The Doll People

The Doll People

Author	Ann M. Martin, Laura Godwin
Illustrator	Brian Selznick
Language	English
Genre	Children's novel
Publisher	Hyperion Books
Publication date	August 14, 2000 (1st edition)
Publication place	United States
Pages	272 pp (hardback edition)
ISBN	0-7868-0361-4
OCLC	38432238
LC Class	PZ7.M3567585 Do 2000
Followed by	The Meanest Doll in the World

The Doll People is a children's novel written by Ann M. Martin and Laura Godwin, first released in 2000 by Hyperion Books. It is illustrated by Brian Selznick. It tells a story about the imaginary world of dolls when no one is watching. ^[1] A doll made from china and her new best friend made of plastic try to find her aunt that long ago went on an adventure and never came back. Others in the series include The Meanest Doll in the World , The Runaway Dolls, The Doll People Set Sail, and The Doll People's Christmas (picture book). ^[2]

Plot

Annabelle and her family are ceramic dolls that have existed for over a century. They belong to an 8-year-old girl named Kate Palmer, having previously been owned by Kate's great-grandmother Gertrude when she was born in 1898, her grandmother Katherine, and her mother Annie. The dolls can move, talk, and play the miniature piano in their house but always return to the same spot they started from when a human approaches. The consequence of being seen moving is being "frozen" for twenty-four hours, also called Doll State. If a doll does something especially incriminating, the doll is "frozen" forever, called Permanent Doll State. Kate's sister Nora receives a doll house and plastic doll family named the Funcrafts for her 5th birthday. Tiffany, the Funcrafts' daughter, becomes Annabelle's best friend. Together they form a group called the Society for Exploration and Location of Missing Persons (or SELMP for short) when Annabelle finds her Auntie Sarah's Journal. Auntie Sarah has been missing for 45 years and has not been seen or heard from in that time. Using the clues from the journal, the SELMP deduce she is stuck somewhere, so they go on a journey and successfully locate her. The doll family is happily reunited once again.

References

1. The Doll People at Fantastic Fiction
2. "Special Delivery (Published 2009)". The New York Times . Archived from the original on June 16, 2022.