Sixth-grade math whiz Olivia recently lost her mom to an accident, and her patience is at a low ebb. Set in a small Vermont town, it's sure to creep out anyone who finds the sight of a scarecrow leaning askance in a misty field unsettling. Vermont authors are no slouches when it comes to evoking ghosties and ghoulies - or the more existential terrors that stalk us "in the night, in the dark," as Bennington's own Shirley Jackson put it in The Haunting of Hill House.įor the younger set, this fall brings Small Spaces, the first middle-grade novel from Katherine Arden, Addison County author of the best-selling Winternight fantasy novels. Keep to small.” And with that, a deliciously creepy and hair-raising adventure begins.As the nights lengthen and Halloween approaches, some of us like to curl up by the fireside with a spooky book.
As the trio head out into the woods–bordered by a field of scarecrows that seem to be watching them–the bus driver has just one final piece of advice for Ollie and her friends: “Avoid large places. Only Ollie and two of her classmates heed these warnings. At nightfall they’ll come for the rest of you.” Nightfall is, indeed, fast descending when Ollie’s previously broken digital wristwatch begins a startling countdown and delivers a terrifying message: RUN. Then, later, when her school bus breaks down on the ride home, the strange bus driver tells Ollie and her classmates: “Best get moving. Captivated by the tale, Ollie begins to wonder if the smiling man might be real when she stumbles upon the graves of the very people she’s been reading about on a school trip to a nearby farm. After suffering a tragic loss, eleven-year-old Ollie who only finds solace in books discovers a chilling ghost story about a girl named Beth, the two brothers who loved her, and a peculiar deal made with “the smiling man”–a sinister specter who grants your most tightly held wish, but only for the ultimate price.
New York Times bestselling adult author of The Bear and the Nightingale makes her middle grade debut with a creepy, spellbinding ghost story destined to become a classic.
0 kommentar(er)
