Peggy Stuart's Blog, page 5

Being Colorblind

 "And then she told me she was colorblind," Mariah said as Charlotte shut the front door.

"What is colorblind, anyway?" Charlotte asked when she was sure the door was closed all the way..

"That's a word," Mariah explained, as she adjusted the schoolbooks she was holding, "for when dolls or people don't see colors the same way as everyone else. I think they must be made that way in the factory. Something went wrong, like with Emil and Holly."

"That's interesting," Charlotte said.

"Yes," Mariah agreed. "I looked it up. Dolls who have red-green colorblindness can't tell the difference between red and green."

"That would make it difficult to pick out your favorite kind of apple," Charlotte said thoughtfully.

"Yes," Mariah agreed. "It could make it hard to pick out your clothes, too.

The two friends sat down on the stairs in the front hall. "Then there is the kind of colorblindness where dolls can't tell the difference between yellow and blue," Mariah added.

"Well," Charlotte said. "At least there are no blue apples, but you could still have a problem picking out your clothes." 

"Just imagine," Mariah said, "if Veronika couldn't tell the difference between red and green, or yellow and blue, when she was picking out the cloth for a quilt!"

"The quilt could look ugly," Charlotte agreed, "at least to everyone but Veronika. It's a good thing Veronika isn't colorblind."

"Or Billy!" Mariah exclaimed. "Billy would have a terrible time getting his photos to look right."

"There is a test for each kind of colorblindness," Mariah said. "They show you a picture made up of little circles of the different colors, and you see something in it, like a number or an animal, if you can see those colors."

"Then there are dolls who can't see any color at all," Mariah went on, remembering what she had read, "only dark and light." 

"Life would be like a black-and-white movie," Charlotte said, trying to imagine what that would be like.

"It's too bad Lucy is colorblind," Charlotte said with a sigh. Charlotte enjoys seeing colors, and she has a kind heart. She likes Lucy, too. It would be sad not to see colors.

"But she isn't really colorblind," Mariah said. "It turns out that that wasn't what she meant at all."

"What did she mean, then?" Charlotte asked, puzzled.

"I asked her about it," Mariah explained. "She said she meant she didn't see color when she looks at me. She meant she doesn't think about how I'm a different color from her other friends."

"But you are different!" Charlotte said. "Your vinyl is like a bar of milk chocolate. I know all of Lucy's friends, and none of them are your color. How could she not see that?"

"I think," Mariah said, "that she was trying to say it didn't matter to her that I'm Black."

Charlotte looked at Mariah. She thought she looked a little sad. "That bothers you, doesn't it?" she asked her friend.

"Yes," Mariah agreed. "You see, if it doesn't matter to her that I am the color I am, then she must think there is something wrong with my color, but she likes me anyway."

"I see what you mean," Charlotte agreed. "You wish she thought it was wonderful that you're Black!" 

Mariah nodded.

Charlotte thought about that for a moment.

"But it's wonderful that you're the color you are," she said then. "I remember when Veronika brought you in to meet us when you first came. All I could think of was how beautiful you were!"

"And that was before I knew you," Charlotte went on. "Now that we're best friends, of course, I think you're even more beautiful! I've thought about how I almost didn't meet you! You see, the stories needed you before we knew you, because we didn't have a doll who was a different color," Charlotte explained.

"Before you came," Charlotte said, "The Writer told us that real children come in different colors, so dolls do, too. Real children read our stories, and they like some of the stories to be about dolls who are like them in some ways. Remember when you asked Santa for a doll that looked like you your first Christmas?"

Mariah remembered. She had been so happy when she got the doll she had asked for.

"You see?" Charlotte exclaimed. "If you hadn't been Black, you would not have come to live with us. Then I would not have had you as my best friend!"

Mariah knows this, but she was happy to remember back to when she arrived, and how everyone welcomed her. It made her feel good inside. She thought about how the dolls in her family know all about her now. They see her for who she is. She thought about how they needed her, not just because she was a different color, but because of who she is inside, too. "I'm so glad I got to come to live here," Mariah said. "I'm glad we're best friends, too."

"You know," Charlotte said thoughtfully, "I think Lucy was trying to be nice. Lucy is my color. I think she does see you the way you are, but she has also seen how some of the other dolls at school picked on you at first. She knows it was because someone who doesn't know any better told them that they are better than you are just because of the color of their vinyl. I think she was trying to say she knows that isn't true." 

"Maybe you're right," Mariah agreed. "Lucy and I get along well, and we like a lot of the same things. She's a good friend."

"Yes," Charlotte agreed. "Maybe she just doesn't know how to say what she means in a way that means the same to you, because her experience is different from yours."

"Yes, I can see that," Mariah agreed. "Maybe I didn't understand because my experience is different from hers, too. I'm glad I have you to talk things over with, Charlotte," she added. "You're a good listener, and you're good at figuring things out. I feel better now."

"I'm glad to have you to talk things over with, too, Mariah," Charlotte agreed. "It's good to have you as my best friend." 

Mariah was quiet for a moment. She was thinking. "I wonder if Emil is colorblind," she said finally. "He said he doesn't know if he sees things the same way we do with his special glasses."

"Let's look up the test pictures," Charlotte said. "We can get him to look at them and find out!"

Cast--
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
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
Colorblind test image from https://factsverse.com/10-images-test-color-blind/

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 © 2020, 2025 by Peggy Stuart

Valentine's Day

 Valentine's Day

Young Billy got up earlyThis very special day.Although it was midwinter,The snow had blown away.

"What shall I do?" said Billy. "I cannot use my sled!I'm up and dressed already.I can't go back to bed."

A calendar was handy;It hung upon the wall,And he was good at reading,Though he was just a doll.

February fourteenth,The day that calls for love!A day for gifts of chocolate,Of cooing turtledoves.

He thought about Jolena,For she was fair and fine.How swell, he thought, if she willBe my Valentine?

