"A little bit scary and full of heart, this story grabbed me and wouldn't let go."

– Rebecca Stead, Newbery Award winning author of When You Reach Me

"Nobody does spooky like Holly Black. Doll Bones is a book that will make you sleep with the lights on."

– Jeff Kinney, author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series

"Tightly focused, realistic tale—bladed with a hint of fairy-tale darkness.... Stories about the importance of stories...don’t come much more forthright and affecting than this one."

– Booklist, starred review

"Every encounter redraws the blurry lines between childishness and maturity, truth and lies, secrecy and honesty, magic and madness. Spooky, melancholy, elegiac and ultimately hopeful; a small gem."

– Kirkus Reviews, starred review

*"A darn good adventure."

– Publishers Weekly, starred review

*"It's as psychologically haunting as the ghost girl's physical haunting....Black begins with an ordinary experience of childhood and gives it a wicked twist to reveal the truth at the center of the impulse for storytelling."

– Jennifer M. Brown, Shelf Awareness, starred review

"For the 10-12 year-old reader...Doll Bones may be perfect....It’s a deep, strange and compelling book, at times lovely, at times heartbreaking and deliciously weird.”

– Lauren Oliver, New York Times Book Review

"[An] eerie, tender novel".

– The Wall Street Journal

*"This novel is a chilling ghost story, a gripping adventure, and a heartwarming look at the often-painful pull of adulthood."

– School Library Journal, starred review

"Black poignantly and realistically captures how adolescence inherently brings change; how growing up affects the ways children play; and the inevitable tests friendships face."

– Horn Book

*"Black manages a careful balancing act of reality and fantasy, using the effectively creepy ghost story as the backdrop to a poignant exploration of what is lost along the way to adulthood...Keenly felt."

– BCCB, starred review

"Compelling, chill-at-the-nape tale with dynamics and emotional depth... The novel’s eerie vibe and eek-worthy plot may keep readers turning pages into the wee hours, but it’s the vivid characters and skillfully developed themes of identity, friendship and loss that linger long in the mind."

– The Washington Post