Lost on Doll Island
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers · Print & ebook · August 26, 2025
A Horror pick for readers exploring Lost on Doll Island.
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- Who it’s for
- A brisk, eerie adventure pairs haunted-doll mystery with the pull of family worries and impossible wishes.
- Themes
- Haunted dolls, Family guilt and divorce, Wishes and personal troubles
- Pacing
- Fast
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For older readers: Diamond Park, Rick Riordan Presents: It Lurks in the Night, Frontera
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Start with this bookAbout this book
Rick Riordan meets R. L. Stine in this fast-paced debut middle grade horror packed with adventure about a Mexican American boy who starts hearing the voice of a haunted doll while visiting family in Mexico City. Diego feels trapped. He’s confined in an arm cast, stuck with his tía and tío for a week in Mexico City, and smothered with the sickening fear that he’s the one who really caused his parents’ divorce. But most of all, he’s trapped in his own secret.
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Because ever since he got to Mexico City, he’s started having strange dreams of a doll calling his name. Then Diego learns of La Isla de Muñecas, an island full of legendary magic that can make children’s wishes come true. If Diego can harness the power there, maybe he could fix everything that has gone wrong in his life. So, with the help of two new friends, Diego takes a boat to the legendary island. From the moment the kids step ashore, nothing is as it seems—with dolls disappearing and reappearing in the blink of an eye. Suddenly, Diego is more trapped than ever before, and as the night goes on, he’s not sure he can escape.
Dolls After Dark
A brisk, eerie adventure pairs haunted-doll mystery with the pull of family worries and impossible wishes.
Come here for
- Mexican folklore and a famously unsettling island
- Spooky thrills with an accessible, adventurous feel
Expect
- A boy’s private fears alongside supernatural danger
- Dolls that vanish and return in a blink
Where it sits
| Horror & Ghost Stories | 94% |
|---|---|
| Magic & Fantasy | 39% |
| Ghost Stories | 25% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Action & Adventure
- US: Hispanic & Latino Stories
- Horror & Ghost Stories
- Authors
- Cassandra Ramos-Gomez
- Publisher
- Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
- Published
- August 26, 2025
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Haunted dolls · Family guilt and divorce · Wishes and personal troubles
- Reading lane
- Action & Adventure