The Dollhouse Murders

The Dollhouse Murders by Betty Ren Wright, 1983 Scholastic

     Amy Treloar, her sister Louann, and Amy's best friend Ellen discover a beautiful replica dollhouse of the family home. But playing with the house causes the dolls to reenact the murder of Amy and Louann's great-grandparents thirty years before.
     The girls believe the repeated reenactment of the grisly murder is trying to tell them something. They struggle to solve the murder. Aunt Clare, who owns the house and dollhouse, believes it was her fiancee, but there is evidence it could have been the gardener.
     In investigating the family secret Amy discovers her mentally challenged sister is much more capable than she originally thought. Amy learns that family endures even after trauma and works through the issues which have plagued her family for decades.
     Amy's story is suspenseful and deals with tough issues including trauma, crime, and mental illness. The crimes against the family are more than many children are ready for but handled in an age-sensitive manner. Wright's story is a powerful ghost story aimed at middle school readers.

Alanna

Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce, 1983 Atheneum

     Alanna is not meant to be a great lady: she enjoys wielding a knife and the thrill of adventure. When her twin brother Thom rejects the idea of a knight for sorcery Alanna sees a chance for them to each get what they desire. At eleven the twins are sent to a convent for magic and etiquette  and to the palace for a knight's training. Two forged letters and a haircut later Thom and Alanna become Thom and Alan.
     The young lady is giddy at the prospect of enjoying her training, but worries constantly at the threat of discovery. Alan makes friends with the boys, including the Crown Prince Jonathan. These friends help when a bully decides Alan's weakness and small stature are the reason enough to pick on and heap abuse upon the new recruit. Alan's friend George Cooper, in Corus, also teaches Alanna some tricks for fighting dirty.
     The day comes when Alanna can no longer ignore her woman's body and the fear of discovery becomes even more fraught. George Cooper again comes to her rescue, this time introducing Alanna to his mother. Alanna continues to keep her secret despite the increasing difficulty.
     After several years as a page, a knight's skills are not limited to swardwork and etiquette. A magical sweating fever rips through Corus and many of the capital's important figures are sickened. When Alanna has the chance to use her magic, but doesn't and one of her friends dies, she is wracked with guilt. She uses the opportunity to save her friend and the future king when jonathan takes ill.
     With the illness Jonathan's favorite cousin and the most powerful mage returns to Corus. Alanna and the duke butt heads, and she is unreasonably distrustful of Roger's motives. When the duke begins training those knights-in-training with magic Alanna becomes even more suspicious. A challenge to the Crown Prince draws all the suspicions Alanna fells to a point when Jonathan's life hangs in the balance.
     Each moment looms with discovery of Alanna's secret. Along with each moment her skills grow to match her spirit. To become the first Lady Knight Alanna develops her personal armor along with her martial skill and hides her female-ness to become one of the boys.
     Similar to Garth Nix's Abhorsen series and Megan Whalen Turner's The Thief, Alanna is high fantasy for all ages. With some suggestive content, Alanna is a young girl growing into a woman among men.

Seaward

Seaward by Susan Cooper, 1983 Margaret K McElderry Books

     West and Cally are swept into a strange world where the beauty is mesmerizing and dangerous. Lady Taranis tempts the youths to stay in her kingdom forever while Lugan, her male counterpart, urges the two forward and to the end of their journey.
     West is an enigma to Cally, from a different part of the world with a different outlook and native language. The seeming magic surrounding West gets them through various different terrain and confrontations with creatures of all shapes and sizes.
     Cally appears to be a naive child to West's jaded eyes. She adores the beauty around her and trusts most of the characters they meet, but as they head Westward to the sea West finds the girl more and more enchanting. His mother's warning before he arrived in the lost world: To trust the man with an owl's eyes, the girl with selkie hands, and the creature at the top of the world; allow West to bend to Cally's simple joy and uncomplicated trust. The two balance each other as they progress and become something more than friends.
     West and Cally discover that some things in life are worth the pain of loss, especially to feel love. They persevere and are rewarded for their efforts. While their adventures are appropriate for a broad audience, some scenes and moments are aimed at more mature readers.

So You Want to be a Wizard

So You Want to be a Wizard by Diane Duane, 1983 Delacorte Press

     Juanita Callahan is hiding from bullies in the library when she discovers a book titled So You Want to be a Wizard from which she disbelievingly takes a Wizard's Oath. When she wakes up Nita's name is included on a list of wizards in the back of the book, so she decides to try out her new powers. She meets Christopher Rodriguez--Kit--another new wizard testing his power. The two conjure an alternate Manhattan with a dangerous power-hungry darkness. Their call for help brings an intelligent white hole nicknamed Fred.
     The three wizards work together to retrieve a space pen the bullies have stolen from Nita, but Fred mistakes the gravity needed and swallows it. The trio meet their local Advisories who explain how to retrieve Nita's pen. Fred also brings news of two important books, one of which is missing. "The Book of Night with Moonlight" catalogues the true nature of everything, it's mirror is a catalogue of all things perverted "The Book Which is Not Named". If the darkness which Kit and Nita met when Fred appeared, the Lone Power, were to read from the unnamed Book while the Book of Night with Moon is missing the world would be irreparably altered.
     In their quest to retrieve Nita's pen from inside Fred, the three wizards fall through a world gate into the alternate New York where Nita and Kit first met the Lone Power. The alternate world is shadowed in the Lone Power's evil. In order to return home Nita, Kit, and Fred search for the two books and are faced with dragon-like creatures, an eight-legged skull-faced beast, the destruction of the Sun, and the loss of a good friend.
     So You Want to be a Wizard deals directly with the issue of good and evil. Kit and Nita find a friendship which helps them through the frustrations of public school and changing lives. Readers of all ages will enjoy the friendship between Kit and Nita as the discover themselves and their magic.