★★★★★ 5
Spooky Middle Grade Book
Format: Hardcover
I cannot explain how excited I was to hear that Ash Van Otterloo was putting out another book. I was a big fan of Cattywampus and was very excited once I read the summary of this book. I requested and was granted an ARC copy of this book by Scholastic in exchange for a fair and honest review.
I don’t think I have the exact words to express how much I adore this book. I’ve only recently discovered that as an adult I can actually enjoy middle grade books and this book has probably become one of my new all-time favorite books ever.
One of the biggest things that I adored about this book is the characters. Tennie is an absolute sweetheart who is way to willing to give up and hide pieces of herself for the sake of keeping the peace. It’s sweet and heartbreaking at the same time. I also love towards the end when she gets some fire in her. Fox was also quite a character. They’re kind of a bit much at times, but they’re also aware of their faults. They know that they can forget things and that they might annoy their friends, but they also try to soothe things over. I honestly really liked them, and it was really nice to see a character using they/them pronouns so casually.
The two characters had a really nice dynamic with each other. They grew close quickly, the way kids do, and delved into a ghost hunting adventure. It was honestly really cute and heartwarming to watch them grow closer. This also felt really good because of Tennie and her desire to always be the peacekeeper. She even considered being friends with Fox and exploring the forest together as her being “selfish”. I just really loved it and their interactions made me so happy. It wasn’t always great, but it just gave me so much joy and I was constantly smiling.
I did not expect to love the atmosphere that was created in this book. It was sufficiently spooky without being necessarily scary. It worked really well in the town of Howler’s Hollow. Howler’s Hollow is a town in the rural south, somewhere that’s not always popular with the LGBTQ+ community. The thing is, I don’t know if this book would have worked as well in other locations. It’s one of those towns where everyone seems to know everyone. It appears to be relatively close-knit, even if the people don’t always get on, and it has a great forest. The forest allows the atmosphere to be appropriately creepy while the people in the town add a source of information for Tennie and Fox. It was also built up very well and created an atmosphere that led to a great payoff at the end.
I cannot fully encapsulate everything that I love about this book, but I will recommend it to everyone who asks. This book is fun and whimsical with a dark edge and serious topics that need to be explored. It might hurt at times when things are discussed, but it has a happy ending.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2021
