Doll Bones

Black, H. (2013).  Doll Bones. New York, NY: Scimon & Schuster 

Zach, Alice, and Poppy have been friends since they were young kids.  Now they are in middle school, but they are still playing pretend games with dolls.  When the game is forced to end because Zach's dad has thrown away his dolls, Poppy gets the threesome to go on a quest- almost as a last ditch effort to keep their game going, and hold off on the inevitable changes that middle school brings for kids.  The quest involves their queen doll... and the her not-so-made-up story.  They must make it to her hometown and bury her.  After a tense bus ride, sleeping in the woods, stealing a sail boat and sailing down the Ohio River, breaking into a library and escaping after being caught, the friends find the Queen's rightful burial spot and the hint of the game not actually ending keeps the reader dangling and perhaps hooked to Holly Black's writing and other titles.
Written for a middle school aged audience, this book plays with the idea of how old is too old to quit playing pretend?  It's a transitional time in a middle schooler's life and there are connections to be made in this fiction story.  Readers will relate to characters as well has get lost in turning the pages to find out the truth and if the quest will ultimately be completed.  If readers are interested in serial reading, other works by Holly Black include the following series: The Spiderwick Chronicles, Beyond the Spiderwich Chronicles, Modern Faerie Tales, The Curse Workers.