wanted to know.
"Yes," Mandy replied. "You never know when you might have to wait."

"If we have scissors," Veronika said, "we can make a string of paper dolls."

"If we have scissors," Mariah added, "we can make a snowflake."

"If we had some glue or tape," Mandy said, "We could make paper chains."
The dolls all thought that sounded like fun.

The dolls all looked at Mandy's knitting bag.
"I don't keep any tape in there," Mandy laughed, "but I just thought of another thing we can do with what we have. We can make a cootie catcher. There are some fun games you can play with a cootie catcher."

The dolls got busy. Veronika did the cutting, because she is left-handed and can use the scissors with the hand that has all the fingers loose.

They made a paper airplane.
They made a hat.
They made a pinwheel.
They made a string of paper dolls.
They made a snowflake.
They made a cootie catcher.
Just then, Jolena remembered the dog door in the back. "If we can get over the fence into the back yard," she said, "we can get into the house the way the dogs do."
"You're right," Billy agreed. "We're small enough to go in that way. We can get the tape!"
And so they did. Jolena and Billy helped each other climb over the fence and went into the house through the dog door.

They got the tape. Then they went back out through the dog door, carrying the tape, dispenser and all. They helped each other over the fence with the tape, and brought it back to the front porch.

Then the dolls all worked together to make a paper chain while they waited for their human people to get home to let them into the house.

When they were done, they collected all the little scraps of paper they had cut out from the paper and put them into the recycling can.

What would you do with paper if you wanted to have fun?
What would you do if you were locked out of the house but could get in through the dog door?
What do you think the dolls should have done?

Want to make the things the dolls made with paper? Here are some links to directions:Let your parents see these first!
Here's how to make Jolena's paper airplane.
Here's how to make Charlotte's paper hat.
Here's how to make Billy's pinwheel.
Here's how to make Veronika's string of paper dolls.
Here's how to make Mariah's paper snowflake.
Here's how to make Mandy's paper chain.
Here's how to make a cootie catcher.



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

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 

Reading, Writing and Recycling Again

Veronika found her three younger sisters writing in the living room. "What are you doing, girls?" she asked.

"We're doing homework," Charlotte said. "We have to write about something that interests us."
"How is it going," Veronika wanted to know.
"I think it's fun. I'm writing about why I like music," Charlotte answered.

"I'm writing about my day at school," Mariah added. "I think school is a lot of fun. I like to write anyway, and writing about what I think is fun is even more fun."

"How about you, Jolena?" Veronika asked.
"Don't ask!" Jolena replied. "I'm having a very hard time."

"Everything I write sounds stupid when I read it," Jolena went on as Veronika came to stand next to her. "Each sentence sounds OK by itself, but when I read the whole thing, it makes my head spin."

"I've started over four times," Jolena continued, pointing to three crumpled-up pieces of paper on the floor.

"Jolena, I hear you saying you're upset that it isn't going better," Veronika said. "We're sisters, and we help each other. Let's see if we can help you."

Veronika thought for a moment. "Mariah doesn't have a problem writing. Maybe she can give you some tips," she said, looking at Mariah, who had continued with her writing.

Mariah looked up. "I would be happy to help if you like, Jolena," she said.
"I would love it!" Jolena exclaimed. "This is really hard."
"Would you read your homework for us, Mariah?" Charlotte asked.

Mariah agreed. She read what she had on her paper. "It isn't finished yet," she said when she was done.
"But it makes sense so far," Jolena said. "Why doesn't mine make sense?"
Mariah came to look at what Jolena had written.

"Each sentence is very nice, Jolena," she said when she had finished reading. Each word is spelled correctly, and your sentences are good. They make sense. The problem is that you seem to be skipping around in your thoughts."

"When we think, our ideas jump around. That make sense to us, but when we write, we need other people to understand. We need what we write to start in one place and go forward to the end," she continued.

 "Here's my little trick, and maybe it will help you. Make a list on a separate piece of paper of your ideas about what you're writing, just as they come from your thoughts." Mariah gave Jolena a piece of piece paper to write on. "What are your ideas?"

