The most recommended doll books

Who picked these books? Meet our 19 experts.

19 authors created a book list connected to dolls, and here are their favorite doll books.
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What type of doll book?

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Book cover of Doll Bones

Kelley Skovron Author Of No Filter

From my list on deliciously dark horror novels that are more sad than scary.

Why am I passionate about this?

I'm the author of over 15 novels written for kids, teens, and adults across several genres. The thing all my books have in common is that they are sad and they are dark. My most recent novel is my most distilled, compressed delivery of deliciously dark sadness yet! Oddly, I'm rarely sad in real life. My daughter suggested that I write books to get the darkness out of my head and onto the page, which I think is very insightful (she is my kid, after all). I enjoy the beauty in the breakdown, I savor the sublime catharsis of tragedy, and I want to share that perspective with everyone.

Kelley's book list on deliciously dark horror novels that are more sad than scary

Kelley Skovron Why did Kelley love this book?

I have never encountered a story that depicts the dread and heartbreak of growing up more authentically than Black has done in the pages of this Newberry-awarded novel for children.

It is both as brutal and as delicate as the creepy antique doll (which may or may not be haunted) at the center of the story. Three kids head out on their own, determined to lay the spirit trapped within the doll to rest while the all-to-real fears and quiet dangers of their regular lives snap at their heels.

It is a book of loss, acceptance, and courage that will remain nestled in my heart for life. I am literally tearing up right now as I think of it.

By Holly Black, Eliza Wheeler (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Doll Bones as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 10, 11, 12, and 13.

What is this book about?

My name is Eleanor Kerchner.
You can call me the Queen.
I died in 1895.
Now it's time to play.

A chilling ghost story by the bestselling author of The Spiderwick Chronicles, Holly Black.

Recipient of a Newbery Honor Award. An ALA Notable Book. A Kirkus Reviews Best Book. A School Library Journal Best Book. A Booklist Editor's Choice Books for Youth. A Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book. A 2013 Goodreads Choice award nominee. A People Magazine 'Best New Kids Book'.


Book cover of Frozen Charlotte

Amelinda Bérubé Author Of Here There Are Monsters

From my list on young adult supernatural horror.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been terrified, fascinated, and delighted by scary stories my whole life, and my very favorites dabble in the speculative and supernatural: ghosts, monsters, magic, and worlds beyond our own. Give me all your haunted houses, your warped realities, your inexplicable horrors intruding on the everyday world. These fantastical elements are fraught with the power of nightmares and fairy tales, and that makes them the best tools we have to get around our news-hardened, cynical safeguards and explore what truly frightens us.

Amelinda's book list on young adult supernatural horror

Amelinda Bérubé Why did Amelinda love this book?

This book features an isolated old schoolhouse that has been converted to a family home, where the ghost of one of its residents still lingers, along with her old collection of little porcelain dolls. The seaside landscape drips with atmosphere, and that army of tiny, malevolent porcelain figurines is one of the weirdest and scariest variations on the “creepy doll” trope I’ve ever encountered.

By Alex Bell,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Frozen Charlotte as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 13, 14, 15, and 16.

What is this book about?

A Zoella Book Club Autumn 2016 title
"So creepy and amazing [...] I loved it [...] You'll never look at small china dolls in the same way ever again." - Zoella
"Deliciously creepy." - Juno Dawson
Dunvegan School for Girls has been closed for many years. Converted into a family home, the teachers and students are long gone. But they left something behind...
Sophie arrives at the old schoolhouse to spend the summer with her cousins. Brooding Cameron with his scarred hand, strange Lillias with a fear of bones and Piper, who seems just a bit too good to be



Book cover of The Dollhouse: A Ghost Story

Kathryn Reiss Author Of Sweet Miss Honeywell's Revenge: A Ghost Story

From my list on creepy dollhouse books for middle grade readers.

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.

Kathryn's book list on creepy dollhouse books for middle grade readers

Kathryn Reiss Why did Kathryn 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 Doll Bones
Book cover of Frozen Charlotte
Book cover of The Dollhouse: A Ghost Story

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