Young Billy set out early,Just past the break of day,And sought Jolena's window,To see if she would play.

He threw some tiny pebblesAgainst her windowpane.

Some even struck the gutters,Then fell back down like rain.

"Jolena, are you up yet?"He called up from the lawn."I have a gift of chocolates,And I've been up since dawn."

The window opened slowly;The girl peeked out to see,

It was Billy standing there.She asked him in for tea.

"Just let me change my clothes first!You won't have long to wait.""I'll be right there," the girl said,"And we'll have tea and cake."

Now if you find you're lonelyAnd if for friends you pine,

Doll's Storybook awaits you.We'll be your Valentine.


Cast--
Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in AspenBilly: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London
This poem is found in Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart, available wherever books are sold or from BookBaby here.
Special note to children: For this story, Billy and Jolena are wearing clothes children might have worn a long time ago. If you would like to read more stories about children who lived in those times, ask your librarian for Alice in Wonderland, Anne of Green Gables, Peter Pan, Little House on the Prairie and Mary Poppins. There are many more, but these are some great stories.
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 © 2020, 2025 by Peggy Stuart

What It Means To Be Good

 Veronika was reading on the windowsill this morning. She had the feeling she was being watched, and looked up to see Jolena's bright blue eyes looking at her.

"What's up, Jolena?" Veronika asked."Veronika," Jolena began, "I need some help with a problem."

"What's the problem, Jolena?" Veronika asked."I'm good at skiing and doing tricks on skis, and I'm getting good at dancing, too, but I don't just want to be good at something. I want to be a good doll, too."

"You are a good doll, Jolena," Veronika said.
"Maybe I am now," insisted Jolena, "but my life keeps changing I want to know if there are some rules I can use when it's hard to tell what is good."

"Well, tell me what you think you need to do to be good," Veronika suggested. "What does a good doll do?"
Jolena had a list of things she and the other dolls do to be good:
Sitting quietly when you are asked (dolls are good at this).



Wearing a seatbelt to be safe in the car.


Being kind to animals, even toy ones.


"Those are good things, Jolena," Veronika agreed. "There is one thing that you didn't mention, and that is the most important of all. That is to treat others the way you like to be treated."


"For instance, what if you needed to talk to someone?" Veronika said. "You would want someone to listen to you, right? A good doll listens when someone needs to talk, even if there is nothing you can do to help. When you listen it makes the other doll feel like their thoughts are important to you."

"I like that you listen to me," Jolena agreed."So all you have to do when you aren't sure is to ask yourself how you would want the other doll to behave if your places were switched," Veronika explained.

"Let's try it out," Veronika continued. "What if another doll doesn’t have any toys to play with?" Jolena laughed. "If I didn't have any toys to play with, I would want someone to let me play with their toys," she said. "So I should share my toys. When Mariah came, we shared our toys with her. So we were being good dolls."


"That's right," Veronika agreed. "Now what if there was a doll who only had the clothes she was wearing when she came, what she wore in her box, and nothing to change into?""That's easy," Jolena exclaimed. "If I were that doll, I would want someone to share with me, the way Charlotte did when I came. I only had ski clothes. Summer was just starting and it was warm. Charlotte found clothes for me to wear until I had my own."


"So that is how you like to be treated," Veronika agreed.
"Yes, so I should share my clothes, too," Jolena said. "I should share my toys, books and clothes with that doll," Jolena said. "Well, maybe not my dresses, if the doll is a boy, unless he likes to wear dresses. If the doll is sad or hurt, I should try to help."

"It's good to share what we have with others, but it's also very important to ask before we borrow something and never, ever, take something that belongs to someone else unless that doll says you can," Veronika said. "No matter how much you want it."


"So sharing is left up to the doll the clothes, toys and other things belong to?" Jolena asked."Yes, that's right," Veronika agreed, "and we don't just share our things with other dolls. We share ourselves, too, so a doll who needs help will be more comfortable and happy."

"Like when I was new in the family! A new doll might be scared, the way I was scared when I first came," Jolena said. "Everyone made me feel welcome. Then I wasn't scared anymore."

"I'm glad we made you feel welcome, Jolena. You were and you are welcome," Veronika agreed.
"That's how I knew that Mariah must have been scared when she first arrived," Jolena said. "I wanted her to feel welcome, too."


"That's because we did it first for you. That's what we call learning by example," Veronika said. "You’re getting the idea! Now what if you see a doll who is a little different, sitting all alone, and someone is telling her she can’t sit there because of how she looks, and that she should go back where she came from?" Veronika asked.
"She would be sad," Jolena said.


"What would you do?" Veronika asked again."I know if someone was making me sad that way, I would want someone else to help me feel better." Jolena thought about it for a bit. 


"I know," Jolena said finally, "I think I would go and sit next to that doll and ask her what she likes to do for fun. I would chat with her, and then ask her if she would like to be my friend."


Veronika smiled. "You are a very good doll, Jolena. Not only would that make the doll who is different feel welcome and happy, it also sets a good example for the doll who was being unkind."
"That doll may not be very smart," Jolena suggested. "You can’t tell much about dolls by how they look, and it’s fun to get to know dolls from different places. They have new ideas and have seen and done different things. We can talk together and find out all about each other. It’s like having an adventure, and I love adventure!"


"That’s true!" agreed Veronika. "Dolls who are different are fun to get to know, but it isn’t that the other doll isn’t smart. Even smart dolls are sometimes afraid of anyone who is different, or at least uncomfortable with them. When they get to know the doll who is different, they stop being afraid or uncomfortable. We just have to help them get over being afraid," Veronika said.

"One more thing, Jolena. Being good doesn’t mean you have to give another doll everything they want. Sometimes dolls want things they shouldn’t have. We all need to learn we can’t have everything we want, like pretending to eat a piece of cake right before dinner."
"When that happens, how do you know what’s right?" Jolena wanted to know.
"Just think how you would want to be treated. You want what’s good for you, right?" asked Veronika. "So other dolls want what’s good for them, too, but sometimes maybe they don’t know what that is."
"If I don’t know something is bad for me, I want someone to explain it," Jolena said. "So why can’t I pretend to eat a piece of cake before dinner? I like cake."


