An Interview with The Writer

"Where have you been?" Charlotte asked when Mariah came into the room with her notebook and pencil and climbed up onto the chair Charlotte was standing on.

Charlotte had been quizzing Billy on his history lesson, to help him get ready for his test tomorrow. Pippa was watching and listening, because she thought it was interesting.

"I needed to do an interview for our journalism class," Mariah explained. 

"What's journalism?" Pippa asked. (She knew what an interview was.)

Billy knew what journalism was, though. He was in the class with Mariah, but Billy didn't do as much writing in the class as Mariah did. His focus was photography. Some of his photos had been published in the school paper, so he called himself a photojournalist.

"Journalism," he told Pippa, "is a special kind of sharing news and information with people quickly that they may not know, or they may have heard about it and want to know more. It's about things that are happening or have just happened or are going to happen. Sometimes it's about talking to people and asking them questions. Sometimes it's about trying to find out things, like who did what and how."

"It includes taking photos," Mariah told Pippa. (She knew how important photography was to Billy.) "Photojournalists take photos of things that are happening," she explained. "Their photos go into the newspaper and the videos they make show on television in the news reports or online. They work together with journalists who are writers to make a story interesting and easy to understand."

"Really?" Pippa asked, interested. "That sounds like fun, and you might become famous!"

"Photojournalism is a lot more than just taking photos," Mariah pointed out. "You have to be at the right place when photos need to be taken. You have to understand what's happening, what needs to be recorded."

"It's something you can learn, though," Charlotte said. "There's a lot more to do than just taking photos and then fixing them so they look good."

"I'm glad I'm learning that now," Billy said. He thought for a moment. Then he looked at Mariah. "Do you need photos for your interview? Not all news stories and interviews have photos, but I like it when they do."

"I think that would be great," Mariah agreed. "A story is always attracts more readers when there are photos. The photos get their attention so much better than just words printed on a page, and a photo can often tell a lot without any writing at all."

"If you did an interview," Charlotte pointed out, "that means you talked to someone who is interesting. You think of questions to ask them, and then you write down what they say." 

Pippa already knew that Mariah had done interviews before. 

Mariah had interviewed Mandy about her trip to visit all the yarn stores with The Writer.

Mandy had told her about each store, and seeing all the pretty yarn.

The Writer had let Mandy pick out some yarn to bring home and knit something with.

Mariah also had interviewed Jolena about how she got started skiing.

Jolena had told her about being put into a box in the factory with skis, ski boots, poles, a helmet and goggles for her eyes. They had dressed her in ski clothes. She had decided then that she was meant to be a skier.

Jolena had told Mariah about learning to do tricks on skis in the summer. She had gone each day to a place where the ski jumps were. She had worn a bathing suit with her ski equipment, because the dolls landed in a swimming pool at the bottom of the ski jump when they had finished doing flips in the air. She had been exhausted by the time the Doll Ski School shuttle dropped her off at home.

Mariah had interviewed Emil for the school paper, too. She had asked him questions about what it was like not to be able to see or hear without his special glasses. 

Emil had talked to Mariah about how he found out he could hear animals talk, and how he wouldn't have been able to do that if he had been able to see and hear like other dolls.

Billy had taken photos for it, and the school paper had used one of his photos of Emil. That was how he decided he wanted to take the journalism class.

"I have an idea," Pippa said. Everyone looked at her and waited for her to say what it was.

"Why don't you interview Charlotte and Emil about Hanukkah," the smaller doll suggested.

Mariah looked at Charlotte. "Hanukkah starts next week," she said. 

"I could get some great photos," Billy said. "Action shots! Those are my favorite!" He had already taken a lot of photos during Charlotte and Emil's Hanukkah celebrations.

"Sure," Charlotte told them. "I'm certain Emil would be happy to do it, too."

"It doesn't have to be an interview," Mariah pointed out. "I can just take notes about everything you say and do, then write it up, and ask questions later if I think of any. A journalist doesn't just do interviews. They also watch what's happening and describe it."

"Billy can take the photos," she said, "then we can decide together what I should write and which photos to use."

"That will be fun," Billy agreed.

"I was wondering," Pippa said, "who was it you were interviewing? You didn't leave the house."

"My interview," Mariah replied, "was with The Writer."

