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TALES FROM CABIN 23

NIGHT OF THE LIVING HEAD

From the Tales From Cabin 23 series , Vol. 2

A nail-biting, heart-pounding—and heartbreaking—adventure.

The return of a long-lost sister disrupts the peace of a quiet town.

Melur, a Malaysian girl at a U.S. summer camp, wanders into the woods on a dare in order to find the Witch of Cabin 23. The Witch tells her a terrifying tale about a 12-year-old Malaysian girl named Alia who’s moved with her family from Kuala Lumpur back to Negeri Sembilan, where she grew up. Alia struggles to fit in; she also hears eerie noises and feels as though someone’s watching her. Things start to look up when her older sister, Ayu, now 21, returns after mysteriously leaving home years ago. But strange things keep happening, and her classmates report seeing a floating head in the night sky. Could it be a penanggalan, a vampiric monster that, according to Malaysian lore, preys upon children and can remove its head? Alia’s parents are thrilled at Ayu’s return, but Alia suspects that Ayu is connected to the odd occurrences, and she devises a plan to uncover the truth. The reality she confronts is far more complex than she could have ever imagined. The latest in this anthology series—each of which is written by a different author—beautifully weaves Malaysian folklore into a gripping, deeply moving thriller that grapples with the devastating toll that secrets can take upon a family. Both Melur and Alia are Muslim; Melur wears hijab, while Alia often repeats Quranic verses to herself.

A nail-biting, heart-pounding—and heartbreaking—adventure. (Horror. 8-12)

Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2024

ISBN: 9780063283947

Page Count: 224

Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024

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THE CURSE ON SPECTACLE KEY

Supernatural mystery meets generational drama with hopeful endings for all.

Eleven-year-old Frank must solve a supernatural mystery to save his new home.

As fifth grade comes to an end, Frank Fernández is looking forward to finally staying put in Alabama for a second year, as promised, after a childhood spent following his parents’ home renovation work all across the country. Frequent relocation has made Frank wary of forming friendships or making plans, but his hopes for more stability are temporarily dashed when his parents announce plans to renovate a lighthouse in the Florida Keys, near where his mother grew up and his father’s home country of Cuba. Papi promises this will be their last move, though: The lighthouse will be theirs. But from their first day on Spectacle Key, things seem to go wrong: Tensions rise between his parents, and Frank’s hopes of a forever home are under threat from seemingly supernatural forces. In order to put down roots, Frank and new ghostly friend Connie, a White girl with freckles, must discover what secrets the island is hiding, uncovering Frank’s own family roots along the way. Frank is a fan of horror—he names his new Great Dane puppy Mary Shelley. But though there is some mild peril to be found, rather than a ghostly thriller, this is an appealing, lightly spooky family drama with valuable lessons for those who would hide from a difficult past instead of confronting and healing generational trauma.

Supernatural mystery meets generational drama with hopeful endings for all. (Supernatural. 8-12)

Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022

ISBN: 978-0-06-313481-2

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022

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NARWHAL I'M AROUND

From the Incredibly Dead Pets of Rex Dexter series , Vol. 2

Funny delivery, but some jokes really miss the mark.

An animal ghost seeks closure after enduring aquatic atrocities.

In this sequel to The Incredibly Dead Pets of Rex Dexter (2020), sixth grader Rex is determined to once again use his ability to communicate with dead animals for the greater good. A ghost narwhal’s visit gives Rex his next opportunity in the form of the clue “bad water.” Rex enlists Darvish—his Pakistani American human best friend—and Drumstick—his “faithful (dead) chicken”—to help crack the case. But the mystery is only one of Rex’s many roadblocks. For starters, Sami Mulpepper hugged him at a dance, and now she’s his “accidental girlfriend.” Even worse, Darvish develops one of what Rex calls “Game Preoccupation Disorders” over role-playing game Monsters & Mayhem that may well threaten the pair’s friendship. Will Rex become “a Sherlock without a Watson,” or can the two make amends in time to solve the mystery? This second outing effectively carries the “ghost-mist” torch from its predecessor without feeling too much like a formulaic carbon copy. Spouting terms like plausible deniability and in flagrante delicto, Rex makes for a hilariously bombastic (if unlikable) first-person narrator. The over-the-top style is contagious, and black-and-white illustrations throughout add cartoony punchlines to various scenes. Unfortunately, scenes in which humor comes at the expense of those with less status are downright cringeworthy, as when Rex, who reads as White, riffs on the impossibility of his ever pronouncing Darvish’s surname or he plays dumb by staring into space and drooling.

Funny delivery, but some jokes really miss the mark. (Paranormal mystery. 8-12)

Pub Date: May 4, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-7595-5523-5

Page Count: 224

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: March 15, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021

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