Curse of the Dead-Eyed Doll: A Florida Story

by Thomas Kingsley Troupe, Maggie Ivy (Illustrator)

Overview

Alejandro Padilla isn't superstitious and he doesn't believe the stories that an old sailor doll in a Key West, Florida, museum is haunted. Robert the Doll might look creepy, but that doesn't mean the doll is cursed. So Al ignores the tour guide's warning to ask Robert's permission before taking the doll's photograph. But it isn't long after Al's field trip to the museum that strange things start happening. Al is quick to dismiss the odd occurrences as coincidence and bad luck . . . that is until they become more frequent and more sinister. Is the doll tormenting Al? And if so, what will Al have to do to get him to stop?

Every state has its own spine-tingling stories of ghosts and mysterious hauntings grounded in its regional history. The Haunted States of America series uses real-life ghost lore as jumping-off points to new, chilling tales. An author’s note provides historical origins and fascinating facts, but beware: sometimes real life is stranger than fiction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781631633485
Publisher:	North Star Editions
Publication date:	09/01/2019
Series:	Haunted States of America Set 2
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	136
Product dimensions:	4.90(w) x 7.60(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	690L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 10 Years

About the Author

Thomas Kingsley Troupe has been making up stories ever since he was in short pants. As an “adult,” he’s the author of a whole lot of books for kids. When he’s not writing, he enjoys movies, biking, taking naps, and hunting ghosts as a member of the Twin Cities Paranormal Society. Raised in “Nordeast” Minneapolis, he now lives in Woodbury, Minnesota with his awe-inspiring family.

Maggie Ivy is a freelance illustrator and artist who lives and works in the Ozark area in Arkansas. She found her love for art at an early age and pursued it with passion. She graduated from The Florence Academy of Art in 2010. She loves narrative elements and story-building moments, and seeks to implement them in her own work.

Editorial Reviews

09/06/2019

Gr 3–6-Thirteen-year-old Alejandro (Al) Padilla gets a little more than he bargains for when his class takes a field trip to the Fort East Martello Museum in Key West, FL. The Civil War-era fort features local folk art, Key West industries, military history, and Robert the Doll. Al grossly underestimates how important it is for him to pay attention to the tour guide's strict guidelines for viewing Robert. Known as the cursed doll, museum visitors must ask for Robert's permission before they can take a picture of him. Al doesn't take much stock in the warnings and flippantly clicks a picture of Robert while calling the doll a "creepy little thing." This is where things go wrong for Al. His bus has a flat tire on the way back to school, which makes him late to football practice. He knows if he's late to practice, he won't be able to play in the next game, plus he will have to run laps. Frantically trying to get his football gear on, he somehow locks himself out of his locker. Once he gets someone to finally cut off the lock, he has missed almost all of practice. The bad luck continues and accelerates in its severity until finally, Al must acknowledge the power of Robert's curse. Characters are one dimensional and the plot is easy to predict. VERDICT Part of the "Haunted States of America," this title isn't a very engaging contribution to a potentially intriguing series. Readers who really want a scare could check out books by Mary Downing Hahn or Betty Ren Wright.-Julie Shatterly, W. A. Bess Elementary School, Gastonia, NC

School Library Journal

2019-06-10
Alejandro and his eighth grade classmates take a field trip to visit the Fort East Martello Museum in Key West, Florida, where they encounter the titular doll.

The museum hosts a glass-encased exhibit of a "haunted" toy by the name of Robert the Doll. The tour guide shares the story of the doll's history and his weirdly devoted adult owner. The guide explains that taking Robert the Doll's photo without permission brings bad luck that will lift only with a written apology. Naturally, Al breaks the rule. Not even a few minutes into the bus ride from the museum begins a string of bad luck for Alejandro. Al ultimately takes his apology letter to the museum to rid himself of this curse. The plot is predictable and, despite its content, lacks real suspense, as the author relies on horror tropes that demand a completely credulous audience for success. In the era of Stranger Things, which amps kid-horror to a captivating level of scary, all but the very newest to the genre will find this story lacking in tension, imagination, and originality. Continuing the series' tour of actual, supposedly haunted U.S. locales, three other entries publish simultaneously: Phantom of the Tracks (New Jersey), A Starlet's Shadow (California), and Swamp of Lost Souls (Louisiana).

Though based on a real-life exhibit, this outing lacks the fear factor. (Horror. 8-10)

Kirkus Reviews