Small Spaces by Katherine Arden - ESSENTIAL

Small Spaces by Katherine Arden, 218 pages. G.P. Putnam's Sons (Penguin Young Readers Group), 2018. $17                

Language: G. Mature Content: PG (scary images, not for age 7 and under); Violence: PG (people are zombified and their faces are sewn into scarecrows)   

BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - ESSENTIAL   

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH    

Ollie's loss and sadness turn to curiosity when she meets a weeping woman at the creek.  The woman says she was sent to throw a mysterious book into the water.  Without thinking, Ollie snatches the book away from the stranger and runs.  Over the next few days, she reads the book and becomes tangled in a strange curse where the only way to avoid becoming a scarecrow is to hide in "Small Spaces".  When two classmates follow her as she tries to break the curse, Ollie has to figure out how to save them and the entire class. Can they save their entire class?  Lost in the cursed cornfields of a local farm with creepy hauntings, strange creatures, and a chase for their lives, you will keep reading until the last page without being able to put it down!   

The setting was eerie and kept me turning the pages to find out what happened next.  I loved the main character and her grit and bravery.  She lead friends Brian and Coco to stand up for themselves.  It is really hard to put this book down once you start so give yourself some reading time. If you liked The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier or The Bad Ones by Mary Downing Hahn you will love this book.    

Michele Edgley, Library Technology Teacher, Salt Lake City School District