Creepy folklore and a quest to find one’s true identity unite in this spooky page-turner.
Omega Morales grapples with her budding magical talents against the backdrop of Día de los Muertos and the mysterious disappearances of local children in this sequel to Omega Morales and the Legend of La Lechuza (2022).
Omega is an empath, just like most of the rest of her family, but while they can feel and even influence the emotions of other humans, Omega can also tap into the emotions of supernatural beings. This gift is powerful in ways that feel both exciting and scary. When children begin to go missing during Día de los Muertos festivities, many in town blame Omega and her family. Though Omega is not culpable, she does feel somehow tied to what is happening and to the ultimate outcome. She seems to be a magnet for monsters in the way that ofrendas draw the spirits of loved ones who have passed. To find the lost children and heal the brokenness that has created the boogeyman El Cucuy, Omega must tackle her own fears of what it means to be a monster. Abuela’s insistence on finding a “fix” to “save” Omega, while Omega herself wishes to explore the full range of her magical abilities, may especially resonate with LGBTQ+, disabled, and neurodivergent readers. Though the final confrontation with El Cucuy feels a bit perfunctory and unresolved, the cliffhanger ending will leave Omega’s fans thirsty for the next installment in her saga.
Creepy folklore and a quest to find one’s true identity unite in this spooky page-turner. (Paranormal. 9-13)Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2023
ISBN: 9780316508872
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
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Beautifully creepy.
Sixth grader Bailee Heron must win a ghostly game to keep her town, her family, and herself from losing everything.
On Halloween in 1982, sixth grader Abigail Snook disappeared in the Bellwoods forest behind Beckett Elementary. Now, every Halloween, Beckett’s sixth graders have to play the Bellwoods Game, or her ghost will terrorize the town for the next year. If she catches you, and you don’t have a gift to sacrifice, the ghost will take something else—like your tongue. But if you manage to ring the old bell in the woods first, you’ll banish her for another year, and she’ll give you anything you want. Bailee, lover of all things horror, just wants things to go back to normal. Ever since the factory closed two years ago, her parents have worked long hours to make ends meet, often leaving Nan and Bailee alone. Then Nan got sick at the same time a vicious rumor ostracized Bailee from the rest of the class. Winning the game is Bailee’s only chance to set things right, but she soon learns everything is not as it seems in the town of Fall Hollow, where stories are weapons, friends come from strange places, and Abigail Snook isn’t the scariest thing hiding among the trees. This gorgeously illustrated, atmospheric, and evocative debut captures the fun of being scared and the hard truths of middle school. Bailee presents White; names and illustrations point to some racial diversity in secondary characters.
Beautifully creepy. (Supernatural. 9-13)Pub Date: July 18, 2023
ISBN: 9781665912501
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2023
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