The Stuffed Animal

                                                            Synopsis

"The Stuffed Animal" is the name of a small Victorian-style shop, belonging to a middle-aged woman, Miss Abigail Grace. Miss Grace has one abiding interest in life - finding stuffed animals and dolls at neighborhood yard sales, "rescuing" them and repairing them in her little shop.  She describes her shop as a “retirement home for dolls and teddies that were once the favorite toy of a small boy or girl.”
Early one Christmas Eve, Cindy Kim, now an adult, chances to meet Miss Grace on the street. Cindy inquires of her favorite childhood doll, Sabrina Ballerina. 

Cindy’s mom had put Sabrina in a yard sale, and had recalled Miss Grace buying Sabrina. Miss Grace remembers finding Sabrina and takes Cindy to her shop for a Christmas reunion with Sabrina. 
As she enters, Cindy meets Tommy, Susie and the other rescued dolls and teddies, and learns all their stories.

Then as Cindy and Sabrina are happily reunited, an uninvited crone, Vendetta Cage, enters the shop, sees and offers to buy Sabrina. When that fails, Ms. Cage undertakes to “kidnap” the doll. 

Happily, Ms. Cage's plan is thwarted when she trips over Ms. Grace's rather large sleeping dog, Furf, who has plopped down just inside the shop's door.

With Ms. Cage foiled, a Merry Christmas ensues for Cindy and Sabrina.

                                               Acknowledgments and Credits

The Hard Cover and Kindle versions of the book are illustrated by Jasmine Smith.

The audiobook was created by my daughter, Erin O' Shea, an actress by profession. She did all the voices. 

                                            The Genesis of The Stuffed Animal

One very pleasant summer evening, I attended a Quad City Music Guild cast party after the show. At the time, I was looking to write a Christmas mini-show to use as a Guild fundraiser.

Somehow, we began to talk about teddies and dolls, and I told the story of my daughter Erin's toy bunny, whom Erin simply called, "Bunny." Then, a friend who had costumed my show, told the story of her favorite doll, "Sabrina Ballerina." My friend also told of how her mother eventually discarded the doll in a yard sale. Of course, as a very little boy, I had my favorite teddy, "Susie."

It was then that The Stuffed Animal began to write itself. So, the dolls and teddies in this little bedtime story were all very real.