Doll Bones by Holly Black

(Spoiler Alert)

Black, H (2013). Doll bones. NY: Simon & Schuster.

Recommended age: 4th grade +

Summary: Zach, Poppy, and Alice have been friends forever. They play imaginative games using dolls/action figures.  These games center around a bone china doll they call "The Queen."  She resides in a cabinet, and the children are not allowed to touch her at all.  As they enter middle school, Zach's father decides that he is too old for toys.  He throws all of Zach's loved toys in to the trash, ending the game forever, or so he thought.  Poppy begins having dreams about the doll and realizes that the doll is possessed. The doll was made with the bones of a young girl who died.  Inside the doll are the ashes of her remains.  Poppy and her friend go on an adventure to a near by town to bury the doll. Their quick over night trip turns into an adventure that they will never forget.  In the end, the three are able to bury the doll in her empty grave next to her father in the cemetery, and hold on to their long time friendship.

Response;  This book was a decent book, but not one of my favorites.  It didn't hold my attention as well as many of the others I have recently read.  However, it was a bit creepy and one my older elementary students would enjoy. It is full of action and mystery.  It leaves you wondering until the very end if the doll is truly possessed or if Poppy is making it all up.
This book would be good to use as a demonstration of plot in a story.

Similar books:
Coraline by Neil Gaiman, The Egypt Game, by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konigsburg
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, by Joan Aiken
The Doll in the Garden, by Mary Downing Hanh
The House with a Clock in its Walls, by John Bellairs
Harriet the Spy, by Louise Fitzhugh

There is a link on Holly Black's website for reading guides for her books.  At the time of my posting this, the link was down.  http://blackholly.com/for-booksellers/reading-guides/