A good blend of spooky and silly.
A scary-story–lovers’ club takes on a local haunting.
Misery Falls, Oregon, was the home of notorious killer Silas Hoke, said to return on the anniversary of his death to claim another victim. It’s also the hometown of the Grim Sleepers, a monthly sleepover club of middle school friends who are devoted to telling scary stories. Recently, though, the stories aren’t doing it, especially compared to the girls’ real-life conflicts: Track star Whisper’s newly blended family includes her bully; actor Frannie’s former best friend is now her rival in the school play; overachieving Sophie lives in her even more perfect sister’s shadow; and supernatural true believer (and club leader) Gemma struggles not to mess up her job at her family’s business, the Spirit Sanctuary. A creepy anonymous text message gathers the girls by Silas’ grave one night, where they’re surprised to see who wishes to join them and listen to a story, a cautionary tale about technology addiction in which texting thumbs go rogue. Moralizing calls for sympathy for villains (from school bullies to Silas himself) ring hollow but are fortunately brief. The humor is strong throughout, and the story is strongest when keeping readers guessing about what’s real—both in the interpersonal conflicts and the seemingly supernatural happenings. The cliffhanger plays up this element in order to launch readers into the next book. Most cast members present White; one key character is Japanese American.
A good blend of spooky and silly. (Horror. 8-13)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-4549-4454-6
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
A deeply imaginative journey that puts the “cat” in cathartic.
A loyal black kitten’s boy is under supernatural attack.
Eleven-month-old Nimbus loves Fletcher, the boy who nursed her back to health following life-threatening injuries. When Fletcher becomes curious about a strange jar and opens it, releasing a terrible goblin, loyal Nim protects Fletcher, taking heavy damage in the process. But Fletcher’s aunt, who’s caring for him over spring break, believes Nim attacked Fletcher and dumps her far from home. Rhett, a stylish rat with star quality, befriends injured Nim and leads her to a witch’s house. While the witch cares for Nim, the witch’s cats (maternal Fern, bookish Rochester, standoffish Bianca, and openly hostile Abraxas) teach Nim important cat skills. She also discovers she has a supernatural ability: In destroying one eye of the nightmare demon in the fight to protect Fletcher, Nim gained its “dream sight.” But she also learns it might come back for Fletcher, who no longer has Nim to protect him, posing a time-sensitive, high-stakes threat. Even though the witch’s home is nice and magic itself seems to be telling her to stay put, Nim wants to find a way back to Fletcher. As a hero, Nimbus is as gritty and determined as she is adorable. Tear-jerker moments explore pet abandonment—readers may want their own pets on hand to hug—all the way through the magical, action-packed finale. Fletcher and the witch read white.
A deeply imaginative journey that puts the “cat” in cathartic. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9780062680372
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
Good Guys and Bad get just deserts in the end, and Stanley gets plenty of opportunities to display pluck and valor in this...
Sentenced to a brutal juvenile detention camp for a crime he didn't commit, a wimpy teenager turns four generations of bad family luck around in this sunburnt tale of courage, obsession, and buried treasure from Sachar (Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger, 1995, etc.).
Driven mad by the murder of her black beau, a schoolteacher turns on the once-friendly, verdant town of Green Lake, Texas, becomes feared bandit Kissin' Kate Barlow, and dies, laughing, without revealing where she buried her stash. A century of rainless years later, lake and town are memories—but, with the involuntary help of gangs of juvenile offenders, the last descendant of the last residents is still digging. Enter Stanley Yelnats IV, great-grandson of one of Kissin' Kate's victims and the latest to fall to the family curse of being in the wrong place at the wrong time; under the direction of The Warden, a woman with rattlesnake venom polish on her long nails, Stanley and each of his fellow inmates dig a hole a day in the rock-hard lake bed. Weeks of punishing labor later, Stanley digs up a clue, but is canny enough to conceal the information of which hole it came from. Through flashbacks, Sachar weaves a complex net of hidden relationships and well-timed revelations as he puts his slightly larger-than-life characters under a sun so punishing that readers will be reaching for water bottles.
Good Guys and Bad get just deserts in the end, and Stanley gets plenty of opportunities to display pluck and valor in this rugged, engrossing adventure. (Fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 978-0-374-33265-5
Page Count: 233
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2000
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