A diverting, fast-paced tale of psychics, otherworldly entities, and adolescence.
A tween psychic apprentice develops new abilities and faces off against evil spirits in McCauley’s third installment of a paranormal middle-grade series.
In 12-year-old Alex Lenard’s world, ghosts are an everyday phenomenon. It’s been more than a century since spirits invaded the mortal realm, which now has special schools for training psychics who can detect and protect others from ghosts. New Orleans–based Alex is an especially powerful psychic apprentice, perhaps more talented than his mentor. The duo’s latest investigation for the Town Psychics’ Office involves unexplained fires in the city. At one scene, Alex discovers Alice, the ghost of a young girl who needs help. But the boy is shocked when he finds that he’s able to get glimpses into her 18th-century past—a skill he didn’t even know he had. The fires may have something to do with malevolent spirits that threaten Alex each time he gets close to Alice. With protective wards and sigils at his disposal, Alex hopes to aid the girl in “crossing over” while combating vengeful and potentially lethal ghostly baddies. McCauley ably blends supernatural elements with sympathetic characters. Alex, for example, lost his mother in a car accident but gets much affection from kindhearted spirit Mrs. Wilson. His paranormal investigation team includes his nonpsychic cousin Hannah and his best friend, Jason. Hannah wields a device to hear and record ghosts, while Jason wears “ghost glasses” to see the spirit world. The friends are, however, mostly useless in the confrontations with evil spirits, whom McCauley makes genuinely scary. The story progresses briskly, and Alex’s determination to help Alice rarely wavers; he even picks up yet another incredible ability. Overall, McCauley’s novel is entertainingly upbeat, with fun, relatable moments, as when Alex dodges an “awkward group hug,” and his ghost cat, Onyx, nearly steals the show.
A diverting, fast-paced tale of psychics, otherworldly entities, and adolescence.Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-951069-13-1
Page Count: 188
Publisher: Celtic Sea, LLC
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Halloween is used merely as a backdrop; better holiday titles for young readers are available.
A ghost learns to appreciate his differences.
The little ghost protagonist of this title is unusual. He’s a quilt, not a lightweight sheet like his parents and friends. He dislikes being different despite his mom’s reassurance that his ancestors also had unconventional appearances. Halloween makes the little ghost happy, though. He decides to watch trick-or-treaters by draping over a porch chair—but lands on a porch rail instead. A mom accompanying her daughter picks him up, wraps him around her chilly daughter, and brings him home with them! The family likes his looks and comforting warmth, and the little ghost immediately feels better about himself. As soon as he’s able to, he flies out through the chimney and muses happily that this adventure happened only due to his being a quilt. This odd but gently told story conveys the importance of self-respect and acceptance of one’s uniqueness. The delivery of this positive message has something of a heavy-handed feel and is rushed besides. It also isn’t entirely logical: The protagonist could have been a different type of covering; a blanket, for instance, might have enjoyed an identical experience. The soft, pleasing illustrations’ palette of tans, grays, white, black, some touches of color, and, occasionally, white text against black backgrounds suggest isolation, such as the ghost feels about himself. Most humans, including the trick-or-treating mom and daughter, have beige skin. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-16.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 66.2% of actual size.)
Halloween is used merely as a backdrop; better holiday titles for young readers are available. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-7352-6447-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
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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