Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always loved dollhouses, from the one my mom built for me when I was ten, to the ones I refinished and decorated as an adult with my own kids. There’s something magical and mysterious about miniature rooms, tiny furnishings, and dolls who may have secret lives unknown to us. My first novel, Time Windows, features a dollhouse found in an attic that allows Miranda to see through its windows into different times in her real house’s past. In my second dollhouse novel, Sweet Miss Honeywell’s Revenge, Zibby’s antique dollhouse turns out to be teeming with ghosts. I am intrigued by other authors’ novels of dollhouses, and I hope you will enjoy those on this list as well as my own two creepy tales.


I wrote

Sweet Miss Honeywell's Revenge: A Ghost Story

By Kathryn Reiss,

Book cover of Sweet Miss Honeywell's Revenge: A Ghost Story

What is my book about?

Zibby knows there's something very wrong with the dilapidated antique dollhouse she bought for her twelfth birthday at a miniatures…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Dollhouse Murders

Kathryn Reiss Why did I love this book?

In this book the dollhouse is in the attic. The main character, Amy, is terrified by the scratching noises and flashing lights coming from the dollhouse. And the dollhouse dolls are never where Amy left them. This haunting novel combines complicated family secrets with a spine-tingling mystery. I love that the dollhouse is connected to secrets in Amy’s own family—and a murder long from long ago.

By Betty Ren Wright, Leo Nickolls (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Dollhouse Murders as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

Dolls can't move by themselves. . . . Or can they?

This special anniversary edition of the hair-raising mystery that's kept readers up at night for thirty-five years features a foreword by Goosebumps creator R.L. Stine.

Amy is terrified. She hears scratching and scurrying noises coming from the dollhouse in the attic, and the dolls she was playing with are not where she left them. Dolls can't move by themselves, she tells herself. But every night when Amy goes up to check on the dollhouse, it's filled with an eerie light and the dolls have moved again! Are the dolls…


Book cover of The Dollhouse: A Ghost Story

Kathryn Reiss Why did I love this book?

Alice and her mom move to a huge manor house where Alice's mom will take care of a rich old lady. Then Alice finds a dollhouse in the attic that's an exact replica of the house she's living in. (What is it about dollhouses hidden away in attics?) But the tale moves in a very different direction when Alice wakes up one morning to find a strange girl asleep next to her in her bed—a girl who looks just like a doll from the dollhouse. Where has she come from? What is her connection to the dollhouse, and to the unpleasant woman who owns it? 

I love the way this novel merges mystery and ghost story.  I was immediately hooked. 

By Charis Cotter,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Dollhouse as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 9, 10, 11, and 12.

What is this book about?

A creepy, mysterious dollhouse takes center stage in this atmospheric middle-grade mystery for fans of Doll Bones and Small Spaces.

Alice's world is falling apart. Her parents are getting a divorce, and they've cancelled their yearly cottage trip -- the one thing that gets Alice through the school year. Instead, Alice and her mom are heading to some small town where Alice's mom will be a live-in nurse to a rich elderly lady.

The house is huge, imposing and spooky, and everything inside is meticulously kept and perfect -- not a fun place to spend the summer. Things start to…


Book cover of Mindy's Mysterious Miniature

Kathryn Reiss Why did I love this book?

This is the one that will really appeal to readers who wish they could shrink down to the right size to enter into a dollhouse. Mindy finds the miniature house hidden in an old barn and can’t believe how realistic it is. The tiny furnishings are almost too realistic... But before she figures out its terrible secret, she and her neighbor become trapped inside!  

I always wanted to shrink down small enough to fit into my dollhouses, so this story really appeals.  

By Jane Louise Curry,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Mindy's Mysterious Miniature as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A young girl and her neighbor become mysteriously trapped inside an elaborate dollhouse


Book cover of The Doll's House

Kathryn Reiss Why did I love this book?

A little wooden doll named Tottie is excited when an antique dollhouse is given to the children in her human family. But while the dollhouse itself is lovely, a dreadful doll named Marchpane comes with it.  She is a horror—and completely disrupts the harmonious life of the doll family. What to do? How can she be gotten rid of?  

