DOLL

by Adam Bushnell

DOLL focuses on a legend from Mexico City about a man named Don Barrera who found a drowned girl on the island where he lived. The authorities took the body away but Don Barrera later found her doll and hung it up as a sign of respect to the deceased girl. He then began collecting dolls to be her ‘friends’ and hung these up too. At the time of his death, Dan Barrera had 1,500 dolls on display on the island. The island of dolls has now become one of Mexico’s top tourist sites attracting many visitors from around the world. The island and the legends that have formed since have featured in many newspapers, Youtube videos and recently on Amazon’s ‘Lore’ TV series. In DOLL, the narrative is about a boy named Kyle who steals a doll from the island when on a family trip. He smuggles it back to the UK but is killed in a car crash on the way home. The doll ends up being given to his cousin, Emily, and strange things begin to happen to her. She reluctantly accepts that what is happening to her is down to the doll and she and her friends try, unsuccessfully, to get rid of it. Eventually she is forced to investigate the doll’s history and discovers the legends that surround it. She and her family must return the doll to the island it came from or suffer the same fate as her cousin.

190 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 5, 2019

About the author

Adam Bushnell is an Amazon number 1 best selling author of fictional and academic books. He has written over thirty books including Descriptosaurus: Story Writing, Modelling Exciting Writing and Quests in Epica. His book of 100 Ideas for Outdoor Learning, published by Bloomsbury, won the prestigious ‘Creative Play Awards’ in 2020.

He is a Literacy Shed author and has a series of books published with Vocabulary Ninja. He is featured as a recommended author on the ‘Reading is Fundamental’ and the ‘National Centre for Language and Literacy’ databases.

Adam works in the UK and internationally in both state and private education delivering creative writing workshops to all ages. He regularly appears as guest author at the Northern Children’s Book Festival as well as other Literature Festivals across the U.K. His books are also on the ‘Boys Into Books’ recommended reading list.

He is the Cultural Ambassador for Gateshead Council and takes part in voluntary work for several children's charities including Abraham’s Children in Crisis, helping the social, emotional and educational needs of children in the Holy Land. http://acincrisis.weebly.com

A link to his Youtube channel can be found here

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0Ma...

Reviews

[Burcu Yasar · Rating 3 out of 5]

DOLL focuses on a legend from Mexico City about a man named Don Barrera who found a drowned girl on the island where he lived. The authorities took the body away but Don Barrera later found her doll and hung it up as a sign of respect to the deceased girl. He then began collecting dolls to be her ‘friends’ and hung these up too. At the time of his death, Dan Barrera had 1,500 dolls on display on the island. The island of dolls has now become one of Mexico’s top tourist sites attracting many visitors from around the world. The island and the legends that have formed since have featured in many newspapers, Youtube videos and recently on Amazon’s ‘Lore’ TV series.

The story in general was interesting and creepy - but the "horror" elements were kept very tame (even for a YA book). Maybe it could've been more effective if the story would've been shorter. The beginning was good and kept me interested, but the middle part felt very long and at times repetetive, whereas the ending felt very rushed and short (open ending).
This could be an inspiration for maybe an adult horror book - make it even extrem horror novella.