Exceptionally strong: delivers thrills and chills in equal measure.
This sequel dives right in where Erin Entrada Kelly’s series opener, The Last Resort (2025), concluded, with Teddy, Lila, and Caleb facing off against a murderous spirit known as the Fire Maiden.
Shifting from Lila, the third-person narration in this entry centers on Teddy’s point of view. He and Lila will soon be starting seventh grade at Castle Hill Middle School; Lila’s math whiz brother, Caleb, will be in fourth grade. Though he’s deeply knowledgeable about the supernatural from hanging out on his favorite forum, Phantom Hunters, real life proves more difficult for Teddy, who has a hard time fitting in at school. When popular girls befriend Lila, who arrived in Castle Hill over the summer, Teddy is left wondering how he now fits into her life. Plagued by recurring nightmares from past trauma, Teddy soon realizes that many locals who have family ties to the 19th-century circus fire involving the Fire Maiden may be at risk. The danger grows as Halloween draws near, and Lila’s new friends plan a seance at her parents’ haunted inn. Newbery Honor winner Warga’s imaginative installment is eerily delightful, skillfully balancing the angst of tween friendships and the sheer creepiness of ghosts. Franquiz’s haunting illustrations are interspersed, marking points where readers can use their smartphones to interact with the ghosts. Teddy is Jordanian and implied white, and the previous book established both Lila and Caleb as Filipino and white.
Exceptionally strong: delivers thrills and chills in equal measure. (Paranormal. 8-12)Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9781546162841
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Contagiously goofy and fun.
Area 51 gets its first new resident in 5 years—and a new mystery.
When her grandma moves into a kid-free retirement home, 12-year-old orphan Priya “Sky” Patel-Baum and Spike, her pet hedgehog, relocate to Area 51 to live with Sky’s eccentric Uncle Anish. At 51, humans and Break Throughs (government-speak for aliens) live together off-grid in harmony. Unfortunately, several Zdstrammars (one of many Break Through species) mysteriously disappear, disrupting the base’s harmony and contributing to feelings of suspicion. Despite being deputy head of the Federal Bureau of Alien Investigations, Uncle Anish becomes a prime suspect. Can Sky and Elvis, her alien classmate, prove Uncle Anish’s innocence and find the missing Zdstrammars before it’s too late? YA author Buxbaum’s middle-grade debut is a rip-roaring series opener complete with over-the-top characters and jokes galore. Naidu’s black-and-white cartoon illustrations extend the comedy with ongoing commentary that smartly interacts with the prose. The cast of Break Through species—like Audiotooters, Galzorian, and Sanitizoria—have hilariously creative on-the-nose names with illustrations to match. Sky is coded biracial, with a White dad and Indian mom. Aliens appear in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors; Elvis shape-shifts but looks like a brown-skinned boy to Sky. Though the main mystery is neatly wrapped up, the cliffhanger ending promises more laughs.
Contagiously goofy and fun. (Mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-42946-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
Delightful fun for budding mystery fans.
Only children, rejoice! A cozy mystery just for you! (People with siblings will probably enjoy it too.)
Debut novelist Cornett introduces the One and Onlys, a trio of mystery-solving only kids: Gloria Longshanks “Shanks” Hill, Alexander “Peephole” Calloway, and narrator Paul (alas, no nickname) Marconi. The trio has a knack for finding and solving low-level mysteries, but they come up against a true head-scratcher when the yard of a resident of their small town is covered in rubber ducks overnight. Working ahead of Officer Portnoy, who’s a little on the slow side, can Paul, Shanks, and Peephole solve the mystery? Cornett has a lot of fun with this adventure, dropping additional side mysteries, a subplot about small businesses, big corporations, and economics, and a town’s love of bratwurst into the mix. Most importantly, he plays fair with the clues throughout, allowing astute readers to potentially solve the case ahead of the trio. The tone and mystery are perfect for younger readers who want to test their detective skills but are put off by anything scary or gory. The pacing would serve well for chapter-by-chapter read-alouds. If there are any quibbles, it’s the lack of diversity of the cast, as it defaults white. Diversity exists in small towns, and this one is crying out for more. Hopefully a sequel will introduce additional faces.
Delightful fun for budding mystery fans. (Mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-3003-6
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
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