Zach, Alice, and Poppy live in an unstable world where adults often go missing, and they've each suffered a lot of loss in their young lives. Zach was abandoned by his dad, who left his family for three years before he returned home; Alice was abandoned by her parents, who are dead; and Poppy was abandoned by her folks, too, when they sort of checked out of the whole parenting thing. Beyond exploring personal loss, though, Doll Bones also asks big questions about what happens when you abandon your childhood. It ain't easy, and there are bummers aplenty in this book.
Questions About Abandonment
- Zach, Alice, and Poppy have each been abandoned by members of their families. Who seems to struggle most with that abandonment? Why? What is different about them as a character or about the way/s in which they have experienced abandonment?
- Zach has lingering resentment toward his father for leaving the family. Do you think he treats his dad fairly when they fight? Why or why not? Prove it with evidence from the text.
- Which do you think haunts the characters more, the abandonment they have experienced or their fear of being abandoned again? Explain your answer and be sure to bust out some quotations from the book.
Chew on This
Zach, Alice, and Poppy's problems at home turn them each into jerks in their own ways.
Zach, Alice, and Poppy manage to build solid, caring relationships with one another despite all their problems at home.