Sweet meets spooky—and it’s absolutely spectacular.
An aspiring 13-year-old ghost hunter takes on her first real case.
A month ago, The Incident upended Luna Catalano’s life. She exposed her home improvement influencer moms—who claim to flip haunted houses—for faking the hauntings. That’s how the family ended up in Ohio, living at 5753 Shadyside Avenue: “the least haunted house Luna had ever seen.” But she finds that looks can be deceiving. As well as dealing with her irritable bowel syndrome, which is aggravated by stress, she keeps experiencing odd, disruptive occurrences. First, a strange voice keeps saying, “Welcome home.” Then, Luna sees “GET OUT” written in blood on the ceiling. The mysterious happenings continue, and eventually, the house’s very real ghosts turn violent. With help from sibling neighbors Dani and Mateo Moreno, can Luna save her family—and herself—before it’s too late? Pucella Winans’ latest is a love letter to ghost stories and those who believe in them—especially queer kids. The five embedded short stories are pitch-perfect in tone, slowly building the novel’s eerie lore alongside the unfolding plot, which contains occasional humor. Through her art, Luna realizes that she might like girls—growth that beautifully mirrors Dani’s coming out as nonbinary. Dani’s strict adherence to the scientific method also teaches Luna valuable lessons about jumping to conclusions when it comes to friendships. The Morenos are Latine. Luna is cued white, like one of her moms; her other mom has Italian and Brazilian heritage.
Sweet meets spooky—and it’s absolutely spectacular. (Horror. 9-12)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9781547616343
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: July 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven.
An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.
Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A deftly told story that dramatizes how Danes appointed themselves bodyguards—not only for their king, who was in the habit...
The author of the Anastasia books as well as more serious fiction (Rabble Starkey, 1987) offers her first historical fiction—a story about the escape of the Jews from Denmark in 1943.
Five years younger than Lisa in Carol Matas' Lisa's War (1989), Annemarie Johansen has, at 10, known three years of Nazi occupation. Though ever cautious and fearful of the ubiquitous soldiers, she is largely unaware of the extent of the danger around her; the Resistance kept even its participants safer by telling them as little as possible, and Annemarie has never been told that her older sister Lise died in its service. When the Germans plan to round up the Jews, the Johansens take in Annemarie's friend, Ellen Rosen, and pretend she is their daughter; later, they travel to Uncle Hendrik's house on the coast, where the Rosens and other Jews are transported by fishing boat to Sweden. Apart from Lise's offstage death, there is little violence here; like Annemarie, the reader is protected from the full implications of events—but will be caught up in the suspense and menace of several encounters with soldiers and in Annemarie's courageous run as courier on the night of the escape. The book concludes with the Jews' return, after the war, to homes well kept for them by their neighbors.
A deftly told story that dramatizes how Danes appointed themselves bodyguards—not only for their king, who was in the habit of riding alone in Copenhagen, but for their Jews. (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: April 1, 1989
ISBN: 0547577095
Page Count: 156
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1989
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