Full of thrills and scares.
Evelyn Von Rathe is on a twisted, spooky hunt for her aunt, who has been taken into a supernatural maze by an evil creature called The Clackity.
Blight Harbor is one of the most haunted towns in America, and 12-year-old Evie’s Aunt Desdemona, who has cared for her since her parents died, is well versed on the otherworldly. However, when Aunt Des goes to investigate the town’s abandoned abattoir, she disappears. Despite its being off-limits, Evie goes in after her and makes a bargain with The Clackity, a demented, sharp-toothed creature: She will find her aunt and in return, fetch him the ghost of serial killer John Jeffrey Pope, who famously used the slaughterhouse for killing humans in the early 20th century. What awaits Evie as she crosses into the other world are seven dangerous, cursed, booby-trapped houses that she must navigate in order to save Aunt Des. Senf’s worldbuilding is fantastical and compelling, the scares hair-raising. Evie is a capable, vulnerable, brave, and anxious hero; she’s real. She hangs tough, with a magic sparrow companion serving as a sidekick, savior, and coach. While Senf opens the book with a lot of exposition, the story really settles in as Evie begins her quest, and the skilled storytelling will keep readers spellbound and spooked. Cáceres’ eerie black-and-white illustrations enhance the mood and atmosphere. Main characters are cued as White.
Full of thrills and scares. (Horror. 9-12)Pub Date: June 28, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-66590-267-0
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2022
During a school year in which a gifted teacher who emphasizes personal responsibility among his fifth graders ends up in a coma from a thrown snowball, his students come to terms with their own issues and learn to be forgiving. Told in short chapters organized month-by-month in the voices of seven students, often describing the same incident from different viewpoints, this weaves together a variety of not-uncommon classroom characters and situations: the new kid, the trickster, the social bully, the super-bright and the disaffected; family clashes, divorce and death; an unwed mother whose long-ago actions haven't been forgotten in the small-town setting; class and experiential differences. Mr. Terupt engineers regular visits to the school’s special-needs classroom, changing some lives on both sides. A "Dollar Word" activity so appeals to Luke that he sprinkles them throughout his narrative all year. Danielle includes her regular prayers, and Anna never stops her hopeful matchmaking. No one is perfect in this feel-good story, but everyone benefits, including sentimentally inclined readers. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-385-73882-8
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
