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 vision. Show all posts

Friday, June 21, 2024

How Emil Came to The Doll's Storybook, Part One

The dolls were studying and doing their homework when Veronika came into the room.

"Everyone, you need to listen to this," Veronika said, waving a piece of paper so they would see what she had.

The dolls gathered around Veronika. "It's a letter," she said. Then she began to read.

Here is what the letter said:

Dear Veronika and Cast of The Doll's Storybook,
I heard you were looking for another boy doll, and I am hoping you will choose me.

Before you accept me, you should know something about me. I'm not perfect. It isn't the fault of the factory where we were made. Sometimes these things just happen. Anyway, I wanted to be sure you knew about this before you decide.
First of all, I'm very nearsighted. That means I can't see very far from my nose. This isn't too bad, though, because my special glasses correct my sight to almost normal. I just need to wear my glasses all the time, except when I'm asleep.
My other problem is more serious. I'm almost deaf without my hearing aids. Fortunately, they were able to build my hearing aids into my glasses. I can talk with other dolls with no problem without my hearing aids, because, like other dolls, I talk by sharing my thoughts and listening to yours, but I need the hearing aids so I don't get hurt by things like cars and bicycles, and so I know when water is running and when an alarm goes off. I can't hear those things in my head without the hearing aids in my special glasses.
If you accept me as a new cast member, I promise to try very hard not to let these things make problems for you. I will also try to be the best doll I can be.

Sincerely,
Emil

"It's a good letter," Mandy said when Veronika had finished reading the letter.

Mariah, who had been looking over Veronika's shoulder, pointed at the letter. "There are no words misspelled," she said. "The ideas are easy to understand. He must be smart. He must have worked hard on the letter."

"He could have used Autocorrect," Billy said. "Autocorrect will fix the spelling."

"Yes," agreed Mariah, "but Autocorrect just changes something that isn't a word to something that is. It may not be the right word."
"Sometimes," put in Jolena, "Autocorrect gives you something silly, and it makes you laugh, and the letter looks as if he might have written it out instead of using a computer, and Autocorrect only works if you're using a computer or a phone."

"That's right," Mariah agreed. "You have to know if the word is the right one, and you still have to write what you want to say so it's easy to understand."
The dolls all smiled and nodded. They could remember times when they had seen this happen, and they agreed the letter looked as if it might have been written by hand. "Emil must have had to use a dictionary to check the spelling of all the words he wasn't sure of," Mariah concluded.

Charlotte had been very quiet. Now she had something to say. "I like that he sounds honest," she said.
The other dolls looked up at Charlotte.

"How do you see that in his letter, Charlotte?" Veronika asked.
"Well," Charlotte began, "he wants to be chosen, doesn't he? He could have just told us how wonderful he is, and how he's the best one for the job. He could have left out the part about his problems."

"You're right," Mandy said. "Then we wouldn't have known until he arrived, when it was too late."

Veronika turned to Billy. "What do you think, Billy?" she asked. "If we choose him, he will be your pal. You need to be satisfied with the choice."

"I like the letter," Billy said. "He sounds interesting. He says he isn't perfect, but none of us is perfect. He's different, but we're all different, even though we are alike in lots of ways."

"Like that our eyes don't close," Jolena said, "and we each have one hand with two fingers stuck together."

"It sounds to me," Billy said, "like he can do everything I like to do. I think we will have fun together."

"Let's vote on it," Veronika said, "unless anyone has something else to say."
The dolls shook their heads. They were ready to vote.
"All right," Veronika said, "who wants to choose Emil to be our new brother? Raise your hand if you do."
All the dolls raised their hands.

"Good," said Veronika. "It's unanimous (you-NAN-ih-mus)! That means we all voted the same. Then I don't have to ask who doesn't want Emil to be our new brother. I will write back and let him know."
"Veronika," Billy said, "there is something I would like you to ask him. You said his name like 'eh-MEEL.' How do we know it isn't 'EE-mul' or something else? It's an unusual name. Would you ask him how he says it so we can say it correctly when he comes?"

