This is a book about a boy who is friends with girls and plays with dolls until 1 day his father takes away his toys telling him to play basketball. His friend isn't happy with that and sends them on a quest to put the doll in her grave. Throughout the book Zack is wonders if the quest is real or if Poppy is lying to get them back together. I thought this was a great book with tons of suspense leaving you asking questions. Holly Black is the only author to be able to write such an outstanding piece of literature. 5 stars for sure!Ps. Some names may be wrong Genre: Fantasy Age: 8+ years oldSummary: This book is about a group of friends, Zach Poppy and Alice. These three friends play with dolls and action figures together and make up stories. Their biggest story is about a China doll in Poppy's mother big cabinet that they are forbidden to open or touch. Zach father gets fed up with him playing with dolls and throws them all aways meaning the game is ended. One night Alice and Poppy sneak out and go to Zach's house where they tell him that Poppy is being haunted by the China doll. The three of them go on a journey to bury the doll with its rightful owner.Comments:This book was creepy. The way the author describes the doll and all her "mannerisms" is truly eerie. The doll almost acts like she is alive and gives all three of the kids the shivers. The author does a great job of getting the creepy aspects of the story across to the reader. Observations:The author provides small illustrations every few pages to help keep the story moving along. These illustrations are simple, but equally creepy. The way the doll is drawn will give any reader the shivers. The language used does an incredible job of conveying the doll and everything the doll does.Questions:Why did the author choose to talk about a doll? How did the idea of a creepy doll come up for a children's book?Use in Classroom:The most effective ways of incorporating this book into the classroom is to do an all class read out loud everyday to get through the whole book with class discussions and the book goes along, the classic book report and they students could physically make their own doll or any object in, or just have them draw and display the pictures for the class.Theme:The theme for this book is the power of friendship. Zach tried to leave their little group of friends, but Alice and Poppy would not let him just forget about them. They tried to get him to come back and finish the story, and ended up sneaking out of their houses to try and get him one more time. Friendship is important and this book shows that.Criticism:This book creeped me out. I struggled to get through the whole thing, especially when I was reading at night. The author has and incredible way of conveying the creepy and eerie nature of the doll and the whole situation to the reader. This book sent shivers down my spine every few pages. Format: Chapter bookRace/Ethnicity: N\A Gender: N\ASocioeconomic status: N\ACitation: Black, H., & Wheeler, E. (2013). Doll bones. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books.
What do You think about Doll Bones (2013)?
This book is good. Not as creepy as I was originally hoping but it still had a good story.
—fallon
tutoring in reading and really enjoying the stories! :)
—nanospeed1
Very suspenseful. Middle schoolers will love this.
—Lilia
Fun starter into the spooky for the kiddos!
—goula