Pippa just looked at her. What could The Writer have to talk about? It was mystifying.

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
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London
Emil: Götz Happy Kidz Emilia

Pippa: Götz Little Kidz Lotta

Stories about the interviews mentioned

March 4, 2022, “Mandy’s Adventures in Yarnland”

http://thedollsstorybook.blogspot.com/2022/03/mandys-adventures-in-yarn-land.html

October 2, 2020, “The Interview”

http://thedollsstorybook.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-interview.html

June 19, 2020, "All About the News"

https://thedollsstorybook.blogspot.com/2020/06/all-about-news.html

Stories about Hanukkah

December 7, 2018, “Happy Hanukkah, Charlotte!”

https://thedollsstorybook.blogspot.com/2018/12/happy-hanukkah-charlotte.html

December 3, 2021, "Charlotte and Emil, and The Festival of Lights"

https://thedollsstorybook.blogspot.com/2021/12/charlotte-and-emil-and-festival-of.html

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 and soon Classic Tales Retold: Stories from the Doll's Storybook are available from BookBaby and other booksellers worldwide, such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. 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 St. Jude. Autographed copies of all three books are available from the author for $20 including shipping. (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 © 2022 by Peggy Stuart

Work in the Workroom

"Are they gone yet, Mariah?" Mandy asked.

Mariah was looking out the window of the workroom. "They're just pulling out of the driveway," Mariah reported. "I'll keep watching for a few minutes to make sure they're gone."

The old people were going to get their second dose of the vaccine (vax-EEN) they needed, and then they were going to the grocery store. The dolls thought that might be enough time to tidy up the mess in the workroom and surprise The Writer when she got home.

Mandy and Veronika stood in the hallway looking into the workroom.

"Oh, my!" Exclaimed Veronika. "What are we going to do with this mess?" (We couldn't show you the mess because it would break the camera!)

Mandy looked at the piles of yarn on the floor by the table, the piles of fabric on the floor by the window. There were scissors, pins, knitting needles, books, pattern pieces, the dolls' clothes, trash and other things they didn't recognize lying around on the table, sewing machine cabinet and floor. "We have our work cut out for us," she said finally.

"Well," Veronika said, "They say 'Many hands make light work.' I guess we have many hands. If everyone does a little bit, I think we can make a dent in it." (That means to make it a little better.)

The dolls did have many hands. Sixteen, in all, because there were eight of them, and each doll has two hands. They were small, but they were clever. After looking around the workroom, the dolls met in the upstairs hall.

"I'll fold the fabric and put it away," Veronika said.

"I'll take care of the yarn," Mandy suggested.

"I'll try to tidy up all the...stuff," Billy volunteered.

"I can help you, Billy," cried Pippa, who wasn't sure where everything belonged.

"I'm used to packing clothes," Jolena put in, "because I have to travel with the Doll Ski Team, so I volunteer to organize our clothes and put them away."

"I'll pick up the trash and recycling," said Emil.

Charlotte had seen the pile of knitting needles on the cutting table. "I'll put the knitting needles away," she said. "Each one will have to be checked for size. I can do that."

"Let me put away the books and the shipping envelopes," Mariah begged. "I know how they should be stored."

The dolls got busy. Veronika folded the fabrics. She separated the scraps that could be used for making quilts into one pile and made another pile with the larger pieces that would be good for doll clothes. Then she folded each of the larger pieces of fabric and put them away in the cabinet.

The small scraps she put into a bin with a lid. They could be used for making quilts.

Mandy took the unused balls of yarn and put them in plastic bags. The scraps left over from projects she and The Writer had made all went into another bag. They could be used for hats and mittens for dolls.

Mandy put the bags of yarn away in the cabinet. She put all the thicker yarns together and all the thinner yarn together. Then she arranged them by color. She climbed up on the ladder to put the yarn away with other yarn that was similar in size and color.

While Veronika and Mandy were busy with the fabric and yarn, Billy tried to find places for everything. Pippa followed him around, looking for something she could help with.

"What can I do?" Pippa asked. 

Billy didn't answer. He put things away where he had seen them before, while Pippa followed him around and watched. Then Billy ran into a problem. He needed to figure out what to do with the small red chair. He thought it would be good to talk about the problem with someone, and Pippa was right there. "I see the place this chair should go," Billy said to Pippa, "but I don't know how to get it there." He pointed to the top of the cabinets that hold the fabric and yarn.

