Are You Afraid of the Light? by Richard Fairgray - OPTIONAL

Are You Afraid of the Light? (Black Sand Beach #1) by Richard Fairgray, 192 pages, GRAPHIC NOVEL, Pixel+Ink (Holiday House), 2020, $15.

Content G

BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS – OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL:  AVERAGE

Twelve-year old Dash and his best friend, Lily, are going to spend the summer with his dad at Black Sand Beach, where Dash’s family has a house.  Dash also some extremely crazy relatives that show up, including two cousins.  The beach house is a haphazardly built shack and everything around it is creepy.  Things get even creepier when Dash hears the abandoned lighthouse calling his name. 

If I was Dash’s friend, Lily, I’d would have been running for home as soon as I saw the house, and even more after meeting his cousins and family.  Dash’s extended family was almost too weird.  The novel is divided into sections, so there were two distinct stories in it, reading like shorts from The Twilight Zone.  The kids are gutsy problem solvers in spite of the dorky adults in their lives.

Michelle in the Middle