"Cake isn’t real food. It’s an extra food, something you can pretend to eat after you’ve pretended to eat real food, like vegetables. Cake is filling, and if you pretend to eat it first, you may not want to pretend to eat your vegetables," Veronika explained.
"I like vegetables, too," Jolena said, "and I always chew with my mouth closed, because that’s the only way I can chew. My mouth doesn’t open. At least not when someone is watching."


"You have good manners, Jolena," Veronika laughed. "And you are a very good doll, too!"

Cast--Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz VroniMandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Charlotte: Götz Happy Kidz Anna in Paris
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
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 © 2018, 2013, 2025 by Peggy Stuart

Forgiven

“I think that’s Pauly coming up the walk, Pippa,” Mariah said, looking out the window.

Pippa got up and peeked out the workroom window, which was above the driveway and front walk, where the dolls could see people, dogs, dolls and an occasional cat or squirrel come and go.

“He looks sad,” Pippa said. “No, not sad,” she corrected.“Upset.”

Pauly is Pippa’s best friend, so she can tell when he’s unhappy or upset. Pauly hadn’t been to The Writer’s home since Pippa’s birthday party, a few days ago.

Mariah looked down and studied the way Pauly was walking. She watched as he stopped walking and suddenly kicked at a mushroom that had sprung up through the grass in the front lawn.

“Not just upset,” Mariah said. “Angry. Pauly is angry about something.”

The two dolls sat together on the daybed, listening. They could hear Pauly coming up the front steps of the house, although he is very small and doesn’t make much noise. 

They heard Pauly’s rap on the front door. (The dolls have to use the tips of their fingers or the back of one hand to knock on the door, unless they want to climb up on the porch furniture to press the doorbell.)

The two dolls sat and listened. They heard the front door open. They heard a voice––Billy’s voice––talking in the front hall, but they couldn’t tell what he was saying. 

The dolls knew Billy would bring Pauly up to the workroom. Billy knew they were there, and Pauly always wanted to see his friend, Pippa. Billy would help Pauly up the stairs, unless Pauly insisted on managing for himself, which he often did, unless he was in a hurry.

After just a few minutes, the door to the workroom opened, and Billy and Pauly came in and stood in the doorway.

Pippa decided that Mariah was right. Pauly was angry. How did she know these things?

“Hi, Pauly,” Mariah said, as they helped Pauly climb up onto the daybed. 

“Is everything OK?” Pippa asked her friend anxiously, then realized it clearly wasn’t. “What’s wrong?” she asked then.

The three dolls waited patiently for Pauly to speak. They wanted him to know they cared about him and would listen carefully to what he had to say.

After what seemed like a long time, even to a doll, Pauly heaved a big sigh.

“What’s wrong?” he exclaimed. “Everything is wrong! I hate Edward! He’s the worst doll in the world! I want to smack him, but he would smack me back, and he’s a lot bigger than I am. He might knock my head off, and that would be embarrassing!”

The other three dolls looked at Pauly in astonishment. Pauly had never talked like this, ever, and the thought of Pauly’s body, standing there without a head, and his head perhaps rolling away on the floor! Yes, that would be embarrassing! Then they looked at each other. Each waited for one of the others to say something, but they didn’t know what to say. 

“I wish Edward had never been made!” Pauly exclaimed. “I hate Edward!”

After a couple more seconds of silence, Mariah decided to speak. “I take it,” she said, “that Edward did something you didn’t like.”

“You bet!” cried Pauly. “He tore up my sailboat picture! He tore it into little tiny pieces and threw the pieces on the floor.”

“That wasn’t nice,” Pippa agreed. The other two dolls nodded. They all agreed it wasn’t nice to destroy something that belonged to someone else.

Mariah was thinking, though. She had been around for a while. Some dolls had been mean to her, and Veronika had helped her deal with her hurt and anger. She knew before you make up your mind about what happened, you should get all the information you can. Veronika had taught her that. It was what she always did.

“Tell us what happened, Pauly,” she said. “Tell us about the picture. What happened before Edward tore up your picture? What were the two of you doing?”

Pauly seemed to feel a bit better knowing the other dolls would listen to him and try to understand. After another big sigh, Pauly began.

“We having our art lesson,” he said. “Edward and I sit next to each other at the same table. I’ve been trying to draw a sailboat for days, but every time I tried, I’d get to where you have to draw the sails, and it would go all wrong. It ended up not looking like a sailboat at all. I used up my eraser and threw a lot of paper into the recycling bin!”

“Today, though,” Pauly continued, “the sails finally looked like real sails. Well, they looked almost like real sails. I was so excited and happy, I clapped my hands and slapped them down on the table.”

“One of my hands,” Pauly went on, “it bumped into the little jar of water Edward was using for his watercolors. It knocked it over. It was an accident. I didn’t mean to do it! The water went all over his paper and ruined his painting. I felt terrible!”

“I tried to tell Edward I was sorry,” Pauly explained, “but he just got mad and grabbed my picture and tore it up! I had worked so hard to get it right, and I was so happy…but now I’m miserable, and I hate Edward.”

Everyone was quiet for a moment. 

“You know,” Pauly went on, “one reason I think I’m so miserable is that I know dolls aren’t supposed to hate. Now I feel bad about myself as well as about Edward, but I can’t stop. The teacher told Edward to say he was sorry, and he did, but I could tell he wasn’t really. He only said he was because he had to, so I still hate him.”

“Well, you know,” said Mariah thoughtfully, “we can’t really help how we feel about things. Our feelings belong to us. They’re natural. Veronika says we shouldn’t feel bad about ourselves because of what we feel, only if we do something unkind about how we feel. It was OK for you and Edward to be angry with each other. It wasn’t OK for him to tear up your picture.”

