The Runaway Dolls

Title: The Runaway Dolls
Author: Ann M. Martin
Series: The Doll People (Book 3)
Genre: Juvenile Fiction


The Runaway Dolls is the third book in the Doll People Trilogy. Again we find Annabelle and Tiffany on a crazy adventure, but this time Bailey and Bobby (their younger brothers join them).

The morning before the Palmer family leaves for a two week vacation, a package arrives from London. They are confused, but don't open it and instead leave for their vacation. Annabelle and Tiffany inspect the box and hear a small voice from inside - it's a doll!

The girls want to let the three year old little girl doll, Tilly, out but the Doll parents say no. The girls decide to let her out anyway, and they learn that Tilly is The Doll Family's long lost baby doll that should have come with the set. Annabelle can't bear to think of leaving Tilly in the box for two weeks, and is afraid the Palmers won't open the box and her sister will be sent away. Her brilliant plan is to run away. Annabelle, Tiffany and Tilly do indeed run away, leaving the house through the cat door, and go on an amazing doll adventure.

I felt like this story was an excellent addition to the other two. It was a quick read and I had finished in under a hour. I feel as if this may even be the best book of the three of them. The dolls spend time Downtown, in the park, and in a Doll Department of a Department store. There is lots of adventure and comparison of things from a doll's point of view.

The Meanest Doll Ever

Title: The Meanest Doll Ever
Author: Ann M. Martin
Series: The Doll People (Book 2)
Genre: Juvenile Fiction



The sequel to The Doll People is the Meanest Doll Ever. Again we follow Annabelle and Tiffany on their adventures.

Since we last saw the girls, they have been going on lots of Adventures with Auntie Sophia. On one such adventure they take too much time in the attic and start towards Kate's bedroom a little too late. Annabelle and Tiffany barely have time to duck into Kate's backpack before Kate comes out into the hallway.

The girls realize they are at school and Outside, which is a BIG deal. After the hallway at school is quiet the two steal out and take a look at school. They don't plan their time very well and end up stuck in a Kindergarten classroom where Tiffany is played with by all the students. The next morning they creep into another backpack, thinking it's Kate's, but they're wrong. The dolls go home with BJ.

When they get to BJ's house, they meet lots of other dolls and Mean Mimi - the princess doll that terrorizes all of the other dolls in the house. The dolls work together with Tiffany and Annabelle and are able to end Mimi's "rule." Monday comes around and Tiffany and Annabelle go back to school and make it back to Kate's backpack and finally home.

Their families are happy to see them, but all hell starts to break loose when the girls realize that Mean Mimi has come home with them as well and plans on making their lives miserable.

A cute addition to the original. The third book is The Runaway Dolls, which is sitting on the holds shelf at my library.

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.