Review Detail

The Headless Doll

Middle Grade Fiction 179

A Windswept island and a Headless Doll!

September 28, 2024

Overall rating

4.0

Plot

4.0

Characters

4.0

Writing Style

4.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

4.0

Jen's parents send her to her Aunt Liv for the summer while they're busy working. Liv designs realistic art dolls and also runs a doll hospital in a small island town in Maine. On the ferry over, Jen meets Joe, who lives on the mainland, but visits his uncle, who runs a restaurant. Joe tells Jen that the only other kid on the island is Maddie, and she's a bit of a character. Jen is charmed by her aunt's house, which was owned in the early 1800s by Captain Pratchett, but a little creeped out by the dolls, especially when she finds a stray fake eye in her dresser! Things get even weirder when Liv's doll workshop has items moved around in it. Joe tells Jen the story of Pearl Pratchett, who was waiting for her father to come back from sea, and after the ship was wrecked, found the body of the doll he was bringing home to her... but not it's head. There is also something going on with Aunt Liv; she is stressed, and there seems to be money problems. Some of these are due to the evil plans of Chester McKiser, who wants to buy up properties on the island and open a hotel. Jen has met Maddie, who is standoffish at first, but then wants to befriend her, but only because she is spying for Chester, who is her uncle. When the head of a doll ends up in a lobster trap, it looks like the one in the portrait of Pearl still hanging in Liv's house. Since Jen has heard creepy singing and felt the presence of Pearl, she takes this as a sign that Pearl's ghost needs her help to move on. She's hanging out with Maddie, even though she overheard Maddie talking to her uncle, and actually likes the girl. Will Jen be able to put Pearl's ghost to rest but also save her aunt's property from being sold?

Good Points

Young readers might not fully understand how important dolls were to young girls before the 1960s; not only would Pearl have wanted to be reunited with her father, but the doll would have been a coveted possession, and enough to stick around for a couple of hundreds years to restore it. Would the head have survived in the briny deep? Maybe not, but it makes for an intriguing premise.

The island setting was well portrayed, and creepily atmospheric. There's a light house, windswept shore, fun, touristy locations, and even a ferry. It makes sense that Jen would gravitate to the only two kids around, and it was quite true to life to have her hang out with Maddie even after she knew that Maddie meant to spy on her for her uncle.

The best part about this was how Aunt Liv's business made a perfect setting for a creepy doll! Sure, Pearl's ghost was looking for her doll, but having this set in a house where there are not only pictures of Pearl and her doll but also a whole host of dolls in various stages of disrepair kept me on the edge of my seat. The back cover of this book has a clothesline of disembodied doll limbs that is even creepier than the cover. That said, this is more mildly scary, and would not give upper elementary age children nightmares that would keep them awake!

Ford's The Lonley Ghost also brought in some historical elements to a scary story, and Ford is the same author who did the fantastic 2011 Z, which combined zombies AND video games. Scholastic has a knack for publishing fantastic scary books. These are often paperback only releases, which is great for kids who want to buy books, but less fabulous for libraries who want to purchase copies for circulation!