Now listen as eight voices read to you Raggedy Ann's exciting adventures, as gentle and charming today, as they were when first published in 1918.įind out what is written on her candy heart, what was the gift the fairies brought, and all about Raggedy Ann's new sisters. To the millions of children and grown-ups who have loved a Rag Doll, the author dedicated these stories. “That love,” says Valencia, “was a lot of what Johnny brought to life in Raggedy.Download cover art Download CD case insert Raggedy Ann Stories The artist moved forward with the plush - for his little girl. Before her father had secured the patent for the doll, Valencia says, the 13-year-old died of “complications from a vaccine,” which historians have reported was for smallpox. Volland Company, Johnny Gruelle rented a loftspace in Norwalk, CT, and set his family to work constructing several dozen handmade Raggedy Ann dolls to be marketed along with the books. Only Marcela never got to celebrate the success of her favorite lovey. In 1918, around the time his Raggedy Ann Stories was first published by the P.F. Johnny Gruelle eventually created over forty Raggedy Ann and Andy books, all capturing his unique version of childhood. “So he fixed her up, painted a face on her, and thought, ‘Marcella loves this doll so much, maybe there’s some magic here.’” Raggedy Ann, heroine of the first book, was a favorite doll of his daughter, Marcella, who died after a long illness at the age of thirteen. “She found this doll all ragged and torn up,” says Valencia. Johnny Gruelle (Photo: Courtesy of the Gruelle Family)īut the road to, well, rags wasn’t without some drama along with way - much like the “toyland comes to life ideas” that Valencia says Gruelle’s Raggedy Ann book series reveals as Ann and her friends experience their “fantasy world adventures.”Īs the story goes, Gruelle’s daughter, Marcella, found a doll in her grandmother’s attic that instantly sparked the illustrator’s creativity.
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