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Title: The Dollhouse Murders
Author: Betty Ren Wright
Number of Pages: 149 pages
Book Number/Goal: 44/40 for 2010
My Rating: 3.5/5
Jacket Summary: It was just an old dollhouse. Hidden away in the attic--collecting dust. Amy didn't know that the dollhouse held a secret. A deadly secret that hadn't been talked about in years. And now, the dolls have decided that Amy should be the one to know the truth. The truth about the night of the murder...
Review: First off, the writing in the actual book is way better than the crappy summary on the back cover. XD I grabbed this off of BookMooch because when I asked on a bookfinder community about another book about creepy dolls that I remembered liking as a kid (Behind the Attic Wall), someone mentioned this one as well. The Dollhouse Murders was written in the early '80s, same as Behind the Attic Wall, but I never came across it as a kid. I wish I had, as I would have enjoyed it a lot. I enjoyed it as an adult, too.
There is a subplot about Amy's sister Louann, who has some sort of mental disability (only specified as "brain damage"), and at first I was extremely hesitant about it, but I think overall it was handled pretty well. Over the course of the book, Amy realises that her sister can do more than Amy and her mom have assumed and starts to realise that it's a good thing for Louann to have her own interests and friends and to eventually have her own life. While it is Amy's POV and obviously framed as an abled person learning a lesson about disability, Louann herself was as well-rounded as any of the other supporting characters and felt like a person, not just an object to teach Amy a lesson. Definitely better than I might have expected for a thirty-year-old children's book.
I was less happy about the murder plot. In general the mystery was badly done. This is better as just a ghost story than a mystery, because the real killer turns out to be the groundskeeper, who they had "always been generous to" until he randomly decided to kill them because that's just what the help does, I guess. Yay, classism!
Title: Ties That Bind, Ties That Break
Author: Lensey Namioka
Number of Pages: 154 pages
Book Number/Goal: 45/40 for 2010
My Rating: 4/5
Jacket Summary: Third Sister in the Tao family, Ailin has watched her two older sisters having their feet bound. In China in 1911, all girls of good families follow this ancient practice, which is also an extremely painful one. Ailin loves to run away from her governess and play games with her male cousins. Knowing she will never run again once her feet are bound, she refuses to follow this torturous tradition. As a result, the family of her intended husband breaks their marriage agreement. As she enters adolescence, Ailin finds that her family, shamed by her decision, will no longer support her. Chinese society leaves few options for a single woman of good family, but with bold conviction and an indomitable spirit, Ailin is determined to forge her own destiny.
Review: I enjoyed this. It reminded me a lot of many turn-of-the-century girls' stories I read as a kid, like Anne of Green Gables and stuff.
Author: Betty Ren Wright
Number of Pages: 149 pages
Book Number/Goal: 44/40 for 2010
My Rating: 3.5/5
Jacket Summary: It was just an old dollhouse. Hidden away in the attic--collecting dust. Amy didn't know that the dollhouse held a secret. A deadly secret that hadn't been talked about in years. And now, the dolls have decided that Amy should be the one to know the truth. The truth about the night of the murder...
Review: First off, the writing in the actual book is way better than the crappy summary on the back cover. XD I grabbed this off of BookMooch because when I asked on a bookfinder community about another book about creepy dolls that I remembered liking as a kid (Behind the Attic Wall), someone mentioned this one as well. The Dollhouse Murders was written in the early '80s, same as Behind the Attic Wall, but I never came across it as a kid. I wish I had, as I would have enjoyed it a lot. I enjoyed it as an adult, too.
There is a subplot about Amy's sister Louann, who has some sort of mental disability (only specified as "brain damage"), and at first I was extremely hesitant about it, but I think overall it was handled pretty well. Over the course of the book, Amy realises that her sister can do more than Amy and her mom have assumed and starts to realise that it's a good thing for Louann to have her own interests and friends and to eventually have her own life. While it is Amy's POV and obviously framed as an abled person learning a lesson about disability, Louann herself was as well-rounded as any of the other supporting characters and felt like a person, not just an object to teach Amy a lesson. Definitely better than I might have expected for a thirty-year-old children's book.
I was less happy about the murder plot. In general the mystery was badly done. This is better as just a ghost story than a mystery, because the real killer turns out to be the groundskeeper, who they had "always been generous to" until he randomly decided to kill them because that's just what the help does, I guess. Yay, classism!
Title: Ties That Bind, Ties That Break
Author: Lensey Namioka
Number of Pages: 154 pages
Book Number/Goal: 45/40 for 2010
My Rating: 4/5
Jacket Summary: Third Sister in the Tao family, Ailin has watched her two older sisters having their feet bound. In China in 1911, all girls of good families follow this ancient practice, which is also an extremely painful one. Ailin loves to run away from her governess and play games with her male cousins. Knowing she will never run again once her feet are bound, she refuses to follow this torturous tradition. As a result, the family of her intended husband breaks their marriage agreement. As she enters adolescence, Ailin finds that her family, shamed by her decision, will no longer support her. Chinese society leaves few options for a single woman of good family, but with bold conviction and an indomitable spirit, Ailin is determined to forge her own destiny.
Review: I enjoyed this. It reminded me a lot of many turn-of-the-century girls' stories I read as a kid, like Anne of Green Gables and stuff.
