Doll Bones by Holly Black

Three childhood friends: Poppy, Zach, and Alice love spending time together building their magical worlds and leading their favorite characters on adventures.  Then Zach's father ruins everything by throwing Zach's toys (including the action figure Zach uses to portray his main character) and declares that he is "too old for toys".  Zach is hurt, made, and confused, and decides that he has to stop playing the game with Poppy and Alice.

Then, the girls come to Zach one night and tell him that the old china doll belonging to Poppy's mother is haunted by the ghost of a young girl whose bones were used to create the doll.  This leads the friends on an adventure to bury the doll where the girl lived in hopes of letting her soul rest.

This book won a Newbery Honor and it was a good story about growing up, but it didn't really stick with me.  I didn't find the doll to be scary, and I guess I was just hoping for something else or something more.  I wanted to revisit the spooky stories I loved as a kid like Wait Till Helen Comes and some chapter book I can't remember about a girl going back in time to pilgrim days while on a vacation with her family.  This book didn't give me that scary feeling though, so I was a little disappointed.  This book is most likely plenty spooky for younger readers though, and I am sure that late elementary students will enjoy it.