Along the way they break into a building and steal from multiple people, always justifying their actions by saying they'll return the items when they're done. Poppy is also the instigator of the grand adventure, one that was doomed to fail from the start. And the body of the doll is filled with her leftover ashes.' That hair threaded through the scalp is the little girl's hair. 'Did you know that bone china has real bones in it?' Poppy said, tapping a porcelain cheek. She's the first character to dream about the china doll's past: It's Poppy who drives the story, though she's not the primary protagonist. It reads as though the author had two separate stories in mind, which she wrote and then merged together with clunky stitching. The problem with Doll Bones is that it flounders in its identity. He'd always thought she was creepy-looking, but in the reflected beam of the flashlight, she seemed demonic.

The dull black eyes were open, her gaze boring into his own. Poppy carefully took the bone china doll from her backpack. When their dreams reveal the bone-china doll is haunted by a girl who longs to be buried with her deceased family, Zach, Poppy, and Alice set off on a real adventure to lay the girl to rest.ĭoll Bones doesn't shy away from the macabre and there are quite a few instances where the spook factor is employed to great effect: With pirates and mermaids, thieves and warriors, their imaginary realm is ruled by the Great Queen, a bone-china doll Poppy's mom keeps locked in a cabinet. Zach, Poppy, and Alice have been playing make-believe for as long as they've been friends.

Bones and doll