Raggedy Andy Stories by Johnny Gruelle, 1920.

This book is part of the original Raggedy Ann series by its creator, Johnny Gruelle. The first book in the series was just about Raggedy Ann, but this book introduces a boy doll named Raggedy Andy. The explanation behind Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy (according to the book, not real life) is that the two dolls belonged to a pair of childhood friends. One girl owned Raggedy Ann, and the other girl owned Raggedy Andy. At the beginning of this book, Raggedy Andy arrives by mail to join Raggedy Ann and the other dolls in Marcella’s nursery, supposedly sent to the author by the daughter of the woman who owned Raggedy Andy.

Every night when the humans in the house go to sleep, Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy and the other dolls and toys come to life and have adventures. Each chapter in the book is its own short story. Some of the stories have morals to them about being generous and making others happy. Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny also make appearances.

These stories can make good bedtime stories for young children because there is nothing at all stressful about them. The book makes it clear from the very beginning that dolls cannot be hurt, so whatever they go through in their adventures, no real harm is ever done.

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Project Gutenberg (multiple formats) and Internet Archive (multiple copies – including an audiobook). The LibriVox audiobook is also available on YouTube.

Stories in the Book:

How Raggedy Andy Came

The package with Raggedy Andy arrives, and the author is sees that Raggedy Andy and Raggedy Ann are glad to see each other again. The dolls cannot talk to each other in front of humans, but the author senses that they have things to say to each other, so he leaves them alone together.

The Nursery Dance

Raggedy Andy is brought to Marcella’s nursery with Raggedy Ann and Marcella’s other toys. When Marcella plays with her toys, she talks for them, but the toys have private thoughts of their own that they can’t say in front of her. After Marcella goes to bed, the toys begin to move about on their own and talk to each other. Raggedy Ann introduces Raggedy Andy to the other toys. Raggedy Andy has been stored in a trunk for a long time. Although, he was friends with a family of mice during that time, he is glad to be among other toys again.

The Spinning Wheel

The dolls in the nursery have a pillow fight and get feathers all over the floor. They clean up the feathers, but one of Raggedy Andy’s arms fall off in the right. (This doesn’t really hurt him because, as the book explains, Santa Claus gives the toys he makes a special wish that prevents them from being hurt by anything.) Raggedy Andy says that his arm has been loose for a while. The dolls say that maybe Raggedy Ann could sew it back on, but they need to find a needle and thread first. The dolls go on a daring expedition to the sewing room to get them. As Raggedy Ann repairs Raggedy Andy’s arms, she tells the dolls about another time when she repaired Raggedy Andy’s arm.

The Taffy Pull

Raggedy Andy suggests to the other dolls that they have a taffy pull. At first, the others think it’s a new kind of game, but Raggedy Andy explains that it’s a way to make candy. This is a good time for them to do it because Marcella and her parents are away, visiting relatives, so there is no one home to notice the dolls using the kitchen.

(This story actually contains a pretty good description of making homemade taffy, although the dolls aren’t hurt by touching hot, sticky candy, and a human child would be.)

The Rabbit Chase

Marcella’s dog, Fido, knows that the dolls can talk and also talks to them. One night, Fido hears a strange scratching sound. He wants to bark at it, but the dolls don’t want him to bark because it will wake the humans. They let Fido outside so he can see what the sound is. It turns out to be a rabbit, and the rabbit tries to hide from Fido by running into the house and hiding in the nursery. Raggedy Ann tells Fido to leave the rabbit along and asks the rabbit why it was scratching at their house. The rabbit explains that he is an Easter Bunny, and he only came to leave a basket of Easter Eggs for the children of the house.

The New Tin Gutter

When the house gets a new tin gutter, the dolls have fun sliding down it until a couple of penny dolls get lost down a drain pipe. Then, Raggedy Andy gets stuck trying to rescue them! The other dolls don’t know how to get them out and are afraid that they are lost forever. Then, it starts to rain, and when Marcella’s father notices that the drain seems plugged, he calls some workmen to figure out why the drain won’t work. The adults assume that Marcella must have put Raggedy Andy down the drain pipe when she was playing.

Doctor Raggedy Andy

Marcella sometimes likes to pretend that her dolls are ill and gives them medicine made out of water and brown sugar. However, one day, she leaves the French doll lying in bed after giving her medicine, and the medicine hardens so that her open-and-close eyes are stuck closed. The other dolls try to figure out how to help her, but it’s Raggedy Andy who figures out what to do.

Raggedy Andy’s Smile

Raggedy Andy’s smile is wearing off because Marcella’s little brother fed him orange juice. (Little Dicky isn’t sorry that he did this because he is only two years old, and as the book notes, two-year-olds don’t have many sorrows.) Raggedy Andy still feels like the happy doll he is even with only half a smile left, but Raggedy Ann says maybe they should wash Raggedy Andy’s face. The others don’t think it will do much good. They go downstairs and are surprised to see a man there. Immediately, the dolls act like they can’t move because the don’t want the humans to know that they come to life. However, this isn’t an ordinary man. This is Santa Claus! Santa Claus fixes Raggedy Andy’s face and smile and also gives the other dolls new painted faces and repairs other problems the dolls have.

The Wooden Horse

The children of the house get a new wooden horse on wheels for Christmas with a wooden wagon hitched to it. The horse takes some time figuring out how to move because he wasn’t used to moving when he was on a shelf in a toy shop. When the horse figures out how to move, he gives rides to the other dolls and toys. The other dolls think that the horse has more fun than anybody because people who make others happy are happier themselves.

Making ‘Angels’ in the Snow

Raggedy Andy has been away from the other dolls for a while because he got wet and frozen playing with Marcella in the snow at her grandmother’s house and needed to dry out and warm up. The others ask him how it happened, and he tells them about going sledding with Marcella and making snow angels. Then, Marcella left him outside on her sled, so he got frozen. In spite of this, Raggedy Andy thinks that it was an exiting time!

The Singing Shell

Marcella brings home a seashell from her grandmother’s house. At first, the dolls aren’t sure what to think of it. When the dolls listen at the mouth of the shell, they hear a whispering sound. As they listen, the whispering tells them the story of the shell and how it came from the ocean. The shell was found by a diver, who sold it to Marcella’s grandmother when she was young. The shell also sings, and the dolls enjoy hearing it sing.