"House of Dolls is a tender contemporary fairy tale, with the magic of Hans Christian Andersen and the wisdom of Oscar Wilde. Francesca Lia Block shows us that at the heart of every doll story lie the complex and poignant relationships of the humans who give life to the dolls." ~ Laura Godwin and Ann M. Martin, authors of The Doll People

"Block is one of my favorite writers, and McClintock is one of my favorite illustrators. Together, they've made a book that is more than pretty and sweet, though it's both those things. House of Dolls is tragic and hopeful and strange and lovely." ! Emily Jenkins, author of Toys Go Out and Toy Dance Party

"Grief, inhumanity, redemption and several layers of metaphor--what heavy lifting Block does in just 80 pages! ...The overall impact is tremendous. Young Madison is growing tired of her dollhouse and its residents: Wildflower, Rockstar and Miss Selene, and their boyfriends Guy (a G.I. Joe type) and B. Friend (a teddy bear). Increasingly abandoned by her mother, Madison begins exercising a capricious cruelty that starts by sending Guy off to war. Then B. Friend is pronounced MIA. Then all of the ladies' gowns are stolen. The reality/unreality of any of this is a tightrope Block toes with precision--when necessary, readers will happily shield their eyes so as not to break the breathless artifice. What at first seems to be about the perennial war between familiar generations is expanded into a message about the global forces of pride and avarice that plunge innocents into devastation. This is powerful, haunting, and--just when you don't think it's possible--inspiring, too." ~ Booklist (STARRED review)