"It's about snow," Jolena said. "I know the snow is water that comes from the clouds and falls to the ground." She wrote that down.
"And?" Veronika encouraged.
"It's cold, like ice," Jolena went on, writing that down. Then she looked up. "I don't know what makes it fall."
"You could look that up," Charlotte suggested, looking up from her work.

"That's a great idea," Veronika said.
"Yes, you could look that up and put the answer on your piece of paper," Mariah agreed. "You have a good start, now," she added.

"When you have all your ideas on the piece of paper, you look at what you have," Mariah went on. "Then you figure out what should go first, second and third. You put a number next to each. Then you start writing, using your ideas in order, from the first number all the way through to the last number."
"I think I can do it now!" Jolena exclaimed.
"That's wonderful!" Veronika said. "Now we need to talk about what to do with paper you throw away." Veronika pointed to the balled-up pieces of paper on the floor. "We don't throw paper on the floor," she said.

Jolena gathered up the balled-up pieces of paper. "Where do these belong?" she asked.

"We have trash cans for trash," Veronika explained, "but this is clean paper, and most paper and cardboard can go into the recycling bin."
"What's recycling?" asked Mariah.

"Recycling is one way we show respect for the earth," Veronika explained. "What we throw away in the trash goes into a big hole in the ground called a landfill. The more we throw away, the less natural earth we have where we live. That's one reason we try to reuse or recycle what we can. Many things can be turned into new things. That's what recycling does."
"So we don't have to live in a pile of trash?" Jolena asked.
"Yes, that's one reason," Veronika said. "That isn't the only reason, though. Do you know where paper comes from?"
"I know!" Charlotte cried. "Paper is made from trees."
"That's right," Veronika agreed, "but it's also made from old, used paper. When we recycle used paper we can make new paper out of it. We also save trees, and we need trees."
"I love trees," Jolena said. "They are fun to climb, and you can hang a swing from them," she added, remembering climbing trees last summer.

"Yes, but they also make air for people to breathe," Veronika added. "Without people, we wouldn't have the fun lives we have."
Mariah's eyes  became very big. "I can't imagine our lives without people," she said.
"That's another reason we recycle paper, but we also recycle plastic, metal and glass or reuse it if it's still good. They all come from the earth, using things that might run out or be hard to find, unless we can reuse them," Veronika explained. "Come! I'll show you where we put the things we recycle."
Veronika brought the other dolls to the closet under the stairs.

"Where we live, we put all the things we recycle except for glass and plastic bags in one bin, so paper, cardboard, plastic containers and cans go in here," Veronika explained. "If a can or container had food in it, we wash it first."
"So do I put the paper in here?" Jolena asked.
Veronika nodded. "This is the place," she said.
Jolena put her balled-up paper in the bin.

"When it's full, we empty it into a big container and leave it out at the street, along with one for trash. On trash day, two different trucks come by to empty them," Veronika said.
"Hey, there are glass bottles and jars in this one," Charlotte said, looking into another bin.
"Yes," agreed Veronika. "Glass gets picked up next week, along with next week's trash."

"We take our plastic bags to the grocery store when we shop." Veronika pointed to a grocery bag full of other plastic bags. "If we can't use them anymore, we put them into a bin in front of the store, but we reuse them if they are still good. Many people have grocery bags out of cloth that they use over and over. That's even better than recycling plastic bags."

"Because everything we have comes from the earth, we show our gratitude to the earth for providing all these things every time we recycle," Veronika continued.
"That makes me think." Charlotte said. "Next week is Thanksgiving. Isn't Thanksgiving about being grateful for what we have?"
"Yes," said Veronika. "
"I'm thankful for my sisters" Jolena said. "I learn new things from each of my sisters, and learning is fun."
"We all learn from each other, Jolena," Mariah said. "and I know something you can teach me. I would like to learn to ski!"

"I would love to teach you, as soon as we have enough snow," Jolena replied. "That reminds me. We need to finish our homework, and I have some things to add to my list. I just realized that snow is recycled water!"

Cast--
Veronika: Götz Classic Kids Vroni

Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen

Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
Charlotte: Götz Happy Kidz Anna in Paris

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 © 2018, 2023 by Peggy Stuart

Together

"I wasn't here for most of the year," Emil said one day in early January. "What did all of you do together before I came?"

