Chic, engaging storytelling elevates this delectable horror romp.
Twin siblings correspond with the ghost next door in Green’s free-verse middle-grade spookfest.
Thirteen-year-old Jayce and Evie are ready to unwind for their first summer vacation at a Virginia lake resort. Local kids quickly fill them in on the legend surrounding Lake Lucy, reputedly named after a girl who inexplicably disappeared. As if that weren’t scary enough, an old, abandoned, and probably haunted house sits right next to the rental where the twins and their parents are staying. After Jayce captures video footage of a potential ghost at said house, he seeks answers by means of writing a letter to the shade (actually, his braver sister slips it in the house’s mailbox). Even Jayce is surprised when the ghost writes back. Though the scribbled replies are initially vague, later correspondence makes an unusual demand of the twins. Jayce, whose dreams are plagued by the haunted house and phantom resident, willingly obliges. Is this ghost Lucy, or someone else, and what exactly do they want? Green’s free-verse text gives this novel ample style without diluting its substance. Suspense slowly builds as more than one person warns the twins to avoid the house and Evie spots something bizarre through a window…something that doesn’t belong. The cast shines, including the ever-playful Evie, whose most beloved possession is a plush lizard; fellow vacationer Blas, whose unwavering support boosts Jayce’s courage; and the mysterious “year-round boy” whose family runs the resort. Readers will fly through these pages as short stanzas beget concise chapters. The author’s lyrical verse makes reading a sheer delight: “My air-conditioned feet wiggle / as mist pours from the door / like steam from a witch’s cauldron.” The story takes a noticeable turn well before the end; while this blunts some of the mystery, the moody atmosphere sticks around for quite a long time.
Chic, engaging storytelling elevates this delectable horror romp.Pub Date: May 14, 2024
ISBN: 9781957656465
Page Count: 294
Publisher: Monarch Educational Services, L.L.C.
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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BOOK TO SCREEN
A pleasing premise for book lovers.
A fantasy-loving bookworm makes a wonderful, terrible bargain.
When sixth grader Poppy Woodlock’s historic preservationist parents move the family to the Oregon coast to work on the titular stately home, Poppy’s sure she’ll find magic. Indeed, the exiled water nymph in the manor’s ruined swimming pool grants a wish, but: “Magic isn’t free. It cosssts.” The price? Poppy’s favorite book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In return she receives Sampson, a winged lion cub who is everything Poppy could have hoped for. But she soon learns that the nymph didn’t take just her own physical book—she erased Narnia from Poppy’s world. And it’s just the first loss: Soon, Poppy’s grandmother’s journal’s gone, then The Odyssey, and more. The loss is heartbreaking, but Sampson’s a wonderful companion, particularly as Poppy’s finding middle school a tough adjustment. Hartman’s premise is beguiling—plenty of readers will identify with Poppy, both as a fellow bibliophile and as a kid struggling to adapt. Poppy’s repeatedly expressed faith that unveiling Sampson will bring some sort of vindication wears thin, but that does not detract from the central drama. It’s a pity that the named real-world books Poppy reads are notably lacking in diversity; a story about the power of literature so limited in imagination lets both itself and readers down. Main characters are cued White; there is racial diversity in the supporting cast. Chapters open with atmospheric spot art. (This review has been updated to reflect the final illustrations.)
A pleasing premise for book lovers. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9780316448222
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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