Head into the pit for a quick horror read; those looking for immersion should keep out.
Three spooky novellas pit teens against mechanical creatures.
Oswald, Sarah, and Millie are dissatisfied with their lives. Oswald's father is unemployed and money is tight—and to make things worse, his best friend has moved away. Sarah has a poor self-image, disordered eating, and wants to be model-pretty and popular. Goth Millie is miserable living with her grandfather in his overstuffed Victorian. Yet all three find that wishing for things to change can have consequences far worse than their previous troubles—ones that may claim their lives. Several characters from the Five Nights at Freddy’s video game franchise feature in this short collection, and the animatronics in these original stories evoke the game’s clunky, fear-inducing characters. While the novellas are certainly engaging in terms of plot and include some terrifying—albeit gory—imagery, the characters and their stories border on cliché. Debut author Cooper’s contributions are at times inventive, with nonlinear plots and inconclusive endings, but all the stories include similar, predictable plot points and occasional passages that could have been edited for clarity. There is a notable amount of repetitive and (too) straightforward dialogue throughout, but the simplicity overall makes for a smooth read that’s devoid of ambiguity, focusing instead on the forward movement of action, which may draw in reluctant readers. Main characters are white; there is some minor diversity in secondary characters.
Head into the pit for a quick horror read; those looking for immersion should keep out. (Horror. 12-16)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-57601-6
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Reminiscent of fairy tales and full of enchantment.
In this sequel to the 2022 series opener, Long Live the Pumpkin Queen by Shea Ernshaw, Sally must mend time itself.
It’s been a year since Sally married Jack Skellington and discovered her Dream Town origins, and she’s spread thin between performing her duties as Pumpkin Queen and managing relations among all the holiday realms. Arguments and misunderstandings have arisen between visitors and residents of each realm, so Sally proposes hosting cultural exhibitions to help smooth over their interactions, starting with one in Halloween Town. To help with the extra work, Sally takes on an apprentice—fellow rag doll Luna, a teen with dreams of going on adventures instead of following in the family business of writing bedtime stories. Chaos ensues during the festivities when a swapped potion ingredient opens a portal that sucks Sally and Luna into Time Town. Even worse, Halloween Town’s magical clock has been destroyed by a shadowy enemy, setting the realm’s timeline to the distant past. To get back to the Halloween Town of her present, Sally embarks on an adventure with Luna and their new friend, a dragon called Scorch. Sally, Luna, and Scorch make a fantastic trio, with Sally’s maturity and bravery contrasting with Luna’s wide-eyed youthfulness and Scorch’s desire to become a hero. Despite a slow start and stereotypical elements in some of the towns, the engaging lore and tense, thrilling race to fix time will engage readers.
Reminiscent of fairy tales and full of enchantment. (Fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: July 8, 2025
ISBN: 9781368089302
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Disney/Random House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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