I started thinking about the books I'm talking about today because of a 2011 challenge I'm participating in, the 80s and 90s YA Challenge over at The Book Vixen. I was looking at possible books to read, and I realized that Midnight in the Dollhouse and When the Dolls Woke by Marjorie Stover were both published in the 80s, and I could re-read them for the challenge.
It made me start remembering what I loved about those books. I don't remember much about the two books themselves, but I remember reading them over and over. I would check them out of my elementary school library every few months. I remember automatically heading over to the section of the library they were shelved in, and sitting in front of the shelf as I skimmed through the book again and again.
I read them several times, but my memory of the story itself wasn't very good. A few years ago, I was feeling nostalgic, and I wanted to look up these books and maybe reread them. But I had no idea what they were called, or who they were written by. All I remembered was that there were two books, one was pink, and they were about dolls who came alive and that the maid was from the Caribbean, and practiced voodoo. It's not an awful lot to go on, but I searched for them. Someone in a forum on Amazon mentioned these two books, and I immediately looked them up. Turns out, they also include people. Who knew?!:)
Although I don't remember much about the books, I do remember that I liked them enough to want to read them again and again. I would like to read them again someday, but I'm also afraid to. I've reread a few childhood favorites now that I'm an adult, and some of them hold up well, but others really do not. I'm afraid that rereading these books will ruin the memory of them.