Midnight in the Dollhouse

by Marjorie Filley Stover

Book Overview

A family of dolls helps their young owner, who has been left lame by an accident, find a clue to hidden treasure. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0590449249
• ISBN13: 9780590449243
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: Scholastic
• Length: 159 Pages
• Weight: 0.29 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.3" x 7.5"
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

Tomboy Melissa and a family of bisque dolls

Just after the Civil War, eight-year-old tomboy Melissa falls and breaks her hip, finding herself bedridden for four months. She's cross and at loose ends until her mother buys her a doll family and her beloved older brother Vance helps to build her a dollhouse. Melissa and the doll family - Sir Gregory, Lady Alice, Maribelle, and Tommy - have great adventures together, until Mama's favorite cousin Julia comes to visit with her stuck-up daughter Valerie. Valerie and her similarly stuck-up doll Gloria take over the dollhouse and make everyone's lives miserable. But Cousin Julia is in danger of losing her home, the southern plantation Five Oaks, unless Melissa and Sir Gregory can figure out the secret of the treasure that may be hidden there. This is a wonderful book of imagination and innocence. All the characters, including those in the dollhouse, are individually well drawn, and the "Upstairs, Downstairs" tensions within and without the dollhouse cover themes of self-pity, jealousy, resilience, and imagination. This is also a very good picture of some of the issues that faced the country following the Civil War. Those of us who grew up not playing with dolls can see what we missed out on! After reading this book, I no longer consider stuffed animals "superior" to real dolls -- the kind that can send mental suggestions to little girls with the gift of hearing. Plan to read the sequel, "When the Dolls Awoke," to revisit the dollhouse 100 years later.

Wonderfully written and full of magic!

I adore this book. My mother bought it for me when I was in Primary School and I still have it and read it often. Once I start reading it, I cant put it down and often read it twice in a row. It has such a delicious mystery to it, a search for treasure, a lost doll, living with a limp and the problems of sharing with irritating cousin Valerie, which drove me to distraction. The lovely description of the way of life in the North after the civil war is an education and sets a beautiful back ground to the story. I was enchanted by the wonderful family of dolls and would recommend it to anyone. It is definitely my favourite book!

Amazing Book!

This was an AMAZING book! The author pulls you in and you forget everything else. After I read this book about a girl who's dollhouse characters help her recover from an injury I started to play in my own dollhouse. Just last night I really felt like reading this book again. It is a beautifully written book with a captivating plot. This is a book that you should DEFINITELY read.

Captivating!

This is one of my all time favorite books. Im 18 and still pick up this book and read it when I feel the need to escape to an enchanting world. I've read this book so much its sadly lost its cover. It inspired me to start up my own heirloom dollhouse with its very own 'real' doll family . A GREAT book. The sequal "When the Dolls Woke" is also a treat to read.

A totally must read for one who thirsts a good book

This book shows how a young girl copes with her injury by using her colorful imagination and a family of dolls. A Fantastic Book!!!