An intriguing, page-turning adventure infused with Japanese folklore.
An apprentice apothecary releases an imprisoned supernatural being, plunging them both into the dangers of the spirit world.
New technology, like the telephone, is bringing change to Takeyama, a small Japanese countryside town. Maple, whose family runs Morimura’s Apothecary, is ready to leave behind the old ways—like the belief in yōkai, creatures and monsters of folklore—in favor of the modern world that Kunio, her big-city friend, hails from. But her mother insists that yōkai are the key to Maple’s future in the business. She shows Maple a 500-year-old book with records of the medicinal plants the yōkai have shared with generations of Morimuras. Still set on proving that yōkai aren’t real, Maple removes the seal from a lantern that’s said to have imprisoned a human-hating yōkai for 300 years. To her surprise, a cranky yōkai named Ember emerges. Ember is horrified when Maple gives Kunio the magatama, or enchanted stone, that’s vital to their existence; Maple agrees to help them get it back, and the pair sets off for the city to find Kunio. Along the way, they’re transported to the Hidden World, encountering mischievous, sometimes dangerous, creatures. Maple must decide whom to trust while figuring out how to get home. This action-packed series opener features plenty of magical thrills. The charming illustrations have a historical feeling that evokes traditional Japanese woodblock prints, effectively using different color palettes to distinguish the human and spirit worlds.
An intriguing, page-turning adventure infused with Japanese folklore. (Graphic fantasy. 12-15)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9798881602642
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
Characters to love, quips to snort at, insights to ponder: typical Spinelli.
For two teenagers, a small town’s annual cautionary ritual becomes both a life- and a death-changing experience.
On the second Wednesday in June, every eighth grader in Amber Springs, Pennsylvania, gets a black shirt, the name and picture of a teen killed the previous year through reckless behavior—and the silent treatment from everyone in town. Like many of his classmates, shy, self-conscious Robbie “Worm” Tarnauer has been looking forward to Dead Wed as a day for cutting loose rather than sober reflection…until he finds himself talking to a strange girl or, as she would have it, “spectral maiden,” only he can see or touch. Becca Finch is as surprised and confused as Worm, only remembering losing control of her car on an icy slope that past Christmas Eve. But being (or having been, anyway) a more outgoing sort, she sees their encounter as a sign that she’s got a mission. What follows, in a long conversational ramble through town and beyond, is a day at once ordinary yet rich in discovery and self-discovery—not just for Worm, but for Becca too, with a climactic twist that leaves both ready, or readier, for whatever may come next. Spinelli shines at setting a tongue-in-cheek tone for a tale with serious underpinnings, and as in Stargirl (2000), readers will be swept into the relationship that develops between this adolescent odd couple. Characters follow a White default.
Characters to love, quips to snort at, insights to ponder: typical Spinelli. (Fiction. 12-15)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-30667-3
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
A deliciously disturbing, twisted tale.
Teens endure fallout from a game of Bloody Mary.
Everybody’s done it at some point: You look in the mirror and repeat the name Bloody Mary. Sometimes, the legend says, you’ll see your true love. Sometimes they say you’ll see the ghost’s face, and it means you will die young. But these four fourth grade friends—Grace, Calvin, Elena, and Steph—didn’t count on their little game’s still affecting them five years later. They were just having some spooky fun in Elena’s deceased grandmother’s room, after all. But now, even after all these years have passed, each of them still sees a shape behind them whenever they look in a mirror. But the frights really begin when a new girl arrives at school. Her name is Mary. The author effectively and slowly ratchets the tension and dread, crafting some cleverly frightening sequences that fans of the genre will love. Less effective is the characterization: As each chapter pivots perspectives, some readers may have to double back and sort out which of the troubled teens they’re following. As the scares pile up and the descent into madness moves forward, the characterization gets a bit crisper, but the first few chapters may pose a bit of a hurdle. The novel’s conclusion is satisfactory, but the real highlights here are the spooky sequences. The teens are all presumed White.
A deliciously disturbing, twisted tale. (Horror. 12-15)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-67927-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
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