The Dollkeeper — Jack Scaparro

The Library Lady

Old Emma Prescott had a way with children. She showed them how to find books in the library and she let them sit in a circle around her while she read them stories. Center Hollow sure was lucky to have a librarian like her. Especially when nearly a dozen kids had been reported missing over the last few months, and you just didn't know who you could trust anymore ...

Miss Prescott had a way with dolls, too. She had a whole collection of them that looked exactly like the town's children. They almost looked alive ... with eyes that gleamed as they stared, and skin so real that blood seemed to flow just beneath the surface. Unlike the missing children, who were looking ... well, rather dead. At least, no matter how many of Center Hollow's precious darlings disappeared, her dolls would never leave her.

And they would never tell on her ...