The dolls were sitting around the fire, because it was cold out. They all thought back over the past year.

The first big event they thought of was Veronika's birthday, which will be coming up again soon.
"Veronika's birthday!" Billy said, looking up at Veronika. "That was fun!"

"Yes," Charlotte said. "Instead of a regular party, we made pretend popcorn and put together a packet of food for people who don't have anything to eat."

"We each brought something to go in it," Jolena added, "instead of a present for Veronika. It's what she asked for for her birthday. The Writer gave it to a person she saw when she was out. The person was holding up a sign."
The dolls who were at the party remembered putting the food into a bag. It made them happy to help a real person who needs real food to eat.

"One day The Writer was sick," Mandy said. "She couldn't get out of bed to do the housework."

"We were worried that she wouldn't be able to write the story that week," Charlotte said, "so we worked together to do the housework for her."

"That was a lot of fun," Billy said. "I felt just like a real boy, running the vacuum with Jolena!"

"When it was time for Mandy's birthday," Jolena said, "she told us she wanted to donate money to help sick children. We didn't have any real money, but we thought about all the bottles and cans that The Writer paid a deposit (de-PAW-sit) for. We took them to the store to get a refund (RE-fund) of the deposit. They gave us back the money she paid."

"We had to climb up on the bottle and can machines to put the empty bottles and cans in," Jolena agreed. "I got to go into the store to pick up the money, like a real girl."

"We had permission to do that," Veronika put in, "and to send the money to a place that helps sick children."
"We got a thank-you letter from them," Mariah added.

"Another time, we made soup out of matzoh crackers," Jolena said. "It was for Charlotte's special meal for Passover.
"We all did something to help," Mariah added. "It was fun!"

"Remember that day when we came home and found we were locked out?" Billy asked. "We had to wait. It was boring just sitting around."
"We made things out of the paper from the recycling bin," Veronika said.
"Billy and I had to go through the dog door to get the tape," Jolena explained.

"I liked when we put on the play about the fuzzies," Mariah said. "I felt like a real actor!"
"We each had things we had to learn to say," Veronika said, "so we would say the right things at the right time."

The dolls all nodded. They thought the play went well, and that made them happy.

"Then one day," Charlotte said, "the weather got so hot we thought our vinyl would melt, so we tried to find ways to cool off."

"Not too long after that," Billy said, "we helped Jolena make ice cream! We used a special machine. I like machines."

"We played a lot of indoor games together," Mariah said, "like cards or gossip."

The dolls remembered that they played outdoors, too. They played jump rope, hide-and-seek, and hopscotch.

They rode their bicycles and played on the play set in the backyard. They went for hikes together.

"You know," said Billy finally, "We did a lot of fun things before you came, Emil, but I think the most fun thing of all started with your letter."
"I agree," Jolena said. "We didn't know how much we needed you until you came. It started out with the letter. Don't you all agree?" Jolena looked at the other dolls.

"Yes," Veronika agreed. "You said you would like to come live with us. We talked it over together. We all thought it was a good letter."

"Then we voted on it," Mandy said. "Every doll agreed that we should invite you to come and be part of our family."

"When you arrived," Jolena said, "that was even better!"
"That was the best part for me, too," Emil agreed, and laughed.

"Now we have adventures with you!" Billy exclaimed. "Those are the best adventures!"

"Like when The Writer went away for a week and we were all alone in the house?" Emil asked. "We sat around and remembered all the things each of us did by ourselves."

All the dolls nodded. "That was fun!" Billy agreed. "All the other things we did during that week were fun, too."
They thought about it for a moment. Then all the dolls laughed at the same time.

What do you suppose these well-behaved dolls did when they were home alone for a whole week? What would you do, if you were home alone for a whole week?

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

If you want to go back and read the stories the dolls talked about, here they are.

Veronika's Birthday
A Good Turn
The Birthday Gift
Celebrations
Paper Fun
Fuzzy Town––A Play
Heat Wave
Ice-cream Social
The Last of Summer
Emil
Welcome, Emil!
And a story yet to come....

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.

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

Copyright © 2019, 2024 by Peggy Stuart