Holly Black (The Curse Workers series, Spiderwick Chronicles, etc) has a new book out. Doll Bones was released May 7th by Margaret K. McElderry Books (an imprint of Simon & Schuster). I was lucky enough to pick up an ARC at the ALA conference when it was in Seattle this last winter. I sucked it down like lemonade on a hot day. It’s the kind of book that makes me sigh when I’m done. And I don’t normally read middle grade fiction. Doll Bones is a story that I don’t really want to classify by genre. It is a mystery, a horror story, a coming of age tale, all delightfully rolled into one.
I won’t go into the mystery because I want to leave it for you, the reader, to discover. The horror aspect of the story is that slow, steady building of dread you find in good Gothic horror. No monsters jumping out of closets or that nonsense. But what really shines here is the story of the three main characters, two girls and a boy. We get to see (and feel) their relationship as it passes from childhood to the cusp of young adulthood; the things they are willing to leave behind, and the things they are not. It is sweet and touching, and creepy and mysterious. I loved every minute of it.
Read it.
art, writing, and geeking out 