The Doll People is a children's novel written by Ann M. Martin and Laura Godwin. It is illustrated by Brian Selznick

Brian Selznick

Brian Selznick is a Caldecott-winning American author and illustrator of children's books.-Life and career:Selznick was born in East Brunswick Township, New Jersey...

, the author of The Invention of Hugo Cabret

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a historical-fiction book written and illustrated by Brian Selznick and published by Scholastic Press. The hardcover edition was released on January 30, 2007, and the paperback edition was released on June 2, 2008. With 284 pictures between the book's 533 pages, the...

. It tells a story about the imaginary world of doll

Doll

A doll is a model of a human being, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have traditionally been used in magic and religious rituals throughout the world, and traditional dolls made of materials like clay and wood are found in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe. The earliest documented dolls...

s when no one is watching. A doll made of 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 Meanest Doll in the World

The Meanest Doll in the World is a children's novel by Ann M. Martin and Laura Godwin. First published in 2003, it is a sequel to The Doll People, featuring, like the other books in the series, dolls who are secretly alive.-Plot summary:...

and The Runaway Dolls.

Plot introduction

This children's tale is about a china doll named Annabelle, who is eight years old but has existed for one hundred years. The book is set in the present time period and is told in third person. Annabelle and her family belong to Kate Palmer. 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, or PDS. Kate's sister Nora receives a doll house and plastic doll family named the Funcrafts. The Funcrafts' daughter is Tiffany and she becomes Annabelle's best friend. In the book Annabelle and her friend Tiffany form a group called Society for Exploration and Location of Missing People (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 all that time. Annabelle and Tiffany become determined to find her. Using the clues from the journal, they deduce she is stuck somewhere, perhaps in the attic, so they go on a journey and successfully locate her. The doll family is happily reunited once again.This is also a really good book to read to first through forth grade kids in the classroom.