The Raggedy Andy Stories: Introducing the Little Rag Brother of Raggedy Ann - Couverture rigide

Johnny Gruelle's first collection of stories featuring Raggedy Ann was published in 1918. These tales, illustrated by Gruelle's own charming and brightly colored drawings, were inspired by his daughter Marcella's devotion to a rag doll that has originally belonged to her grandmother. Raggedy Ann Stories was the first of a series of forty books. In 1920, Gruelle brought out Raggedy Andy Stories.
Gruelle called his rag-doll boy "the little rag brother of Raggedy Ann." In this new Derrydale book of the best stories and art from the first edition, Raggedy Andy is introduced to all the other dolls in Marcella's nursery for the first time, and adventure after adventure follows. All the favorite doll characters from Raggedy Ann Stories are here: the French doll, Uncle Clem, Henny the Dutch doll, as well as Marcella's mischievous dog Fido. As a special treat, the denizens of the nursery are visited by such childhood celebrities as Santa Claus and the Easter bunny.
Included in this new edition, which beautifully recreates the layout of the original using all-new type, are the full-color illustrated stories "How Raggedy Andy Came," "The Nursery Dance," "The Spinning Wheel," "The Taffy Pull," "The Rabbit Chase," "Raggedy Andy's Smile, "The Wooden Horse," and "Making 'Angels' in the Snow."

Johnny Gruelle was an extremely talented cartoonist, illustrator, and storyteller. He had already written and illustrated a book of original fairy tales before creating the Raggedy Ann and Andy stories es. Raggedy Ann, heroine of the first book, was the favorite doll of his daughter, Marcella, who died after a long illness at the age of thirteen. Johnny Gruelle eventually created over forty Raggedy Ann and Andy books, all capturing his unique vision of childhood. Overwork and copyright disputes led to his untimely death in 1938.
The Gruelle family -- Johnny's widow, Myrtle, and sons Worth and Richard -- soon created the Johnny Gruelle Co., which carries on his work. Today Worth and his own son, Kim, run the Last Great Co.® in Cashiers, North Carolina, and still have a hand in overseeing Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls, books, and related products.