I feel like I’m probably going to gush at some point during this blog. Doll Bones, by Holly Black, was one of the best creepy middle grade books I’ve read lately, right up there with Jonathan Auxier’s The Night Gardener. I have a very overactive imagination when it comes to creepy things, so middle grade creepiness is about the highest form of creepiness I can take. Doll Bones was perfect—Holly Black filled in just enough of the details and then left the rest to kids’ imaginations, which is really the best kind of horror fiction.
Doll Bones follows the story of Zach, Poppy and Alice, who are the kind of friends who play pretend. It opens on a scene where they’re playing with dolls and action figures, creating a whole new fantasy world that has pirates and warriors and a Great Queen, which is the bone china doll Poppy’s mother keeps hidden behind a cabinet. She rules over all the lands and is creepy, creepy, creepy.
They’re all in middle school now, so Zach’s father, thinking his son is too old to play pretend with a bunch of girls, throws all Zach’s action figures in the trash while he’s away at school. So Zach has to stop playing with Poppy and Alice, but he doesn’t tell them why. Just when their relationship is starting to fray—possibly for good—Poppy tells them that she was visited by the ghost of the bone china doll—which she says was made from the actual bones of a little girl who was murdered. She says that if they don’t return the doll to the cemetery where the girl should rest, the girl’s ghost will haunt them forever.
So they set off on a quest to find the Great Queen’s grave.
Doll Bones was such a riveting story that every time I opened it up to read aloud to my boys, they didn’t want me to stop. Black is a master at creepiness. My boys would shiver. I would shiver. But it was a palatable creepiness, one that wouldn’t quite keep you up at night. Or maybe it would, if you thought about it long enough. A doll made from the bones of a little girl? What’s creepier than a doll? Well, clowns for me. But still. Dolls are pretty creepy.
During the book, Poppy, Alice and Zach are carrying the doll in backpacks or under their arms. Sometimes the doll moves while they’re sleeping. Sometimes it wiggles while they’re racing out of danger. Sometimes people refer to it as another person. Is it just their imagination, or is it real?
At the heart of it, though, Doll Bones is a story about growing up and finding your way. It’s a story of friendship, no matter what. It’s a story about how a person is never too old to imagine and play pretend. That’s probably what I liked most about this book.
Black is not only a superb story teller, but she’s also a fantastic writer. Here’s a description of a man Poppy, Alice and Zach run into on their quest:
“The man behind the counter had a thick, wild head of black hair. It stuck up as though he’d been electrocuted, except where it crawled down his cheeks into sideburns.”
That’s great use of detail and language to make a person come alive.
And here’s an example of the creepiness Black sprinkles in:
“A sudden gust of wind made the branches outside shake and jitter. He couldn’t help imaging the long, bony fingers of the tree scraping against the glass.”
I mean, I used to have those same thoughts when I was a kid—bony fingers scraping against the window, or, worse, Freddy Krueger’s metal claws, coming to get me in my dreams.
I hope you enjoyed this book recommendation. Be sure to visit my recommendation page to see some of my best book recommendations. If you have any books you recently read that you think I’d enjoy, get in touch. And, if you’re looking for some new books to read, stop by my starter library, where you can get a handful of my books for free.
*The books mentioned above have affiliate links attached to them, which means I’ll get a small kick-back if you click on them and purchase. But I only recommend books I enjoy reading myself. Actually, I don’t even talk about books I didn’t enjoy. I’d rather forget I ever wasted time reading them.
