STORYBOOK DOLLS
Background
These storybook dolls are made of fabric and represent beloved characters in nursery rhymes and fairy tales. The dolls are between four and five inches tall and from two to four inches wide, depending upon their costumes. They are used as tools to accompany and enhance the stories read to children and stimulate children’s imagination and communication through play.
These storybook dolls are made of fabric and represent beloved characters in nursery rhymes and fairy tales. The dolls are between four and five inches tall and from two to four inches wide, depending upon their costumes. They are used as tools to accompany and enhance the stories read to children and stimulate children’s imagination and communication through play.
Brief History
Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf
Little Red Riding Hood in her red cloak with a basket full of treats and the Big Bad Wolf, dressed as Little Red’s grandmother. As the story goes— in the most commonly told version we hear in the US today— Little Red is tasked with visiting her grandmother and bringing her a basket of food. She is spotted by the Wolf, who overhears her tell the Huntsman that she is on her way to her grandmother's house. The Wolf then sneaks into the grandmother’s house, eats her whole, and impersonates her— as pictured by the storybook doll. When Little Red arrives, she is greeted by the Wolf and inquires about the size of the disguised Wolf’s ears and hands and eventually, “what big teeth you have!” to which the Wolf responds “all the better to eat you with!” and devours Little Red whole. The Huntsman hears the struggle and runs to the rescue, killing the Wolf and freeing Little Red and her grandmother.
The version of the story that is told today is most similar to Perrault’s seventeenth century version, where he attached the lesson warning young women to look out for predatory men and that people are not always who they appear to be. Anthropologist Jamie Tehrani reminds us that the story was actually told centuries before. It was merely recorded and altered by Perrault and then rewritten again by the Grimm Brothers in the nineteenth century. Tehrani notes an eleventh century poem written down by a priest “about a girl wearing a red baptism tunic who wanders off and encounters this wolf” (National Geographic). Tehrani concludes that the priest’s record is the oldest known version of Little Red Riding Hood, but that the language used in the story as we know it— “what big teeth you have!” and “all the better to eat you with!”— is a more recent addition.
Learn More:
https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/fantasy-and-fairytale-in-childrens-literature#
https://www.pookpress.co.uk/project/brothers-grimm-biography/
https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/playing_with_a_variety_of_toys_leads_to_appropriate_growth#:~:text=Playing%20with%20toys%20such%20as,social%2C%20emotional%20and%20language%20skills.&text=Playing%20with%20a%20doll%20leads,without%20being%20frightened%20of%20them.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/11/131129-little-red-riding-hood-folktale-tehrani-anthropology-science/
Little Red Riding Hood in her red cloak with a basket full of treats and the Big Bad Wolf, dressed as Little Red’s grandmother. As the story goes— in the most commonly told version we hear in the US today— Little Red is tasked with visiting her grandmother and bringing her a basket of food. She is spotted by the Wolf, who overhears her tell the Huntsman that she is on her way to her grandmother's house. The Wolf then sneaks into the grandmother’s house, eats her whole, and impersonates her— as pictured by the storybook doll. When Little Red arrives, she is greeted by the Wolf and inquires about the size of the disguised Wolf’s ears and hands and eventually, “what big teeth you have!” to which the Wolf responds “all the better to eat you with!” and devours Little Red whole. The Huntsman hears the struggle and runs to the rescue, killing the Wolf and freeing Little Red and her grandmother.
The version of the story that is told today is most similar to Perrault’s seventeenth century version, where he attached the lesson warning young women to look out for predatory men and that people are not always who they appear to be. Anthropologist Jamie Tehrani reminds us that the story was actually told centuries before. It was merely recorded and altered by Perrault and then rewritten again by the Grimm Brothers in the nineteenth century. Tehrani notes an eleventh century poem written down by a priest “about a girl wearing a red baptism tunic who wanders off and encounters this wolf” (National Geographic). Tehrani concludes that the priest’s record is the oldest known version of Little Red Riding Hood, but that the language used in the story as we know it— “what big teeth you have!” and “all the better to eat you with!”— is a more recent addition.