“What Edward did was wrong,” Billy told the younger boy. “We should never destroy something that belongs to someone else, at least not on purpose. He meant to tear up your picture. You didn’t mean to mess up his painting.”

“Maybe,” Pippa said, “just maybe Edward thought Pauly did it on purpose. Maybe he misunderstood.” (Pippa always wants to believe the best of everyone.)

“That might make Edward’s behavior more understandable,” Mariah said, “but it still isn’t OK. Pauly is entitled to feeling angry, and so is Edward.” Then she turned to Pauly, “You didn’t do anything wrong, but your anger is making you feel bad. There’s a way to fix that.”

The other dolls all looked at Mariah.

“It’s something called forgiveness,” Mariah told them. “If Pauly forgives Edward––really forgives him––for what he did, he––Pauly––will feel better.”

“Well,” Billy said, “maybe if Edward apologizes for real for tearing up the picture, then Pauly can forgive him. It will be easy then.”

“I think Edward should apologize for real to Pauly before Pauly forgives him,” Pippa agreed. “Maybe he’s just looking for the right time to apologize.”

“I think it would be nice if Edward apologizes,” Mariah said, “but Veronika says forgiveness is something you do for yourself, whether the doll you forgive deserves it or not. You don’t do it for the doll you’re angry with. Forgiveness is how you let go of the hate and anger. It makes you feel better. You don’t even have to tell the other doll you forgive them. In fact, it’s really better if you don’t. Sometimes telling someone you forgive them makes them angry. It’s like saying I’m right, and you’re wrong.”

The other dolls listened carefully to Mariah. Some of the things she said surprised them.

“We can’t help it when we feel angry,” Mariah said. “We can only help what we do about it. Veronika told me some good things come from anger sometimes. Feeling angry has made human people work to end injustice and to write laws that are needed to make things better, and that’s good.”

“What Edward did was unjust,” Billy pointed out.

“It was,” Mariah agreed, “but maybe he didn’t know that. He isn’t here to ask, so we don’t know. Maybe he's unhappy about something else, or no one ever taught him to find other ways to deal with his feelings. Pauly is here, though. We need to help him, and we can.”

“How do you do that?” Pauly asked. He really wanted to feel better. “Tell me what to do!”

“Well,” Mariah said, thoughtfully, “Besides forgiving Edward, you can do something that uses a lot of energy. Anger gives us a lot of energy, and we need to do something with it, something that fixes what’s wrong, if we can, but if we can’t, then we can do something that at least doesn’t hurt anyone, to to use that energy and make us feel better.”

“Running takes energy,” Billy said.

Pauly thought about running. It would feel good to run, he thought.

“Throwing a toy for The Writer’s dogs takes energy,” Pippa said.

Pauly thought about making one of the dogs’ toys squeak and then throwing it as far as he could. That would feel good, too.

“Or kicking a ball around the yard,” Pauly suggested, because now he had the idea. Kicking a ball around the yard would feel very good! He would kick it as hard as he could!

“That sounds like fun!” Pippa exclaimed. “Let’s go do that! I saw the soccer ball in the backyard. I know right where it is!” 

The two smaller dolls scrambled down to the floor and ran to the door of the workroom. At the door, Pauly turned around. “Thanks, Mariah,” he said. “I feel better already. After we kick the ball around the yard a bit, I’m going to forgive Edward. Then I’ll forgive myself, too, because it’s OK to be angry as long as I know what to do about it! After that, I’ll go home and tell Jeffy all about it. Maybe he has something he’s angry about.”

With that, Pauly was gone.

Billy looked at Mariah. “Have you ever noticed,” he asked, “how the smaller dolls’ moods seem to change quickly?”

“Not until you mentioned it,” Mariah replied, “but I think you’re right.”

Cast--

Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London
Pippa: Götz Little Kidz LottaPauly: Götz Little Kidz Paul
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.
<a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/198325... my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Copyright © 2023, 2025 by Peggy Stuart 

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.
<a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/198325... my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Copyright © 2019, 2024 by Peggy Stuart

Ups and Downs

Billy saw that it was a nice day. He wanted to practice throwing his frisbee, but he couldn't do it alone. That would be no fun. He went looking for someone to play with him.


"Who would like to go to the trail and throw the frisbee around," he asked the other dolls.

"I will," said Mariah.
"I will," said Mandy.
Both dolls raised their hands, so Billy would know they wanted to come.



The three dolls walked to the trail and looked for a wide space where they could throw the frisbee without hitting anything.




They played for a while with the frisbee. They did a lot of throwing, running and catching.



Then Billy noticed something. "What are all these things?" he asked pointing to the trail. 


The other dolls looked where Billy was pointing. There were lots of prickly looking things lying all over the ground.


"Those are pine cones," Mandy said. "They hold the seeds for the pine trees and keep them safe until it's time for them to grow." 


"Why are they on the ground?" asked Mariah, looking at the pine cones.


"Well," Mandy began, "they need to be on the ground so the seeds can have dirt to grow in."
"But how did they get there?" Billy wanted to know. "Who put them there?"
"Let's sit down," Mandy suggested. "This will take a while to explain, and we can't talk while we're throwing the frisbee."
The dolls sat down on a bench next to the trail. Before she said anything, Mandy looked off far away, as if she might be remembering something.


"Do you remember when you left the factory in your box?" Mandy asked. She was remembering how she stood in her box in the factory.



"I remember," Mariah said. "I was wondering what my new home would be like."


"I remember, too," said Billy, "but I don't want to think about it, because they dressed me in girl's clothes."


The two girls nodded, because they remembered when Billy came.
"They didn't know I was a boy." He said.
The girls nodded again.
"Well, we got that straightened out," Mandy reminded him. "The point I was trying to make about that time is that the factory is on the other side of the earth. Your box didn't fly off into space. It stayed right where someone put it, unless it got knocked over."