Veronika said she would ask. It was an important part of helping him feel at home when he arrived.

"When you write, please ask him what kind of food he likes to pretend to eat best," Jolena said. "I want to fix him his favorite food when he gets here."

"I want to find out," Mariah added, "what kinds of books he likes. We can go to the library right before he arrives and check out some things."
"Ask him if he can hear music," Charlotte said. "If he can, please find out what his favorite song is, so I can learn to play it for him on my violin."

"I have something for you to ask him," Mandy said. "Ask him if he needs to plug in his hearing aids at night or if his hearing aids use batteries, and please ask him if he needs anything else we might not think of."

That night, Veronika wrote a letter to Emil and told him that he had been chosen to be their new brother. She wrote that they liked his letter and thought he sounded nice. She asked him how to say his name. She used Autocorrect to make sure she had spelled the words correctly, and when Autocorrect changed something, she looked to see if Autocorrect was just being silly.

Veronika asked Emil what kind of food and books he liked best. She asked him if he could hear music with his special glasses, and if so, what was his favorite song. She asked him if he needed batteries or a charger for his glasses, or if there was anything else he might need. Then she added that they could tell he was special from his letter, and that was good. Then she printed off the letter and signed it. She put it into an envelope. She put a stamp on the letter.
Then all the dolls went to the mailbox together to mail the letter to Emil.

They could hardly wait. They knew Emil would be special.

We are all special, and so are you.

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

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, February 11, 2022

Kaleidoscope Eyes

Jolena sent Pippa to get Emil out of bed so he could pretend to eat breakfast.

They were having breakfast early, because the boys wanted to get to the park before the other dolls, so they could practice with their skateboard have the half pipes to themselves.

Normally Billy would wake Emil if he was already up, but he was helping Jolena in the kitchen. Emil hadn't set his special alarm clock to shake him awake, because there was no school today. He was going to sleep until breakfast was ready.

Pippa quietly opened the door to the boys' bedroom and peeked in. She didn't really need to be quiet. After all, without his special glasses, he couldn't hear anything except the dolls' and animals' voices in his head if they were close enough. Pippa kept forgetting that.

Thinking of it suddenly, she had an urge to see what it was like with Emil's special glasses on, so she carefully climbed up onto the bed, so as not to shake it and wake Emil.

There were Emil's special glasses, hooked up in his charger.

Very carefully, Pippa removed the glasses from the charger and put them on.

She looked around. Everything looked strange. There were funny colors in her eyes, colors that reminded her of what she saw when she looked into a kaleidoscope (kuh-LYDE-uh-skope), only with both eyes, and they were seeing the same thing, only separately. She couldn't figure out how to make her eyes work.

She knew what a kaleidoscope was. It has colored things in it and sort of a mirror folded lengthwise, so it would copy the colored things and make a symmetrical pattern. Pippa knew something was symmetrical if all the arms from the center were balanced, the way a snowflake is balanced. She knew the pattern would change if you turned the thing on the end of the kaleidoscope. What she saw in Emil's glasses changed when she turned her head to look––or try to look––at something else.

The sounds from downstairs were strange in her ears, too. Pippa listened. It was like a burbling water fountain in her ears.

Suddenly, Emil woke up. "Who's there? Who's shaking the bed?" he asked, sitting up suddenly.

Pippa quickly but carefully put Emil's glasses back in the charger.

Then she turned to Emil. "It's Pippa," she said. "Jolena sent me to tell you breakfast is ready. Billy is helping her, so she sent me." (As you know, Emil has no trouble hearing dolls' or animals' voices, because they talk in their heads, but he needs his special glasses to hear noises, like cars honking and alarms going off.)

Emil reached for his special glasses. It seemed as if the charger were just a little bit further away than he had left it.

"Marmalade" he said in his head with a smile.

"Meow," he heard back. "It wasn't me! You told me not to get up on the table and bump your charger, so I don't."

It was puzzling, but he found his glasses and put them on, so he could get out of bed safely.

