Books for Young People: Doll Bones

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Author: Kyla Sterling

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Doll Bones won a Newbery Honor medal in 2013 (that means it was one of the top handful of American children’s books published that year, as voted on by children’s librarians). And once you finish it, put it down, take a deep breath, and then glance around you to make sure you haven’t been followed, you’ll understand why. The book, by Holly Black (of Spiderwick Chronicles fame) is a ghost story masquerading as a coming-of-age journey. Or maybe it’s the growing up story that hides behind the ghost story. Either way, it’s got a solid grasp of entering puberty while making you check under your bed before you turn out the lights.

Zack, Alice, and Poppy have been playing a Game for several years now. (No, not The Game.) It’s a sort of table-top RPG, minus the table and the dice. Their characters have adventured all over the land and sea, represented by dolls and action figures. And most of their quests are in service to the Great Queen, played by an antique porcelain doll locked in a china cabinet at Poppy’s house. But the group are getting older, and they’re starting to branch out in different directions with different social groups.

And then Zack’s dad throws away the action figures. So Zack, rather than explain to the girls that the characters they represented are gone, just decides to quit the Game. One thing leads to another, and Poppy frees the Queen from the cabinet and sets the group off on an epic quest to bury the doll – supposedly made from the bones of a girl their age – in another state so she can be at peace.

This is where the ghost story comes in. While at first, nobody’s really sure whether Poppy’s just making up this whole story as an excuse to keep the friends together, weird things keep happening. Other people refer to a fourth person in the group. Repeatedly. The doll moves during the night when they’re asleep. The kids start having creepy dreams. But are the dreams brought on by the stress of their adventure? Is Poppy just waiting for the other two to fall asleep before putting the doll somewhere else?

The three friends hash out their differences against the backdrop of the story of Eleanor, the girl who was supposedly made into the doll when she died. Her tale is revealed little by little while Zack confronts his feelings about his dad, Alice longs to escape her overprotective grandmother, and Poppy desperately clings to the friends who are growing up and leaving her behind.

It sounds a little convoluted, but it definitely works. The kids’ storyline is solid, and nothing ever feels contrived. Zack is an excellent narrator, trying to come to grips with moving on from what his dad thinks are childish things when he still longs to be the character he played in the Game. And the ghost story is spread out well throughout the book – the Queen is always present in the story, even when you’re not learning about her background, and there’s something about her that’s just…spooky.

Things to know: Not a whole lot in here that would traumatize anyone. The three kids run away from home, and there’s a creepy dude who tries to mess with them on a bus, but there’s no actual harm done to them. The ghost story is spooky, but again, it’s not really violent. There’s no bad language, no sex, no drug abuse. They are three kids hitting puberty, though, so crushes are discussed.

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