What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

I remembered this book after reading someone else's post about rag dolls. This book, however, was about a girl whose neighbor, an old lady, makes these rag dolls. The dolls are really poorly made and very creepy looking. The old lady I think gives one to the girl, who tries to throw it away, but something bad happens. There were some illustrations and they were very creepy. I think the parents try to convince the girl that the old lady is harmless (and she might have been in the end, but those dolls freaked me out).

I probably read this in the late 80s/early 90s, but it may have been published as early as the 70s. It was a middle grade level book.

Might it be Among the Dolls by William Sleator?

I don't think this is it... I don't remember there being a dollhouse involved.

Could it possibly be Garth Nix The Ragwitch?

No, this is too recent and sounds too fantasy... Thanks for trying!

I think I found it!! I guess it wasn't the girl's neighbor, but her aunt... even worse! They were like little voodoo dolls. Seriously, a weird, weird story.


Revenge of the Dolls
originally pub. 1979

Alice, Trissy and their cousin Paulie are visitors in the dark old house of Aunt Sarah and faded, middle-aged Cousin Grace. It's a grim house, filled with shadows, and Aunt Sarah matches it -- old, bitter, silent, wrapped up in the crude and ugly dolls she has devoted herself or making. They talked to her, she said. The girls never dared to touch Aunt Sarah's dolls, but Paulie was different. He threw one in the fire, as the other dolls watched with their glittering button eyes. Now Aunt Sarah was making another doll just like him. "It's for Paulie," she said. A master of suspense and mood relates one of her most chilling tales in this story of three children and their brush with the madness of an evil old woman and the little dolls that do her bidding.

OK, that's incredibly creepy. The older I get the less resilience I have for reading scary things.

Gah, that sounds horrible! In a good way, I mean. What is it about dolls that's so immediately terrifying?

You let them sleep in your innocent children's beds. They look human, but not quite (see Uncannny Valley).

Sometimes, they own a piece of your heart.

(edited for speeling)

rivka wrote: "You let them sleep in your innocent children's beds. They look human, but not quite (see Unacnny Valley).

Sometimes, they own a piece of your heart."

Well stated!

I read this one too, when I was a kid, and could never remember the title! Brrr, this book gave me the creeps. When the kids were in their aunt's room by themselves, I remember thinking, oh no, get out, the dolls will tell her you were in there!!!