"Something called gravity (GRA-veh-tee) held our boxes down," Mandy explained, "even though we were on the other side of the earth. Gravity is what holds us down, so we don't float away. It holds everything to the earth. No matter where you are, gravity will keep you from floating away."
"What does that have to do with pine cones?" Mariah asked.


"Gravity," Mandy explained, "is how the pine cones got to the ground. They started out in the trees, you see," she went on. "The tree grows pine cones to protect the seeds until the seeds are ready and it's warm enough for new trees to grow." Mandy got up and climbed down from the bench. "Let's go sit on that log," she suggested. "I think we can see the trees better from there.
The dolls went to the big log Mandy pointed to. They climbed up and sat on it.


"I thought cones were to put ice cream in," Billy said after the dolls were settled on the log.
Mandy tried to roll her eyes, but that isn't easy because her eyes don't move. "That's a different kind of cone," she said. "They don't grow on trees."
"I thought the tree made pine cones to feed the squirrels," Mariah said, who had seen squirrels taking something out of the pinecones and eating it.


"They do feed the squirrels," Mandy agreed, "and the squirrels help by planting the seeds. They put them in the ground to save them for later, but they forget some of them. Those seeds can grow into trees."
"Gravity is how the cones got to the ground," Mandy went on. "You can see some of them still in the tree." She pointed up at the branches on the tree. 


The dolls could see some pine cones still in the trees.


"The tree only holds the cones up there until it's time for the seeds to grow. Then it lets go," she explained.
"I've got it, I think!" Mariah cried. "Gravity is why the cones fall to the ground instead of just hanging around in the air or floating away, just like our boxes on the other side of the world didn't float away."


"That's right," Mandy agreed. "Unless something stops the cones, they land on the ground, like this one."


"What would stop them?" asked Billy.
"They could land on something else before they reach the ground," Mandy explained, "like the one in that bush." She showed them a pine cone that had landed on the branches of a bush.


"The cone will stay there unless the wind blows it away," Mandy said, "or something bumps into the branches. The branches are stronger than the cone is heavy, but they bend."

Mandy thought for a moment. "Gravity was discovered a long time ago by a man named Isaac Newton. There is a story that he was lying under an apple tree," she went on.


"Because it was an apple tree," Mandy continued, "it had apples instead of pine cones, and one of the apples fell and hit him on the head. Isaac Newton started thinking about what made the apple fall and figured out gravity." 

"Look," Billy said, pointing. "I think someone nailed some boards onto the tree to make a ladder, so they could climb the tree. I guess they had to use nails, so gravity wouldn't make the boards fall to the ground."



Billy ran over to the tree and started to climb up it. 


Billy's hat came loose from his head and fell off.
"Come down, Billy," Mandy called to him. "If you climb any higher, you may learn about gravity the hard way, and it's time to go home."
Billy came back down quickly. He wanted to get his hat before the wind blew it away. He picked it up and put it back onto his head.


"Too bad Jolena didn't come with us," said Billy as the dolls started walking home. "She wanted to know all about gravity, too."
"That's OK," Mariah said. "When we get home, you can explain it to her."
"Yes," agreed Mandy. "A good way to help you remember something is to explain it to someone else."
The dolls walked the rest of the way home in silence. Each doll thought about what they had seen and learned.
As they reached the house, Mariah said, "Mandy, I still don't know how gravity works. I mean, what makes gravity, and why does a balloon float?"


Mandy paused at the door. "For that," she said, "we need to talk about something called mass. It's complicated. Let's save it for another day. I need to figure out how to show you what mass is."


"I would like to know that, too," Billy said, "and there's something else I'm wondering about. How do seeds turn into trees?"


Maybe we can plant some seeds, so you can see for yourself," she told him. "Let's try some smaller plants, though, because it works the same way, and trees can take many years."


Later that evening, Mandy found herself at the computer, looking online at seeds for vegetables and flowers that grow quickly, and finding out how to explain mass to other dolls.

Cast--
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
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.
<a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/198325... my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Copyright © 2019, 2024 by Peggy Stuart

Insomnia in Verse

Insomnia

 Jolena has insomnia,

Her eyes can never close.

This means the girl can’t sleep at night.

No, she can’t even doze.

Jolena’s very tired, of course.

She knows we need our rest.

She knows it isn’t good for her,

If she’s to do her best.

Jolena has read lots of ways

To sleep the night away.

Like going out to get a dose

Of fresh air every day.

She drinks a cup of nice warm milk

Before she goes to bed.

She’s heard it helps you to relax

And clears your busy head.

She turns the TV off before,

Her phone and tablet, too.

She read it somewhere once online.

That it’s what she should do.

She takes a nice, warm bath at night.

At least it leaves her clean,

Looking forward to her sleep

And wondering what she’ll dream.

She heard somewhere that counting sheep

Would help to ease the way.

She had to round them all up first,

For some had gone astray.

She tries to find a boring book

To read while dozing off.

They always catch her interest, though.

They’re never dull enough.

“I watch the ceiling all night long,”

The poor girl tells her friend.

“No rest, no dreams, no soothing sleep,

The boredom never ends!”

“How can you see the ceiling, though?”

Friend Mandy has to ask.

“You never see a thing at all

While you wear your mask!”

“Wear my mask?” Jolena asks.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“We all have them,” Mandy replies,

“So we can sleep and dream!”

“Children close their eyes to sleep,

And dolls with sleeping eyes,

But those dolls can’t read books in bed,

Nor watch clouds in the sky.”

“Our eyes stay wide open, though,

So we can watch and read,

And you can do your flips in air

And land upon your skis!”

We need a sleep mask, though” she says,

“If we intend to doze.”

Then Mandy finds the needed mask,

Where dolls keep all their clothes.

Jolena had insomnia.

Her eyes could never close.

This meant the girl could never sleep;

She could not even doze.

