The Headless Doll

Gr 4-7–A not-so-scary ghost story. Jen, 12, has gone to live with her aunt Liv who resides on a small, sparsely populated island off the coast of Maine in an old Victorian house. The house is filled with original antiques and hundreds of dolls. Jen's aunt repairs and makes dolls for a living, so when a doll head is found floating in the ocean, she is the first choice to try and repair it. But this doll is linked to a 100-year-old tragedy and finding the head awakens the ghost who lives in their house. Although the dolls play an important role and serve as eerie set dressing, this is not a traditional haunted doll story. It’s more of a Scooby Doo–style mystery where the ghostly elements are real, but the real antagonist is likelier to be human. In schools where horror novels fly off the shelves, this is a good addition. Older or more ghost-proof readers may be disappointed in the lack of true scares.