78 pages • 2 hours read
The Dollhouse Murders
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1983
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Introduction
The Dollhouse Murders
- Genre: Fiction; middle grade mystery
- Originally Published: 1983
- Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 670L; grades 3-7
- Structure/Length: 19 chapters; approx. 160 pages; approx. 3 hours, 52 minutes on audio
- Protagonist/Central Conflict: Twelve-year-old Amy Treloar gets in trouble at home and runs away to the house where her great-grandparents used to live, now occupied by her Aunt Clare. When she finds a dollhouse in the attic that is an exact replica of their house, strange things happen. The dolls move on their own and might be trying to communicate a secret. Can Amy solve the mystery of her great-grandparents’ murders?
- Potential Sensitivity Issues: Cold murder case
Betty Ren Wright, Author
- Bio: 1927-2013; American writer of children’s fiction; lived in Kenosha, Wisconsin, with her husband; also wrote short stories and over 30 picture books; children’s book editor with Western Publishing; loved reading from a young age; craved stories about ghosts who were ordinary people
- Other Works: Getting Rid of Marjorie (1981); Christina’s Ghost (1985); The Ghost of Ernie P. (1990); Out of the Dark (1995); The Moonlight Man (2000)
- Awards: Texas Bluebonnet Award (1986); Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Reader’s Choice Award (1986); Rebecca Caudill Young Reader’s Book Award (1989)
CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:
- Coming of Age Means Facing One’s Problems
- Different Kinds of Abilities and Their Value
- Guilt as a Growth Obstacle
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