But Mandy had a cure for this:

A sleep mask for her eyes!

This means she now can sleep at night,

So rested she can rise.

And if you find you cannot sleep,

A sleep mask could be swell.

Just a peek to say, “Thanks, Mandy!”

“Goodnight, Jolena! Sleep well!”

This poem appears in print in Our Favorite Verses: Stories from The Doll's Storybook

Cast--
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
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.
<a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/198325... my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Copyright © 2018, 2024 by Peggy Stuart

A Letter from Ireland

Dear family,

My flight to Ireland (AYE-er-land) was pleasant. (Not every knitter gets to fly in The Writer's knitting bag.)


I wore a plastic bag to protect myself from the rain, because they have a lot of rain in Ireland. I'm a doll, and I don't want to get water inside my head, because it could make the inside of my head moldy. Real children should never wear plastic bags over their heads. Real children don't get moldy insides of heads, so they don't need it, and real children need to breathe. You can't breathe with a bag over your head, so it's dangerous. It's good I don't need to breathe. 


We flew over some land covered with snow and then the ocean. The Writer held me up to the window, so I could see. 


The writer said Ireland is close to another country called England. She said that was where the English language started. (I knew that, of course. I read a lot.)


The sun was shining when we landed in Shannon, but it was raining by the time our ride reached the hotel. I was glad I had my boots and umbrella. 


Shannon is the town where one of the main airports in Ireland is located.

We went hiking in one of the big parks. We could hear a cuckoo bird calling from a long way off. It sounds just like the little bird that pops out of the clock in the hall to tell us what time it is. There were lovely yellow bushes everywhere. The Writer said they were gorse bushes. (Gorse rhymes with horse.)


We took a ride in something called a jaunty cart. It's a nice way to travel, and it doesn't go very fast. That gives you plenty of time to look around. A horse, not a gorse, pulls the jaunty cart. (A gorse doesn't do anything much besides sit there and look pretty, so a gorse pulling a jaunty cart would be really slow!) There were lots of jaunty carts on the road, so we decided that a lot of other people had the same idea we had.


I discovered that there are a lot of sheep in Ireland. Sheep make all that yummy wool, which is where a lot of knitting yarn comes from. I think sheep are my favorite animals, other than cats, of course...and dogs...and horses...and goldfish.

We have been seeing the sights, too. That's called sightseeing (SITE-see-ing). Sightseeing is when you go to places you have only read about. 

Ireland has some great castles you can visit. We went to see Blarney Castle. It was built in 1446, which was 574 years ago. That's a long time, especially in doll years. It was built long before there were dolls like us.


Of course, one of my favorite things about the trip was visiting the wool shops. Those are what we call yarn shops.


The writer told me I could buy something, and she would pay for it. I picked out some nice yarn to bring back with me.


This is the yarn I picked out. It will keep me busy for a while.


The pubs in Ireland are very nice. The word "pub" is the short name for "public house." That's a place where human people go to eat and drink. It's like a restaurant (REST-uh-rahnt) or a cafe (keh-FAY). They have drinks for grownups, like wine and beer, but they also have drinks for everyone, even children and dolls, like tea and soda. You can even get milk!

When you drink a toast in Ireland, you say, "Slánte" (SHLON-shuh), which means "health." To drink a toast, you gently touch your glass or cup to someone else's and say "Slánte." 


I've been pretending to drink the lovely local tea with milk. I have my tea with something called "soda bread." It's tasty. I like the kind that's brown best. Sometimes it's still warm from the oven, with butter on it.


Some people bring musical instruments to the pubs and play for everyone. 


Sometimes people get up and dance (or pretend to dance, which is easier for me). I watched the human people dancing and pretended to dance the way they did.



Ireland has a special holiday we also have at home. It was St. Patrick's Day. That's when people in Ireland celebrate (SELL-uh-brate) the man who brought the Christian religion to Ireland. That means they do special things to remember him, like have a party or a parade. There are people of all religions in Ireland, but a lot of them are Christians. St. Patrick's Day is celebrated every year on March 17. Everyone wears green. I wore green almost every day anyway. I knew I would need green clothes in Ireland! People keep telling me I look Irish.


Much of Ireland is very green. I think green must be their favorite color. It is an island, so it is surrounded by ocean. Sometimes the ocean is green, but often it is blue.


The seaside towns are so pretty, and there are lots of boats. 


Some of the people who live close to the ocean make a living catching fish. They catch the fish to eat or to sell to other human people to eat. (Don't read this part to Cleo!)


Today is our last day, and it has been very exciting! We stopped in a pub for tea, as we have done every afternoon. It was raining (again). When we came out, the rain had just stopped and the sun had come out. There was a real rainbow!


I've heard that leprechauns hide their pots of gold at the end of the rainbow, so I went to look. The part of the rainbow that touched the ground ended by an old fence. I was very surprised to find a pot of gold-colored yarn!


That was not what I thought a pot of "gold" would be. I wonder where the leprechauns hide their other colors. I didn't take any, of course, because it didn't belong to me; it belonged to a leprechaun. (We shouldn't take things that don't belong to us, and besides, I am a guest in their country.)

Our return trip may be delayed because of flight cancellations (KAN-suh-LAY-shuns). That means the airline couldn't fly as planned. The writer said that she can ship me home in a box, but it may take a couple of days. That's OK, because my new knitting wool will keep me cosy. See you soon! (If The Writer's flight is cancelled, we may have the house to ourselves for a while.)

Love and XXX,

Mandy

P.S., The Writer says not to worry if she can't get a flight home just yet. She will stay in Ireland and work on the stories by email with Mariah. Mariah and Billy can decide what photos to take. The Writer will come home when she can, but we should please stay out of trouble!


Cast--
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Marmalade: Purrrfect Cats from KTL
Cleo: Herself

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.
<a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/198325... my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Copyright © 2020, 2025 by Peggy Stuart

Emil Takes the Lead to Celebrate Hanukkah

 Emil was very excited, but nervous.