Learn More:
https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/fantasy-and-fairytale-in-childrens-literature#
https://www.pookpress.co.uk/project/brothers-grimm-biography/
https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/playing_with_a_variety_of_toys_leads_to_appropriate_growth#:~:text=Playing%20with%20toys%20such%20as,social%2C%20emotional%20and%20language%20skills.&text=Playing%20with%20a%20doll%20leads,without%20being%20frightened%20of%20them.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/11/131129-little-red-riding-hood-folktale-tehrani-anthropology-science/
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Mother Goose This character is a goose dressed as Mother Goose and holding a book of her nursery rhymes. Mother Goose nursery rhymes are of the most well known and beloved children’s poems and are often republished with new illustrations. The origins of Mother Goose are unclear, though some believe she was a widowed woman with the last name of Goose who lived in Boston and sang songs to her grandkids and the neighboring children. However, with French texts in the seventeenth century referring to a Mother Goose, the exact origins of the mysterious mother and her rhymes are uncertain. What we do know is that French author, Charles Perrault, published moral fairy tales and Mother Goose in the late seventeenth century, with the subtitle Contes de ma mère l'Oye or The Tales of Mother Goose. This publication also contained Perrault’s version of the stories of Cinderella, Puss and Boots, and Little Red Riding Hood, among many others. These renditions of the classic fairy tales were intended to communicate morals and cautions to readers and are the most similar to the fairy tales that we often hear today. |
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Miss Muffet
One of Mother Goose’s popular rhymes is Miss Muffet:
Little Miss Muffet.
Sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey;
There came a big spider,
And sat down beside her,
And frightened Miss Muffet away.
Miss Muffet is depicted in this storybook doll with her bowl of curds and whey— a curdled milk dish similar to cottage cheese— and the spider on her arm. The identity of the real Miss Muffet is debatable. The rhyme could be referring to the daughter of Dr. Thomas Muffet who was an entomologist in the late sixteenth century. As the story goes, Miss Muffet was eating her meal and was frightened when one of her father’s specimens— the notable spider— joined her. In this case, Little Miss Muffet would be a description of someone with arachnophobia (irrational fear of spiders). It is also possible that Miss Muffet and the spider represent Mary, Queen of Scots and minister John Knox who had differences during the Scottish Reformation in the sixteenth century.
Learn More:
https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/fantasy-and-fairytale-in-childrens-literature#
https://www.pookpress.co.uk/project/brothers-grimm-biography/
https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/playing_with_a_variety_of_toys_leads_to_appropriate_growth#:~:text=Playing%20with%20toys%20such%20as,social%2C%20emotional%20and%20language%20skills.&text=Playing%20with%20a%20doll%20leads,without%20being%20frightened%20of%20them.
Foster, S., & Redman, L. (2008). Hey Diddle Diddle: our best-loved nursery rhymes and what they really mean. Summersdale.
Goldthwaite, J. (1996). The natural history of make-believe : a guide to the principal works of britain, europe, and america. Oxford University Press.
poetryfoundation.org/poets/mother-goose
Learn More:
https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/fantasy-and-fairytale-in-childrens-literature#
https://www.pookpress.co.uk/project/brothers-grimm-biography/
https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/playing_with_a_variety_of_toys_leads_to_appropriate_growth#:~:text=Playing%20with%20toys%20such%20as,social%2C%20emotional%20and%20language%20skills.&text=Playing%20with%20a%20doll%20leads,without%20being%20frightened%20of%20them.
Foster, S., & Redman, L. (2008). Hey Diddle Diddle: our best-loved nursery rhymes and what they really mean. Summersdale.
Goldthwaite, J. (1996). The natural history of make-believe : a guide to the principal works of britain, europe, and america. Oxford University Press.
poetryfoundation.org/poets/mother-goose
Jack and the Beanstalk
In the nineteenth century, author Joseph Jacobs published his rewritten version of the story Jack and the Beanstalk. This version of the story grew in popularity and is the most similar to the renditions of the classic story circulating now. The first published story of Jack and his magical beanstalk was entitled “The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean” and published in an eighteenth century English entertainment pamphlet entitled Round about our Coal Fire or Christmas Entertainments, and sold to the public for the price of one shilling. In this publication, the giant exclaims “Fee-Faw-Fum! I smell the blood of an Englishman!” which evolved to the “Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum!” that we repeat today.
