MIDDLE GRADE FICTION REVIEW & AUTHOR GUEST POST: Lost on Doll Island by Cassandra Ramos-Gomez
ABOUT THE BOOK
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. Maybe he doesn’t have to move to Mexico City, his parents don’t have to separate, and he could even reunite with one of his oldest friends who’s still visiting him in his dreams…
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.
REVIEW
Diego is not happy to be living in Mexico City with his aunt and uncle. He's even more unhappy about his parent's divorce. After stopping in an antique shop after getting lost on his way home from school, Diego ends up leaving with a doll in his backpack and stories about a doll that grants wishes in his brain. After arriving home with the doll, he starts having nightmares and hearing a voice that seems to be the Wish Doll talking to him. When his class goes on a field trip to Doll Island (the fake one), he decides to head to the real Doll Island and free the Wish Doll, hoping to get his wish to be home with his parents together fulfilled. Two new friends tag along but Diego doesn't tell them everything at first. It turns out there is a lot more to this wish doll business and he may end up leading them all to their doom.
It always surprises me how creepy dolls can be, but a doll that can whisper messages into one's mind is definitely creepy. And as with many scary stories like this, I kept feeling the need to tell Diego to not be so foolish, but of course he walks right into danger and makes everything worse, at least at first. Thankfully he has some great new friends and other residents of the island to help him out. And the epilogue indicates that there are more adventures to come (the next volume comes out in August 2026).
Diego makes for a sympathetic (if foolish) character and it's good to see him find some friends. As one might expect from a middle grade scary/horror story, the tension builds from the very first chapter. Young readers who enjoy a good dose of spooky in the books they read are likely to enjoy this tale and the look forward to further adventures for Diego and his friends. The setting works well for the story being told and the idea of a 'fake' island to distract from the real island is intriguing. All in all Lost on Doll Island works for young readers who like a strong thread of the supernatural in the books they read.
AUTHOR GUEST POST
I’m the author of Lost on Doll Island, a story about Diego, a boy sent to live in Mexico
City with his tíos while his parents work through their divorce. Diego will do anything to get his
old life back—so when he hears about a wish-granting doll hidden on the notoriously haunted
Isla de las Muñecas (Doll Island), he desperately wants to search for her.
One of the best parts of writing Lost on Doll Island was researching the real location of
La Isla de la Muñecas, a small island located on the canals of Xochimilco that can be visited by
boarding a flat-bottomed colorful boat called a trajinera. The island is covered in dolls and
shrouded in mystery.
The former owner, Julian Santana Barrera, began collecting and displaying dolls on the
island around the 1940’s and didn’t stop until he died in 2001. Some say he did this to appease
the spirit of a young girl whose body he found drowned in the canals. Although the details of the
legend cannot be confirmed, it is said that he died in the exact same spot in the canals around
forty years later, at the age of 80. This spooky history, along with the creepy dolls hanging
everywhere, make the island a popular tourist destination today.
In my book, Diego gets the opportunity to visit the island as part of a field trip along the
canals of Xochimilco. But when he starts to hear the voice of the wish-doll in his head, he knows
he has to break away from the trip to find her.
Lost on Doll Island is out August 26th, 2025 and will make a great read for middle-grade
lovers of horror, humor, and travel.
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