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. 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.
I must be going through my creepy doll phase.
Cassandra Ramos-Gomez’s LOST ON DOLL ISLAND is the third middle grade horror novel I’ve read this year that focuses at least partly on creepy dolls! I gave this one a little bump up the TBR because the sequel, DON’T WAKE UP, comes out later this month!
Before I jump into how much I adored this, I want to mention that the doll island in this book (well, one of them…) is actually a real place in Mexico City called La Isla de las Muñecas! It was given the Guinness World Record in 2022 for having the largest collection of haunted dolls in the world! I highly recommend looking up some images/videos, as it really enhances the vibe of the story!
Our main character is Diego, a young Mexican-American boy from Texas who has been sent to live with his Tía Maria and Tío Tony in Mexico City while his parents work their way through a divorce back home. Diego is down in the dumps, missing home, and feeling really alone. He loves his family but he just isn’t settling in very well in their house.
On top of all this, he’s got a broken arm and is stuck in a cast. Ugh.
He has a strange encounter with a woman who owns an antique shop. She tells Diego about Doll Island, La Isla de las Muñecas. But she lets Diego in on a secret: there’s a real doll island, a bit further away from the regular touristy one. She tells him about a magical Wish Doll that can grant any wish. And as luck would have it, Diego’s class is taking a trip to Doll Island (the tourist one).
All he needs to do is slip away from his class somehow, hitch a boat ride to the real doll island, find the Wish Doll, and then he’ll be able to wish his life back to the way he wants it. Back in Texas. His parents not fighting. Not getting divorced. Happy again.
Easy, right?
Along for the harrowing adventures to come are Diego’s friends Jandro and Itzel. And well, the word “friends” is doing a lot of work there, because Diego is just…very resistant to the idea of making friends. And Jandro and Itzel are a bit nerdy, and Diego struggles a lot with his own self-image. He’s just really reluctant to open himself up to friendship because he doesn’t want to stay in Mexico City. That’s really the driving force behind everything Diego does; getting back to his regularly scheduled life.
Gah! I loved this group of kids so much! Itzel especially stole the show for me. She is SUPER talkative, which Diego finds annoying. But Itzel is an incredible friend to have. She’s really smart, brave, and direct. Both her and Jandro help draw Diego out of his protective shell a little bit, while also keeping some of his anger issues in check.
There’s a really powerful & impactful part of the story I want to mention here. We don’t really see much of Diego’s parents here, that’s a big part of the story. But it’s clear that Diego’s father has instilled a toxic view of masculinity in Diego, and it’s sad. Diego has a lot of big feelings, and he’s actively trying to squash down his feelings, almost as if his father is whispering in his ear. Telling him to “man up” or something. And again, it’s this incredible bond that he slowly develops with his new friends that helps Diego work through some of these issues. Some really insightful & grownup stuff happening here, and I thought it was great.
I couldn’t have enjoyed this any more! There’s lots of interesting Mexican folklore throughout the story, and Cassandra Ramos-Gomez does such great work building up the creepy atmosphere of this island. But certainly for me, the main selling point of this book was how much I loved these characters. I fought the urge to look up the synopsis for DON’T WAKE UP until I had finished LOST ON DOLL ISLAND. I’m not sure why, but I was almost assuming that the second book might feature different characters, but I’m so happy to see that we will be back with Diego and Itzel and Jandro for book two!
LOST ON DOLL ISLAND was such a delight, one of my favorite middle grade horror novels of the year! Incredible characters & amazing friendships, spooky vibes & creepy dolls. Such a great read!
Grimdark Dad 