This year, he would get to light the candles on the Menorah. Charlotte had always done it each year, but he was ready to have a turn. He was nervous, because he was going to have to explain the story behind the celebration for the other dolls, even though they had heard it before, each year, from Charlotte.

The other dolls didn't mind hearing the story again, because they knew that some of the children who would be reading this story might not have heard it before, and some stories are worth listening to again and again.

Emil only had to tell the story on the first night, before he lit the first candle. While it was still light outside, the dolls got everything set up. Emil put the menorah on the table, and Charlotte got two candles out of the box. That's all they needed for the first night.

Finally, they were ready! They just had to wait for sunset, which arrived at 4:30 PM where they all live.

The dolls assembled around the table. Emil was ready to start his story.

Emil took a deep breath. "Many years ago," he began, looking anxiously at Charlotte, "before dolls like us existed, an evil king took over the temple where people who believe as we do, the Jewish people, held their group prayers and services."

Charlotte nodded, so he would know he was telling it correctly.

"The evil king would not let the people use the temple anymore," Emil continued. "This place was very important to the people, because they felt close to God there."

"The king kept them out of this special place," Emil said, "but the people didn't give up. After a lot of struggle, and led by a brave leader named Judah Maccabee (MAC-uh-bee)," Emil said, "they finally took the temple back." 

"When the people had their temple back, they decided to have a special service to make the temple God's again," Emil continued. "They lit the special lamps they used in the temple with the little bit of lamp oil they had left. It was only enough for one day, but it was all they had."

Emil paused in the story, not because he couldn't remember what came next, but for effect (ee-FEKT). He wanted everyone to think about what he had just said. The other dolls all thought about how the service was very important to these people. They thought about how the people must be sad that they didn't have enough oil.

Emil explained, "That was before electricity. The lamps they used burned the way a candle burns, but using olive oil for fuel instead of wax, like a candle."

"So there they were," Emil continued, "with only enough oil for the lamps to burn for one day, so they lit them. Do you remember what happened then?" he asked.

"The lamps stayed lit!" cried Pippa. (She remembered the story from last year. She had expected the lamps to go out, but then the way Charlotte told the story, they didn't. The lamps burned for eight days!) "It was a miracle!" Pippa exclaimed.

"It was a miracle," Emil agreed. He had a feeling he should get on with the story, or Pippa would take over and he would get mixed up. "It was a miracle," he said, finding his place in the story in his mind, "and once a year we celebrate the miracle by lighting candles, one new one each night in addition to the the number of candles lit the nights before, using the Menorah to hold all the candles. We do this for eight nights. There are eight candles, to represent each of the eight nights the oil lasted."

"But there are places for nine candles," Pippa said. "That's because the Menorah has a place for the lighter candle."

"Yes," Emil said. "Do you remember what that candle is called?" When Pippa shook her head, he looked around at the others.

"It's the shamus." Billy said. He remembered that. It was his fourth Hanukkah celebration, one more even than Emil, even.

Then Emil lit a match and carefully used it to light the shamus, the candle in the middle. He knew he had to be very careful with the match. (The dolls knew not to use matches unless The Writer or her husband could be there to watch. No one wanted to melt their vinyl!)

"We always need an adult human person when we use matches," Charlotte told Pippa, in case she had forgotten this rule. (Pippa tends to forget rules sometimes. Rules are not always her highest priority, so it's good to remind her.)

"That's right, Charlotte," said Mandy, "and it's good The Writer is taking the photos."

"That's because Billy has to be in these photos," Pippa said. (She knew that Billy takes a lot of the photos for the stories, using the phone and his tripod. He could set the timer and be in a photo, but he just does that for group photos, where everyone can sit still and look at the camera, not when you're busy doing things.)

Then Emil took the shamus and used it to light the first candle. "We start on the right side," he said, "because Hebrew, the language these people spoke, and that we still use when we worship, is written from right to left." 

"That's different from most languages," Mariah pointed out. "We write English from left to right, but Arabic (AIR-uh-bik) is also written from the right." Mariah is learning Arabic, and she and Charlotte have talked about this feature in both of the special languages they were learning.

Emil felt proud, because he was learning Hebrew now, too, and Charlotte was helping him.

The dolls looked expectantly at Emil. They knew he still had more to say. They were ready for him to go on.

"After we light the first candle we say a prayer to thank God for the miracle long ago and to ask for God's protection," Emil said.

Then Emil and Charlotte looked at each other recited a prayer in Hebrew.

"Now we let the candles burn," Pippa said, "right?"

Emil agreed. "We have to let the candles burn all the way down, so we will leave the Menorah here, where it's safe."

It was time for a song. Mariah moved around to where Charlotte was, so the two of them could sing, since they were the only two dolls who can open their mouths. The other dolls hummed along, because you can hum with your mouth closed.

After they were done, the other dolls left the room to get the presents they had for each other. 

"Good job!" Charlotte whispered to Emil as she walked by. 

Emil would have blushed at her praise, but his vinyl always stays the same color. To make it a different color, the color has to be put in at the factory. He felt pleased, though, and he didn't have to pretend. Feeling pleased was for real.

"Hurry up!" cried Pippa. "It's time to open our presents! We get to play the game with the special top and pretend to eat some chocolate money!"

Emil lit a new candle every night. Charlotte was there to help him in case he forgot anything, but he didn't forget anything. At the end of The Festival of Lights, the menorah looked like this.

On the last day of Hanukkah, Emil looked into the box of candles. "They're almost all gone," he pointed out. "How many did we use? The new box is almost empty!"

Happy Hanukkah to all the children and dolls who celebrate it, or another way to say that is Chag Sameach! It sounds sort of like HAGH sa-MAY-agh, but not exactly. You can find the pronunciation here. It means "happy holidays," and if you learn it, you can say it for any holiday. 

