These are books about children and dolls. See also Stuffed Animals for books about children and their stuffed animals.
Girls and Their Dolls
These are books about girls and their dolls, some of them told from the doll’s point of view.
General Fiction
Josephine and Her Dolls (1915)
An eight-year-old girl acts out World War I stories with her dolls. By H.C. Cradock.
Mystery
A pair of twin girls buy an old doll in an antiques store and find themselves having visions of the doll’s past, which eventually lead them to the secret of a tragedy that happened in their own family. Also known as Double Spell. By Janet Lunn.
A beautiful doll that disappeared years ago turns up unexpectedly at a church auction, but when Ginnie and Geneva try to buy her, she suddenly vanishes again. Can the girls find her and learn her secret?
The Mystery of the Backdoor Bundle (2000)
Sarah-Jane’s mother owns a decorating business, but recently she and her partner have started repairing dolls because he has a talent for it. One day, while the kids are sitting in the kitchen, someone knocks on the door and leaves a basket with an antique doll inside and a note that says, “Please help me!” Who left the doll and why? Part of the Three Cousins Detectives Club series.
Mystery of the Secret Dolls (1993)
A pair of girls search for antique dolls from the Civil War era that are the key to an old family secret. By Vicki Berger Erwin.
Nina and her best friend investigate the mystery surrounding the automatons in her father’s antique shop.
Historical Fiction
Susan is a little girl during the 1800s, and she and her family make the journey from Kentucky to Indiana in a covered wagon. She shares her adventures with her beloved doll, Abigail. By Portia Howe Sperry and Lois Donaldson.
Hitty, Her First Hundred Years
The adventures of a doll as she is lost, found, and travels around the world.
Fantasy
Candy Floss (1960)
A spoiled girl steals a doll from a carnival, and the doll teaches her a lesson about greed and selfishness. By Rumer Godden.
The Fairy Doll (1956)
A young girl builds self-confidence with the help of a special doll. By Rumer Godden.
Four Dolls (1983)
A collection of stories from earlier decades about four special dolls and their owners and the difference they make in each other’s lives. Contains Impunity Jane, The Fairy Doll, The Story of Holly and Ivy, and Candy Floss. By Rumer Godden.
Magic Elizabeth (1966)
When Sally goes to stay with an aunt she’s never met before, she finds a portrait of a young girl who looks very much like her wearing old-fashioned clothes and holding a doll. This young girl, also named Sally, used to live in her aunt’s house many years ago, and Sally begins to have visions of her life there and how she lost her beloved doll, Elizabeth, who is a little bit magic and is still in the house, waiting to be found. Part mystery, part fantasy.
The Story of Holly and Ivy (1959)
A doll longs for a home and a little girl for Christmas, while a young orphan girl longs for a home and someone to care for her for Christmas. When the orphan takes matters into her own hands, Christmas ends happily for both of them. By Rumor Godden.
The Story of the Live Dolls (1901)
For one day, all of the dolls in the village of Cloverdale come to life. This book is public domain and available on Project Gutenberg. By Josephine Scribner Gates.
Science Fiction
A sinister inventor from another planet gives Kleep a present: a set of dolls. Children on Kleep’s planet do not play with dolls, and Kleep thinks that they’re kind of creepy. Then, she learns that these dolls aren’t normal dolls at all but are there to serve a sinister purpose. Maybe not all girls like dolls!
Scary
Some dolls are truly sinister or just plain creepy!
Behind the Attic Wall (1983)
Twelve-year-old Maggie has been bounced around between foster homes and boarding schools because of her bad behavior. Her bad behavior is because she feels neglected and unloved. She eventually comes to live with her great aunts and an uncle in a house that used to be a boarding school. Behind the wall in the attic, she discovers a pair of mysterious dolls who are alive. They walk and talk and become Maggie’s friends, giving her the love she so desperately needs. However, the dolls have a spooky origin, and when Maggie realizes the truth about the dolls, it changes her life forever. By Sylvia Cassedy.
The Dollhouse Murders (1983)
The dolls in an old dollhouse seem to be reenacting the unsolved murder of Amy’s grandparents years ago.
The Doll in the Garden (1989)
After Ashley’s father dies, Ashley and her mother start boarding with Ms. Cooper, who doesn’t like children. A girl living nearby, Kristi, tells Ashley that people think that the neglected garden of the house is haunted. When Ashley persuades Kristi to help her clean up the garden, the girls find a buried box with an antique doll inside and an apology note. The ghost is the garden is the former owner of the doll, and she wants her stolen doll back, but first, Ashley needs to confront the original thief. By Mary Downing Hahn.
The Time of the Ghost (1981)
The ghost of a teenage girl struggles to remember who she is and how she died. At first, all she knows is that she is one of four sisters (she’s not completely sure which one) and that she was in a terrible accident of some kind. It turns out that her spirit has traveled back in time several years to her youth, when she did something that set up her “accident” later. Can she stop herself from making the same mistake and save her own life? The story involves a doll that is possessed by an evil spirit. By Diana Wynne Jones.
Picture Books
Katy Comes Next (1959)
Ruth’s parents own a doll hospital, but because they are often busy, Ruth’s doll Katy gets neglected. Finally, Ruth’s parents realize that they need to make Katy a priority, and she gets the attention she deserves.
The Most Wonderful Doll in the World (1950)
Dulcy loses a favorite doll, but as she misses her lost doll and describes it over and over to other people, the doll becomes increasingly wonderful. How will she feel when the doll is finally found, and she realizes that her memories of the doll don’t match the reality? By Phyllis McGinley.
Mary has six dolls, each from a different country around the world, but she longs for a seventh doll to complete her collection. When she finally receives her seventh doll, it is a very special doll indeed.
Series with Accompanying Dolls
There are some book series for girls which were designed to have dolls that accompanied the books.
A collection of different series of books, each focusing on a girl from a different period of American history.
Little, doll-like people who live in a magical land on the other side of bedroom mirrors teach children lessons about love and friendship. These books were written to accompany a series of dolls.
Raggedy Ann and her brother, Raggedy Andy, are rag dolls who come to life and have magical adventures. By Johnny Gruelle. 1918-1975.
This is actually a collection of fantasy series about different girls: the princess of a fairy-tale kingdom, a fairy, and a girl who travels through time with her aunt. The format is similar to the American Girls history series, and there were dolls associated with it.
Boys and Their Dolls
Bonus section! People usually associate dolls with girls because they’re traditional girls’ toys, but not always. There are some boys who like dolls or at least go through a phase where they play with them. When you think about it, action figures are basically another kind of doll, even though we don’t usually call them that.
There are even some grown men who are serious doll collectors, dealers, or dollmakers. In fact, two of my favorite classic doll books for girls show male dollmakers: The Surprise Doll and Katy Comes Next. They are professional craftsmen, practicing their art, and there’s nothing wrong with appreciating that.
Impunity Jane (1955)
A sturdy little doll is passed down through the members of a family until becoming the property of a young boy who gives her the kind of adventures that she craves. By Rumer Godden.
William’s Doll (1972)
A boy is teased for wanting a doll, but it’s because what he really wants to be is a father when he grows up. By Charlotte Zolotow.
Series
A boy brings toy plastic figures to life by locking them in an old cupboard with a special key. 1980-1998.
I think plastic action figures count as dolls.
Jestress's Forgotten Books and Stories 