This is a tale with a race against time, and an effort to restore balance to a damaged world. I especially love that the story is told from the doll’s point of view. Tottie is a sweet little thing, always worrying about others, but very determined to set things to rights before Marchpane ruins everything forever.

By Rumer Godden, Tasha Tudor (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Doll's House as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From Rumer Godden, one of the foremost authors of the 20th century, and illustrated by two-time Caldecott Honor recipient Tasha Tudor, comes a heartwarming tale filled with imagination and creativity that is ideal for any girl who has ever loved a doll so much that it has become real to her.

For Tottie Plantaganet, a little wooden doll, belonging to Emily and Charlotte Dane is wonderful. The only thing missing is a dollhouse that Tottie and her family could call their very own. But when the dollhouse finally does arrive, Tottie's problems really begin. That dreadful doll Marchpane comes to…


Book cover of The Doll House Caper

Kathryn Reiss Why did I love this book?

The Dollhouse family in this novel comes to life every Christmas. This year feels different because the three boys in their human family are growing up and don’t seem interested in playing with them. Worse still, the Dollhouse family learns that burglars are planning to break into the house and steal the valuables—and possibly the dollhouse itself. How can they warn the human family when the humans don’t even believe they are real? They make plan after desperate plan, and as each plan fails, they must come up with a solution before it is too late.

This story made me chuckle even as the plot thickens and the danger intensifies. I love the blend of fantasy and invention, and the satisfying ending.

By Jean S. O'Connell,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Doll House Caper as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Vintage book


Explore my book 😀

Sweet Miss Honeywell's Revenge: A Ghost Story

By Kathryn Reiss,

Book cover of Sweet Miss Honeywell's Revenge: A Ghost Story

What is my book about?

Zibby knows there's something very wrong with the dilapidated antique dollhouse she bought for her twelfth birthday at a miniatures market. She hears strange rustlings in the house and one of the dolls never seems to be where she left it. Most frightening of all, whatever make-believe Zibby plays with the dolls comes true—but in a warped, twisted kind of way. Terrified, she tracks down the original owner and learns that the dollhouse is haunted by the ghost of a stern and terrifying governess named Miss Honeywell. Zibby and her friends must race against time to lay this ghost to rest before someone else winds up dead.

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My Year of Casual Acquaintances

By Ruth F. Stevens,

Book cover of My Year of Casual Acquaintances

Ruth F. Stevens Author Of My Year of Casual Acquaintances

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

From the time I was a girl, I’ve loved stories that put a lump in my throat even as I’m laughing. As a fiction writer, that funny-sad tone is the one I go for in my own work. I gravitate toward female protagonists of all ages who break the mold—women who are intelligent and strong but who also have unconventional, quirky personalities. Women who can be hilarious, infuriating, and heartbreaking—sometimes all at once. Because they are complex and unique, these women tend to struggle with life’s challenges more than their contemporaries. That’s what makes their stories so interesting, and why I have chosen the books on this list. 

Ruth's book list on smart, quirky women facing personal struggles

What is my book about?

When Mar’s husband divorces her, she reacts by abandoning everything in her past: her home, her friends, even her name. Though it's not easy starting over, she’s ready for new adventures—as long as she can keep things casual. Each month, Mar goes from one acquaintance to the next: a fellow gym member down on her luck, a flirty hip-hop instructor, a bossy but comical consultant. . . and a handsome novelist who wants more than she can give. Mar learns from each encounter. But can she open herself up to true connection?

Surrounded by quirky, endearing characters, Mar navigates her…

My Year of Casual Acquaintances

By Ruth F. Stevens,

What is this book about?

"A fun, entertaining novel! I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't enjoy this book as much as I did." -Leslie A. Rasmussen, award-winning author

When Mar Meyer's husband divorces her for another woman, she reacts by abandoning everything in her past: her home, her friends, even her name. Though it's not easy to start over, Mar is young-looking, fit, and ready for new adventures-as long as she can keep things casual.

With each passing month, Mar goes from one acquaintance to the next. Among them: a fellow gym member down on her luck, a flirty hip-hop instructor, a bossy but comical…


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