"Um," said Pippa, "I'll see you downstairs," and she slid off the bed and ran out the door.

Then she was gone.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Jolena and Billy were putting the food on the table so the four of them could pretend to eat. They had made scrambled eggs with cheese, and hash brown potatoes.

Pippa came in and got up on the chair in which Mandy had placed a box for her to stand on so she could reach the table. She picked up her spoon and quietly began to pretend to eat.

Soon Emil came in, dressed for the day and ready to pretend to have his breakfast.

The other dolls were busy. Charlotte and Mariah were going to the library to take back some books and get new ones to read. They were still in bed, because the library wasn't open until 10:00. They would eat breakfast later.

Mandy was helping Veronika straighten up the workroom, so Veronika could work on a quilt.

Emil climbed into his seat, and began to pretend to eat. Pippa was very quiet. Every once in a while, she looked at Emil. Whenever he looked at her, she looked away.

Emil started to think something was up with Pippa. She was too quiet, and she kept looking at him until he noticed.

Then she quickly looked down. Emil thought she looked...guilty.

"Is something wrong, Pippa?" Emil asked finally, looking directly at Pippa.

Pippa looked down at her plate. She didn't say anything. Her shoulders sagged.

Emil waited.

Finally, without looking up, Pippa said, "I tried on your special glasses this morning while you were still asleep."

"I know I shouldn't have touched them," Pippa said, still looking down. Then she looked up and met his eyes. "I'm sorry."

Emil laughed. "It's OK," he said. "You didn't hurt them. They work fine. I can see everything. Your hands must have been clean, because they aren't even smudged, and I can hear fine, too. I hear the big clock on the wall ticking."

"I wanted to see how everything looks to you," Pippa explained, "and I wanted to hear what everything sounds like with your special glasses," she added.

The other dolls had stopped talking and were listening to the conversation. "But Pippa," Billy said, "you won't see and hear the way Emil does with his special glasses. They were made for him, because his eyes and ears are different from ours."

"He can't see or hear properly without them," Jolena agreed, "but they just correct his vision and his hearing. They aren't made for anyone else."

Pippa cocked her head to one side, or she tried to, at least, like a dog puzzled by something.

Just then, Mandy came through on her way to empty the workroom trash. She had arrived just in time to overhear the last bit of the conversation.

Mandy realized that Pippa hadn't quite understood what the other dolls had meant. "I know what," she said, getting up on the chair next to Pippa. "Try on my glasses. See how everything looks to you." She took her glasses, which had been on her head, and handed them to Pippa.

Pippa tried them on and looked around. "Everything is blurry," she said. "How do you see with them?"

"They are just for close up," Mandy explained. "I only wear them when I read or knit, and they don't help with my hearing. My hearing is fine with no help."

Pippa put the glasses on again. She held her hands up close and looked at them. Her eyes felt funny, but she could sort of see, just not clearly. "I don't see how they would help," she told Mandy.

"That's because they weren't made for your eyes, Pippa," Mandy pointed out. "They help me, though. They are special for eyes like mine."

"Mandy's glasses wouldn't help me, either," Emil said. "They weren't made for me."

"Oh!" Pippa exclaimed. "I think I get it!" She handed Mandy's glasses back to her, and Mandy put them back on her head, because she didn't need them right now. "I think I understand," Pippa added for emphasis (EM-fass-iss) because she really meant it.

Pippa looked from Emil to Mandy and back again. "Don't you see? It's like how you can't wear my clothes, because they were made just for me. They wouldn't fit you, because I'm smaller than all of you."

The other dolls all agreed. That was a good analogy (an-AH-lo-gee). It was a good way to explain what it was like.

"Next time I wonder about something like that," Pippa said, "I'll just ask."

Now Jolena said, "Pippa, I think you're getting to be very smart."

"This would be a good time to finish your breakfast," Jolena added, gathering up her empty dishes, "before someone else decides to pretend to eat it!"

Cast--
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London
Emil: Götz Happy Kidz Emilia

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