Among the Dolls is a short book by William Sleator published in 1975.
Vicky's birthday is coming up and she has overly hinted to her parents that what she really wants is a bike. Unfortunately for her what she gets instead is an antique dollhouse. She finds it rather drab and miserable until one day she finds herself inside the actual dollhouse and the dolls want their turn to play.
Tropes among the dolls:
- Creepy Doll: All the dolls except Dandaroo are this to Vicky.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: The dolls get tired of the way Vicky plays with them but luckily for them they have a dollhouse of Vicky's own house in their attic that they take revenge by messing with her life.
- Living Toys: The dolls themselves are alive and out for revenge.
- Magic A Is Magic A: While there is no explanation as to how the doll's have the dollhouse in their attic taking a doll out of the dollhouse brings the actual person into their dollhouse. That person putting their hand inside the dollhouse returns them to the real world.
- No Name Given: Invoked in the story itself that Vicky never gives the dolls names so they do it themselves. The father is Quimbee. The daughter is Ganglia. The son is Dandaroo. The aunt is Diadama. The mother presumably has one too but is never stated in the book.
- Old, Dark House: The dollhouse is an antique and designed to give off this vibe.
- Token Good Teammate: Dandaroo is a new doll bought by Vicky who is introduced into the house by her. He ends up becoming the one to help her because he hates life with the other dolls.
