I know, Halloween's done and over with, but I had one more scary review for the month of October, so bear with me on this one, before I start November's reviews.
This is a relatively gentle (despite the title and creepy "Chucky" cover) chapter book exploration of a haunted mourning doll from Victorian times who ends up in a little girl’s bedroom.
At first Mara’s delighted with her new doll, which she got from the new store in town, Frightville. The proprietor tells her not to forget to recite a poem before going to bed inorder to keep the doll a doll, not explaining what will happen if the poem’s not recited faithfully.
Mara, of course, promptly forgets to say the poem. At first the doll just moves around, isn’t where Mara expects her to be the next morning. Then Mara hears noises at night, catches glimpses in the dark, but nothing’s certain.
Then Mara wakes up in the middle of the night – but not in her own bed. In the little dollhouse brass bed. Which is frightening enough! But there's more... delightfully frightening more.
I won’t spoil the story or the twist at the end. These chapter books for emerging readers are super short (112 pages) and relatively gentle, compared to some of the other middle grade books I’ve read this month. They invoke slightly more chilling aspects of the RL Stine Goosebumps books.
Enjoy the creepy doll tale!