Pippa looked at where Billy was pointing. Brownie was standing on top of the cabinet with some chairs that were not being used.

Maybe Brownie would like to sit on the chair. She must be tired of standing.

"I can lift the chair," Pippa said, "and I can climb up there where Brownie is, but I don't think I can climb up there with the chair."

"You!" Billy exclaimed. "You're too little to climb up there! The ladder isn't tall enough."

"I am not!" Pippa cried. "I climbed up on top of the bathroom counter with no help from anyone! This is just like that only higher."

Billy would have rolled his eyes, but he knew he couldn't. His eyes don't move. "Well," he said, "if you can, that would help. but we need to get the chair up there."

"You can throw me some yarn after I get up there," Pippa suggested. "I can let down one end from up there. We can use that to bring the chair up."

"Great idea!" agreed Billy. "I can tie the yarn to the chair, and you can pull it up!"

When Mandy was through with the ladder for a few minutes, Pippa opened the door to the cabinets, and she and Billy moved the ladder into place. Pippa climbed up the ladder. When she was at the top of the ladder she used the open shelves to climb on.

When Pippa reached the top of the cabinets, she moved over to where the chair needed to go. Brownie moved aside a bit to make room. Billy made a ball out of some thick yarn and threw the ball to her. Pippa caught the ball of yarn. She let down one end of the yarn, and Billy tied it around the chair. When he was done, Pippa pulled on the chair. She pulled until it was up on top of the cabinet. 

Pippa left the chair on top of the cabinet and climbed down again. (Brownie did not want to sit on it, but she was fine with having it there.)

While all that was happening, Jolena folded the clothes and put them into bags to store in the set of wire baskets on wheels. She put the pajamas, bathrobes, towels and sleep masks in the bottom basket, where they would be easy to reach at night when the dolls were tired. The next basket was where she put underwear, socks, tights, bathing suits and her ballet clothes.

The next basket was for sweaters and skirts. There were a lot of those. Then she put all the play clothes (shirts, jeans, slacks and leggings) into the top basket.

Next, Jolena put all the winter clothes, like coats and hats, into plastic bags and put them into a big bin, because there was no more space in the wire baskets.

All the boots went into a box with the umbrellas.

While Jolena was busy with the clothes, Emil went around the room picking up anything that looked like trash. Anything he was sure would be thrown away, like used tissue, candy wrappers, scraps of yarn shorter than 2 inches, and old plastic mailing wrap, went into a big black plastic bag.

Anything that could be recycled went into another bag. Every time Emil found a yarn label or anything else he thought The Writer might not want thrown away, like a sales receipt or a coupon for savings on something to buy, he put it into a big plastic basket for her to go through. He knew he needed to let her decide whether to throw them away or recycle them. These things belonged to her, and she needed to be the one to throw them away or put them into recycling.

Charlotte was busy with the knitting needles. Some of them were too small to have sizes written on them, but she knew how to use the tool for checking the size. She knew you put the needle into a hole, and if it stuck and wouldn't fit in the hole, the needle was too big, so to try the next size up. If it went into that hole but not the next smaller one, that was its size. After checking the sizes, she put each needle into the needle book in the correct pouch.

Mariah picked up the books that were stacked on the floor and put them into a box. She put a piece of paper between sets of ten books, so The Writer could see at a glance how many were left. Then she put the mailing envelopes and mailing labels into another box.

Mariah closed the boxes so The Writer could stack them if she wanted. They were too heavy for Mariah to lift.

When the dolls were all finished with what they could do, they heard the garage door open.

"The Writer is back!" Charlotte exclaimed.

They climbed back up to where they had been before The Writer had left. They knew she would be surprised. They knew they had done a good job. The workroom was much tidier than it had been when the old people had left.

The Writer came upstairs to put her sweater away. She stopped in the doorway to the workroom. Something had changed. She could not remember when it had been so tidy and organized.

The dolls were all where The Writer had left them. They were trying to look innocent.

"Hmmmm..." The Writer thought. "My workroom looks tidy now. I wonder if I need another shot of vaccine soon."

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

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 © 2021, 2024 by Peggy Stuart