The Doll People

Title: The Doll People
Author: Ann M. Martin
Series: The Doll People (Book 1)
Genre: Juvenile Fiction


While substitute teaching one day another teacher and I started talking about juvenile fiction books we liked. She mentioned her favorite book was The Doll People by Ann M. Martin (and others). I looked for it everytime I went to the library, but it was always checked out (a good sign). This week I finally got it.
The book follows Annabelle, a young girl doll. She is technically over 100 years old and has been passed down through the family. Her latest owner says she's eight. Annabelle lives in a dollhouse with her parents, a younger brother, a baby sister, a nanny, and her uncle. Her aunt also use to live with them, but went missing 45 years ago. They are china dolls and live in a old fashioned doll house with real cloth clothes.

When the humans are sleeping or away the dolls come to life. They must be very careful about moving around and making noise because if a human catches them they go into Doll State. Doll State lasts 24 hours and it basically renders them a regular non-living doll, except that they are still mentally there. It's almost like being paralyzed.

One day something exciting happens and new dolls move in next door (the younger sister gets her own doll house). The new dolls are made of plastic and come from a plastic house. They are also much more lax about being careful.

Annabelle makes friends with the girl doll about her age, Tiffany, and the two of them go on adventures to find Annabelle's missing aunt and encounter many other challenges along the way.

I thought this was an awfully cute book. I really liked that the dolls got to visit in each others home and experience the difference between houses in the 1800s and ones today. I remember when I was younger I had a plastic Papa Smurf. There was a little tag on him that said when I went to sleep he and all of my other dolls/stuffed animals would come to life. Although I thought I knew it was fake, I use to try and catch them moving or in the wrong spot. This book would have really hit home at that point in my life.

On to the second book of the series - The Meanest Doll in the World.