Midnight in the Dollhouse (Apple) [Paperback]

Marjorie Stover (Author)

Book Description

Series: Apple | Publication Date: January 1992

A family of dolls--ones that walk and talk among themselves when humans are asleep--renews nine-year-old Melissa's interest in life when she faces four months on her back with a broken hip. "Stover captures . . . the ambiance of a warm, 19th-Century family story, and an element of fantasy."--School Library Journal.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-5-- Nine-year-old Melissa would rather run a footrace than play with dolls, but it is a family of dolls and a dollhouse that renew her interest in life when she faces four months flat on her back with a broken hip. The dolls seem almost able to communicate with her, and indeed they do talk and walk among themselves when humans are asleep. While Melissa is recovering, her cousin Valerie comes from South Carolina to visit. The Southern family suffered greatly in the Civil War, and is about to lose their plantation to carpetbaggers; only the discovery of a lost family treasure can save them. The dolls, with the help of a small wooden newcomer who knows a bit about voodoo, guide Melissa to the clue that leads to buried gold. Stover captures, in a readable style, the ambiance of a warm, 19th-century family story, and she introduces at the same time an element of fantasy. The dolls' own lives mesh smoothly with the imaginary world the girls create for them, and their interaction with Melissa is believable. The somewhat prickly relationship between the two cousins is well handled, as is Melissa's coming to terms with the lameness with which she must learn to live. Not on the same literary level as Rumer Godden's The Story of Holly and Ivy (Penguin, 1985) or Burnett's Racketty-Packetty House (Lippincott, 1975) , but a sunny, satisfying book that is readily accessible to today's readers. --Tatiana Castleton, Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library, CA
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 159 pages
• Publisher: Apple Pr (January 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0590449249
• ISBN-13: 978-0590449243
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #905,283 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully written and full of magic!, October 27, 2000

By 

Rebecca Waite (Melbourne, Victoria Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Midnight in the Dollhouse (Library Binding)

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!

5.0 out of 5 stars A favorite, September 28, 2009

By 

Tiffany Adelyn Metze "Keep Austin Reading!!!" (Austin, TX, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Midnight in the Dollhouse (Library Binding)

I love this book. It is one of my favourites 2nd only to the first book called "When the Dolls Woke" also by Marjorie Stover. I own 2 copies just so I'll be sure to have one for my daughter and one for my collection. It's a fanciful tale about the courage of a little girl and the loyalty of her dolls.

5.0 out of 5 stars Tomboy Melissa and a family of bisque dolls, January 3, 2006

By 

Ellen Etc. (Northern California, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Midnight in the Dollhouse (Library Binding)

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.