Scan barcode
manwithanagenda's review
mysterious
medium-paced
2.0
A very short chapter book that reads, computers aside, as if it were written in the early 1970s instead of the early 1990s.
After their mother's divorce Carole and her brother Skipper must move to New Mexico to live with their eccentric Great Uncle Jake. He lives in a sprawling house that's a warren of rooms. He keeps a pet parrot named Billy Bob as well as examples of the toys he's invented. His big success was a walking and talking doll called Patty that he designed to look like his dead daughter. Patty says pre-programmed phrases when you shake one hand and walks when you shake the other. She can even navigate around walls and obstacles.
The problem is that Uncle Jake is missing. The police say there's a jewel thief about, too! There's a big ol' ruby necklace about the house somewhere. I hope the thief doesn't try anything.
Carole keeps hearing Patty say things she shouldn't like "Help My Daddy", but nobody believes her. Even when she explains it has to be the ghost of the dead Patty possessing the doll. Her mother makes a good point when she asks why ghost Patty isn't contacting her, the close childhood friend and cousin? The parrot keeps yelling for help, too.
Uncle Jake continues to be missing, and the mother enlists the neighborhood child psychologist to talk to Carole about her problems.
This is a lot for less than one hundred pages.
I was sold on 'No Escape' from the original cover art and hoped for a super paranormal junior horror or EVEN a weird tech explanation where a trapped Uncle Jake is training the parrot to say phrases and re-programming the Patty doll from afar. You don't get either. The nods to Raggedy Ann (deceased child living on in a doll creation) and Patty Playpal (a life size walking doll from the 1960s) were fun. The book's okay.
After their mother's divorce Carole and her brother Skipper must move to New Mexico to live with their eccentric Great Uncle Jake. He lives in a sprawling house that's a warren of rooms. He keeps a pet parrot named Billy Bob as well as examples of the toys he's invented. His big success was a walking and talking doll called Patty that he designed to look like his dead daughter. Patty says pre-programmed phrases when you shake one hand and walks when you shake the other. She can even navigate around walls and obstacles.
The problem is that Uncle Jake is missing. The police say there's a jewel thief about, too! There's a big ol' ruby necklace about the house somewhere. I hope the thief doesn't try anything.
Carole keeps hearing Patty say things she shouldn't like "Help My Daddy", but nobody believes her. Even when she explains it has to be the ghost of the dead Patty possessing the doll. Her mother makes a good point when she asks why ghost Patty isn't contacting her, the close childhood friend and cousin? The parrot keeps yelling for help, too.
Uncle Jake continues to be missing, and the mother enlists the neighborhood child psychologist to talk to Carole about her problems.
This is a lot for less than one hundred pages.
I was sold on 'No Escape' from the original cover art and hoped for a super paranormal junior horror or EVEN a weird tech explanation where a trapped Uncle Jake is training the parrot to say phrases and re-programming the Patty doll from afar. You don't get either. The nods to Raggedy Ann (deceased child living on in a doll creation) and Patty Playpal (a life size walking doll from the 1960s) were fun. The book's okay.
More...