The Doll People
2000 novel by Ann M. Martin
The Doll People is a children's novel written by Ann M. Martin and Laura Godwin, first released in 2000 by Hyperion Books. It is illustrated by Brian Selznick. It tells a story about the imaginary world of dolls when no one is watching. A doll made from china and her new best friend made of plastic try to find her aunt that long ago went on an adventure and never came back. Others in the series include The Meanest Doll in the World, The Runaway Dolls, The Doll People Set Sail, and The Doll People's Christmas (picture book).
Plot
Annabelle and her family are ceramic dolls that have existed for over a century. They belong to an eight-year-old girl named Kate Palmer, having previously been owned by Kate's great-grandmother Gertrude when she was born in 1898, her grandmother Katherine, and her mother Annie. The dolls can move, talk, and play the miniature piano in their house but always return to the same spot they started from when a human approaches. The consequence of being seen moving is being "frozen" for twenty-four hours, also called Doll State. If a doll does something especially incriminating, the doll is "frozen" forever, called Permanent Doll State.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “The Doll People” is 2000 novel by Ann M. Martin. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Doll, People and novel, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “2000 novel by Ann M. Martin” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7730563. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2000 and 1898.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “The Doll People”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow The Doll People primary sources, The Doll People archive and Doll research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Doll People”?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “The Doll People” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.