I had an Andy doll also, but he was never as much of a pal as Raggedy Ann was. She was always excited and happy about life in general, and the lessons in this charming little book are obvious but are gently told. She tells the other dolls all about it, and how she now has thousands of sisters just like herself.in other words she was cloned! That would be frightening to any other doll, but Raggedy Ann was excited about all the little girls that would now get to have a special friend. She is taken apart and copied for a pattern, then put back together and returned to Marcella. In the last chapter, Raggedy Ann is very brave when she is taken off to what turns out to be a factory. That chapter was a bit creepy, but Raggedy Ann and the cat (a new one, not one of the three from the barn.they were never mentioned again for some reason) save the day for everyone in more ways than one. The only time she lost her temper was when a mouse came into the nursery one night and ate the wax face off of a new doll that had just arrived. She is just so cute, it makes me happy even now to see her face. These were active toys!Īnd through it all, even when she gets washed by accident in a wringer washer and becomes flat as a pancake, Raggedy Ann is always smiling. They all sneak into the pantry and eat lots of treats, they go rescue Fido the puppy from the dog pound, they go out to the barn and convince Mamma Cat to take her three kittens into the nursery so Marcella can play with them. I liked animal toys better myself, so I was never jealous of how many dolls this little girl had and now as an adult all I can say is Why So Many?!Īnyway, each short chapter relates a different adventure that Raggedy Ann has, because of course she and the other dolls all come to life when no one is around. I remembered some of them: the French doll, the Dutch doll, the Scotch doll.

She has been in the attic for 50 years, so has old-fashioned clothes and a funny painted-on face, but she quickly becomes Marcella's favorite doll. Grandmother very graciously mends a few raggedy places and presents Ann to Marcella.

We meet Raggedy Ann when little Marcella is playing at her Grandmother's house and discovers the doll in a barrel in a dark corner up in the attic. And I loved the illustrations in the Gutenberg edition. I vaguely remember reading the stories, or at least hearing them, but I didn't remember enough details to spoil the reading now. She was my favorite doll when I was a child, the only doll I carried with me everywhere. I do have lovely memories of Raggedy Ann. Not that I was worried about warping childhood memories I just forgot about it until recently when I was tidying up my lists for 2016. I found Raggedy Ann Stories at Project Gutenberg quite some time ago but never took the time to read the book until now.

Raggedy ann stories