Johnny Gruelle (1880–1938)

A lovely book. Yes, it's of its time, but that's the joy ... something as sweet and simple would seem impossibly naive, today. It's not modern: Marcella treats her doll with equal parts tenderness and unthinking sadism, there's a black servant, and Raggedy Ann's pleasant equanimity must have been easier to swallow in a time when women were supposed to be happily subservient.

And yet ... fairies, kittens, candy hearts, the gentlest of adventures, only happy endings, and the most beautiful show more illustrations by the author (if you're reading an unillustrated version, you're missing A Lot. Stop right now, and get the illustrated one (it's free on Project Gutenberg). If a book could smell, it would smell like an apple orchard in blossom with English daisies blooming through the meadow-grass below.

Four stars, because I'm reserving five for the odder, later books, when Raggedy Ann throws off the shackles of simply being a doll, and goes on Rupert-or-Oz-like adventures in unusual fairylands.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve! show less

Awful... just awful and no i don't care if i'm being mean ;) . I somehow gave the first of these books 4 stars. That one had a sort of Toy Story vibe to it, there were some humans about and at least some minor elements of jeopardy.
This time however there is nothing to mitigate the tweeness. I mean the tellytubbies are more hardcore than this lot... probably more educational too :P . I did actually give it an extra star for some of its animal characters, even if the information about them show more was about as reliable as the the [b:Just So Stories|34053|Just So Stories|Rudyard Kipling|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1546075870s/34053.jpg|2475078] :P . However i took the star back due to the terrible repetitiveness of the tales. It became almost Scooby-doo-esque with almost every story ending the same way, except everyone has cake and soda-water instead of arresting the old creepy guy :) . show less

One thing missing from these stories is a list of the dolls. You do get to know them as you go along but a role-call at the start would have been nice so here you go.
Raggedy Ann - Female, cheap stitched doll.
Four Penny Dolls - Female, small dolls.
Indian Doll - Male, given his tracking skills i'm assuming indian as in Native American.
French Doll - Female.
Uncle Clem - Male, scotish doll complete with kilt.
Tin Soldier - Male, made of tin as the name suggests.
Dutch Doll - Male, Dutch dolls are show more usually wooden. Says 'mamma' when knocked over (i had no idea they had talking dolls as early as 1918 :) ).

Proto-toystory tales. Read about what the dolls get up to when their owner isn't looking. These are really nice kids stories and even the gutenberg versions come illustrated which is great.
There are some minor issues, it can be a little bit twee at times. And by a LITTLE bit, i mean it occasionally feels like your trapped inside a candyfloss, while under rainbow cannon assault by an army of 'Care Bears' riding 'My Little Ponies' :P .
It also goes in the opposite direction on occasion. While its made clear the dolls feel no pain, its still a little unsettling when they get damaged, such as " Raggedy Ann.. smiled so hard she ripped two stitches out of the back of her rag head. " eeew! i know its just a doll but thats still creepy :lol.
Overall, very hard to dislike even for someone as emotionally dead inside as I am ;) . show less

A little preachy just like the other Raggedy Ann/Andy books we're read, but thankfully has a little more variety than the others (there are a couple of subplots rather than the same story over and over). It also earns an extra half-star for the entertainment value of trying to calculate just how much sugar the dolls eat during the course of the book (nine ice cones + nine root beer sodas + cookies + more ice cream + cream puffs, etc.). Not recommended for NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg (he of show more the attempted ban on large sodas). show less