DOLL BONES

Black, H. (2013). Boll Bones. New York, NY: Margaret K. McElderry.

Alice Magnaye, Poppy Bell, and Zach Barlow are best friends who love to play a make-believe game of pirates, thieves, mermaids, and a bone-china doll, the Great Queen, that is forbidden to be touched because according to Poppy’s mother, she is going to be worth a lot o. The thing is they’re in middle school now and Zach’s father throws his dolls away in an effort to get him more focused in basketball.

Zach is so upset and quits the game, and refuses to tell the girls the reason. They end up going on one last adventure in which Poppy is adamant that they must lay the queen to rest in her empty grave.

They travel to Ohio to find Eleanor Kerchner’s grave which is about three hours away.  They find that Eleanor’s father was wrongly accused of murdering his beloved daughter and apparently used her ashes and bones to make a china doll.

Creepy things and weird events are happening along the way, they fight with each other, doubting if Poppy is making this story up, they escape shady people, some treat the doll as a real person, which makes the hairs on my arms stand up. 

The three end up in a library where they fall asleep, when they awake the doll is gone and a librarian makes them call their parents.  They eventually complete their quest as they find Eleanor’s grave and put her to rest so she doesn’t haunt them. 

Even though their friendships are tested over their spooky adventure, they still trust and comfort each other. Havighurst talks about how adolescents change as they get older and we see how at the beginning the three friends get along because they have similar interests (make-believe game and dolls) and their relationship is easy going.  As they grow older and start middle school, not only does their relationship with their parents change (Zach lost trust in his dad when he left him and his mom, but believes that he will be there to pick him up in Ohio) so do changing relationships with peers (Zach asks Alice on a date and Poppy feeling left out).  This spooky story is perfect for a younger adult audience since the characters are 12 years old. Holly Black was one of the authors on the YA list that had an interesting cover.

• Here’s a link to a curriculum guide I think would be of help when working with this book, it includes vocabulary, pre-reading & post-reading activities, and discussion questions http://cfmedia.btsb.com/TitleLessonPlans/387.pdf

I found a lot of trailers and the following two don't scare students off from reading this book.

• https://youtu.be/vKOsvXxkUmk Random House Children’s Publishers book trailer
• https://youtu.be/0xqXfGOepQE  Melissa P. McAvoy trailer

• It's great to know a little about the author, Holly Black, this includes writing advice for all ages, take a look: http://blackholly.com/about/

The Spiderwick Chronicles:
The Complete Series is also great
for students looking for a series.