Fall Reading 2013 Doll Bones

Holly Black, cocreator of The Spiderwick Chronicles, has written a fascinating story about a group of friends who set out on a quest to lay a ghost to rest. Zach, Poppy and Alice have been friends for years. Their favorite game is a make-believe world of adventures that they people with their favorite action figures and dolls. The most powerful character in their game is the Great Queen, which is actually a china doll in Poppy's mother's curio cabinet. But Poppy insists that the doll holds the bones and ghost of a real girl and that the ghost wants them to return her to her grave for a proper burial. The trials the friends endure on their quest to fulfill the Great Queen's wishes are hard, frightening, and carry them far from home. As much as it is a story about friendship, childhood, and the power of shared dreams and secrets, this is also a story of how difficult growing up can be.

If you enjoy the other worlds glimpsed in stories like The Spiderwick Chronicles, or ghostly tales like All the Lovely Bad Ones, then you should give Doll Bones a try. For more information about Holly Black and her other books, visit her website.  There is also a trailer from the publisher. *A copy of this book is in the Fairview library.