Doll Bones / Holly Black / 244 pages

This is the perfect middle grade book for kids who like their books a little creepy.  Three middle school students who haven't outgrown playing with action figures and creating complex adventure stories find themselves on the brink of young adulthood and their lives are changing.  Central to their stories is an antique bone china doll they call the Great Queen that contains the ashes of a girl.  When one of the friends shares that the ghost of a gruesomely murdered young girl has been visiting her and they must go on a quest to lay her bones to rest, the three set off on what they think might be their last adventure as friends.  The tension between the characters who are in different places in their lives adds much to the story.  The mysterious things that happen are unsettling.  Holly Black, co-author of the popular Spiderwick Chronicles, writes a book that is chilling but also a good look at adolescence.