Can you figure out how many candles they needed? They started out with two candles. They let them burn all the way down. Each day, they replaced the candles from the day before and added one...until they had nine on the menorah. How many had they used after the last day when the last candles had finished burning? It's important to know, so you don't have to go to the store in the middle of celebrating Hanukkah!

Did you figure out how many candles Emil used? The answer is way down at the bottom of this post, right above where the copyright dates are.

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 EmiliaPippa: 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, 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.
<a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/198325... my blog with Bloglovin</a>

The answer is 44. Did you get it right?

Copyright © 2021, 2024 by Peggy Stuart

Remembering Pauly's First Christmas

Pippa let Pauly in the front door. It was Christmas Eve, and Pauly was going to spend some of it with his friends! 

Pauly remembered his first Christmas, two years ago.

Pauly had come to visit the dolls who lived with The Writer every day that week to watch Charlotte and Emil light the menorah for Hanukkah. That was his first Hanukkah, too! This year Hanukkah wouldn't start until Christmas night. He thought back....
Each day that week, they got out the menorah while it was still daylight, so they would be ready. They needed candles and matches. The Writer had to come and watch, because matches have to be used very carefully. The first day was that Sunday.

At sunset they began. They lit one candle and used that one to light one more.

Pauly had never seen anyone light a menorah before...until that day. (Actually, Pauly had never seen a doll light a candle before, ever! Have you?)

Then Emil told a story to the others. It was a story about a miracle that happened long ago. It explained why they light the candles every year.The other dolls knew the story by now, but they liked to hear it again. Then Emil and Charlotte said some words in another language. They said it was a prayer.

The dolls do this every year, but it doesn't always happen the same time as Christmas. It's a special celebration that moves around. Pauly remembered it had something to do with calendars and the moon. Mariah said it was like Ramadan (RAH-muh-dahn), which she celebrates, because that is a different time each year, too. That year Hanukkah started week before Christmas Day.

Anyway, the next night, it was Charlotte's turn to light the menorah. She used the candle in the middle to light two candles. Each night they added one more candle. 

The dolls were very busy all week, and Pauly liked that he could watch and sometimes help. Jolena was baking.

Mandy and Veronika had more presents to wrap in the workroom. The packages would go under the tree in the living room.

When Jolena had all the baking and cooking done for the week, she cleaned up the kitchen, but she said she didn't need help.

Pippa and Pauly watched a holiday movie on the iPad while Jolena did the dishes. Santa was in the movie.

On another day, Billy read a Christmas story to Pippa and Pauly. They are all good readers, but it's fun to read something together, then talk about the story and the pictures.

On Christmas Eve, the dolls gave Pauly a present. It was a dreidel (DRAY-dul), which is a special kind of top (a toy that spins). 

"It's for a game," Emil told him. "We play it for Hanukkah."

"Games are fun," Pauly said excitedly, "and I've never had a present before!" 

"That's right!" Pippa exclaimed. "You haven't even had a birthday yet. Just wait. You'll get lots of presents, and maybe have a party."

The four of them played the dreidel game for a while. They each had a dreidel to use.

The dolls were also following Santa's trip on the website for NORAD, which keeps track of where he is all the time on Christmas Eve. Every so often, the dolls would go and check to see where Santa was on his trip.

They do this every year, but Pauly had never seen it before, of course, because it was his first Christmas.

It was a long time until bedtime, but Santa was already on his way, because there were parts of the world where it was already the middle of the night. Billy explained this to Pauly.

He told Pauly how the earth is like a ball, and day changes into night as the earth rotates, gradually turning so the sun's light on each place on the earth changes. It makes it appear as if the sun is moving across the sky and going down, when really, the place where we are is just turning away from the sun.

"Like how a dreidel spins?" Pauly asked. "Is rotate the same as spins?"

"Yes," Billy agreed. "How the earth rotates is a lot like a dreidel, only it seems slower, because the earth is so big."

They kept checking to see where Santa was. Pauly thought about how Santa was spending the whole time in the dark, delivering presents.

When the sun was getting very low in the sky, and they needed the lights, they went to look again. The dolls pointed out to Pauly where Santa was, and where they were, and Santa was getting closer.

Soon it was time for Pauly to go home. Jeffy was going to pick him up, so he couldn't stay long enough to watch Emil light the seventh candle. (The next year, Pauly would be able to stay long enough to watch each night. Hanukkah wasn't at the same time as Christmas the next year. It was earlier in December.)

While they waited for Jeffy, the dolls sat on the couch in the living room. They told Pauly all about their favorite presents for Christmas.

Pippa's favorite present was her own tiny copy of Alice in Wonderland.

Billy told Pauly about his first Christmas, and the sled Santa brought him.

While they were talking about Christmas presents, the doorbell rang. The dolls heard voices in the front hall.

"It's Jeffy!" Pauly exclaimed. "He's here!" 

The next day would be Pauly's first Christmas! He stopped to look at the tree before he left. His family had a tree in the living room, too. The decorations were a little different, but it was the same kind of thing, with presents underneath.

Jeffy was taking Pauly to visit his grandparents the next day, but the dolls promised to take pictures of Charlotte and Emil lighting the last candle on the menorah on Christmas night.

Pauly liked to think of the dolls standing around the table with all the candles lit. Last year he was able to come every night and watch. He hoped he could do that again this year. 

Happy Hanukkah and merry Christmas from all the dolls!

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 EmiliaPippa: Götz Little Kidz LottaPauly: Götz Little Kidz Paul

Find our how to play the dreidel game here.Track Santa on Christmas Eve here.You can read the story Emil and Charlotte tell when they light the candles here, a story about Emil's first time to light the candles.Wonder what Mariah was talking about when she mentioned Ramadan? Here's a story about that from #TheDollsStorybook: https://thedollsstorybook.blogspot.com/2021/05/fasting-and-feeding.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 , 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.
<a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/198325... my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Copyright © 2022, 2024 by Peggy Stuart