Raggedy Ann Stories

Written by Johnny Gruelle

Narrated by Cathy Dobson

Dear old Raggedy Ann! The beloved rag doll who comes to life and along with the other toys in the nursery has a series of exciting adventures. Generations of children have listened round eyed and open mouthed as Raggedy Ann flies away on a kite, rescues the family dog from the pound, helps the hens hatch out chicks and lands up in the paint pot.

Johnny Gruelle (1880-1938) was an American artist, cartoonist and children's author. One day his daughter Marcella found a dusty, faceless rag doll in the attic. Gruelle drew a face on the doll and named her Raggedy Ann. Marcella played with the doll so much, Gruelle thought other children would like the doll too. He started a company making the Raggedy Ann dolls and wrote a series of popular books for children based on the adventures of Marcella and Raggedy Ann which became timeless classics for many generations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Red Door Consulting
• Release date: Aug 27, 2012
• ISBN: 9781467668576

Johnny Gruelle

Johnny Gruelle was a newspaper man who began writing stories about Raggedy Ann at the turn of the century, in order to entertain his ailing daughter, Marcella. He wrote many stories about the rag doll and her brother Raggedy Andy, including two collections, Raggedy Ann Stories and Raggedy Andy Stories. Though Mr. Gruelle died in 1938, his legacy is continued by his family and the millions around the world who have been touched by his simple messages of love, respect, and friendship.

Reviews for Raggedy Ann Stories

[ashleytylerjohn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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 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!

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very sweet stories with lovely morals. I would totally read these to children today -- they hold up well and don't seem terribly dated.

[demiguise · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

When I was a little girl my favorite doll was my Raggedy Ann doll. I never went anywhere without 'Annie' and told her all my secrets. This book was one of the first ones I remember having that was mine, as opposed to part of the library shared with my brother. I loved reading these stories over and over. I was sure that my doll was really alive and here was a book that proved it.