This is middle grade done right. Holly Black takes the ghost story framework and uses it to explore something genuinely painful: the death of childhood imagination under the weight of growing up.

The bone doll premise is dark—like, properly unsettling—but it's handled with restraint. No gore, no cheap jump scares, just the slow-building dread of 'what if this is real?' The ambiguous ending respects young readers enough to let them decide for themselves.

What makes this work is the emotional honesty. Zach's father forcing him to quit the game feels like a betrayal, and the book doesn't sugarcoat it. The friendship strain, the awkwardness of changing, the desperate desire to hold onto something magical—it's all there, and kids in that 10-13 range will recognize themselves.

Newbery Honor, six starred reviews, and still genuinely readable a decade later. If your kid likes creepy-but-not-horror and stories about friendship, this delivers.