This storybook doll is of Jack, who is holding his newly planted beanstalk and bag of magic beans. In the story, poor Jack is told by his mother to sell their cow at the market, but instead Jack sells it to a mysterious man on the way in exchange for some magic beans. Jack returns home and is scolded by his mother, who discards the beans. That night, a giant beanstalk grows and curious Jack climbs up to discover a giant’s kingdom in the sky. Jack returned to the giant’s kingdom three times, receiving food and stealing golden treasures from the giant's wife, who hides him from the giant. The giant famously says “Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum! I smell the blood of an Englishman!” On the third visit, the giant discovers jack stealing a magical golden harp and chases him down the beanstalk. Jack reaches the bottom first and promptly chops the beanstalk down, making the giant fall to his death. In the end, Jack and his mother live happy and wealthy from the profit made from the giant's treasures.
Learn More:
https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/fantasy-and-fairytale-in-childrens-literature#
https://www.pookpress.co.uk/project/brothers-grimm-biography/
https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/playing_with_a_variety_of_toys_leads_to_appropriate_growth#:~:text=Playing%20with%20toys%20such%20as,social%2C%20emotional%20and%20language%20skills.&text=Playing%20with%20a%20doll%20leads,without%20being%20frightened%20of%20them
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/the-beanstalk-s-roots-1.259268
https://americanliterature.com/childrens-stories/jack-and-the-beanstalk
Merryman, D. ([1734]). Round about our coal fire, or, Christmas Entertainments.4th ed. Printed for J. Roberts in Warwick-lane, and sold by the booksellers in town and country.
https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CB0129997864/ECCO?u=claremont_main&sid=ECCO&xid=4fb1b944&pg=47
https://www.pookpress.co.uk/project/joseph-jacobs-biography/
In the nineteenth century, author Joseph Jacobs published his rewritten version of the story Jack and the Beanstalk. This version of the story grew in popularity and is the most similar to the renditions of the classic story circulating now. The first published story of Jack and his magical beanstalk was entitled “The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean” and published in an eighteenth century English entertainment pamphlet entitled Round about our Coal Fire or Christmas Entertainments, and sold to the public for the price of one shilling. In this publication, the giant exclaims “Fee-Faw-Fum! I smell the blood of an Englishman!” which evolved to the “Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum!” that we repeat today.
This storybook doll is of Jack, who is holding his newly planted beanstalk and bag of magic beans. In the story, poor Jack is told by his mother to sell their cow at the market, but instead Jack sells it to a mysterious man on the way in exchange for some magic beans. Jack returns home and is scolded by his mother, who discards the beans. That night, a giant beanstalk grows and curious Jack climbs up to discover a giant’s kingdom in the sky. Jack returned to the giant’s kingdom three times, receiving food and stealing golden treasures from the giant's wife, who hides him from the giant. The giant famously says “Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum! I smell the blood of an Englishman!” On the third visit, the giant discovers jack stealing a magical golden harp and chases him down the beanstalk. Jack reaches the bottom first and promptly chops the beanstalk down, making the giant fall to his death. In the end, Jack and his mother live happy and wealthy from the profit made from the giant's treasures.
Learn More:
https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/fantasy-and-fairytale-in-childrens-literature#
https://www.pookpress.co.uk/project/brothers-grimm-biography/
https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/playing_with_a_variety_of_toys_leads_to_appropriate_growth#:~:text=Playing%20with%20toys%20such%20as,social%2C%20emotional%20and%20language%20skills.&text=Playing%20with%20a%20doll%20leads,without%20being%20frightened%20of%20them
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/the-beanstalk-s-roots-1.259268
https://americanliterature.com/childrens-stories/jack-and-the-beanstalk
Merryman, D. ([1734]). Round about our coal fire, or, Christmas Entertainments.4th ed. Printed for J. Roberts in Warwick-lane, and sold by the booksellers in town and country.
https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CB0129997864/ECCO?u=claremont_main&sid=ECCO&xid=4fb1b944&pg=47
https://www.pookpress.co.uk/project/joseph-jacobs-biography/
Donor
The storybook dolls were donated by Greta Nagel, President/CEO of the Museum of Teaching and Learning. They were a present from her daughter Christina Nagel.
The storybook dolls were donated by Greta Nagel, President/CEO of the Museum of Teaching and Learning. They were a present from her daughter Christina Nagel.