 March/April 2022 YA and Middle Grade Roundup We’re playing catchup in our latest YA and Middle Grade roundup by featuring a number of books which are not new and have only come across my path recently. However, there are some terrific inclusions with Middle Grade well represented by Polly Ho-Yen, Jennifer Killick, Kate Alice Marshall and Pádraig Kenny, with Polly, Jennifer and Kate fast becoming authors I always look out for. I always enjoy reviewing debut novels and KL Kettle, Vincent Tirado and Caroline O’Donoghue are definitely voices to look out for. Catherine Barter impresses with her second novel and Lauren James is as awesome as ever, with her fourth A* novel on the bounce. Do contact the site if you have anything we might like to review. The books are presented in alphabetical order. Happy reading. Catherine Barter – We Played With Fire  Catherine Barter’s second novel We Played With Fire was nominated for the Carnegie Medal and is a strange but convincing blend of supernatural and historical fiction. The story is inspired by the true events of the Fox sisters (Maggie and Kate) who were famous New York mediums in the mid-Nineteenth Century, who used a rapping system to convince their older sister (Leah) that they could communicate with the spirits of the dead. For a time, they were so famous they were even invited to the White House and I most recently came across them in Andrew Pyper’s The Resident. The author has clearly researched the subject very thoroughly and vividly recreates a period in history which was obsessed with seances and what lay beyond the veil. We Played With Fire concentrates on the teenage years of the sisters, their family, their tricks and the possibility that there really was something otherworldly out there. I thought this was a fascinating book, particularly as I have come across the Fox sisters before, but uninitiated teen readers are just as likely to read it as a convincing drama/thriller with supernatural overtones as it brings these often-polarising characters to life. AGE RANGE 13+ Polly Ho-Yen – How I Saved the World in a Week  Polly Ho-Yen has fast become one of those authors I always make a point of reading when she brings out a new book. Since her eye-catching debut back in 2014 with The Boy in the Tower, she has continued to impress with Where Monsters Lie (2016) and Fly Me Home (2017). Polly usually writes for the top end of primary/lower Middle Grade age groups, although she has also recently written an adult dystopian novel Dark Lullaby (2021) which I will get round to checking out soon. She is not strictly a horror writer, but her fiction including her latest How I Saved the World in a Week (2021) always feature very dark elements. Some of the blurbs of her new novel list this as ‘age 8+’ but at 380-pages, very small writing, and complex story I doubt very few eight-year-olds would manage How I Saved the World in a Week and I would raise the reading age to 10/11+. By contrast, it was significantly more complex and challenging than The Boy in the Tower which is also read in secondary school by younger readers. There is also a lack of action to grab younger readers, in actual fact it takes over 200-pages for the novel to move into its second stage, where the infection takes off, which is much too long for the younger age groups. Young Billy narrates the fascinating story and we quickly realise that his mum is not like any others and he frequently changes schools and accepts her odd and erratic behaviour. Instead of watching television his mum teaches him survival skills such as tying knots and how to use the stars for direction, a theme which is revisited throughout the book. From our interpretation of Billy’s mum, we quickly assume that the former scientist (crucial to the plot) has mental health problems which he does not understand. The mother’s gradual decline dominates a fair bit of the first 200-pages with Billy going to live with his dad whilst she is in hospital, but at the same time a mysterious virus breaks out which turns people grey and causes chaos in the cities and him escaping from the city to the countryside. This was a really great book, which took in family, friendship and resilience issues, but I felt it was too long for the target audience with the zombie type grey characters being slightly dull and underwhelming for some readers who might prefer more action. AGE RANGE 10/11+ Lauren James – Green Rising  Lauren James is on a truly scintillating run of form: The Loneliest Girl in the Universe (2017), The Quiet at the End of the World (2019), The Reckless Afterlife of Harriet Stoker and now the wonderful Green Rising (2021). James is not a horror writer, but she writes very dark fiction which often have horror elements, with this latest novel being one of the cleverest YA cli-fi novels, with a strong science fiction and call to action themes I have come across. The novel opens at a climate change demonstration, with most of the characters being involved one way or another, except that something very different happens when the activists bust into the building. Main character Gabrielle shoots to fame when she becomes the first teenager to display a bizarre unnatural ability; growing plants from her fingers and skin. She becomes an overnight sensation, and as other teens start to show the same strange ability, the climate change activist movement is reinvigorated with the call to help heal the planet, which the teens (called ‘Greenfingers’) can do by helping clean oil spills or healing holes in the o-zone with their new-found abilities. The story revolves around Gabrielle and two other characters, Hester who is the millionaire daughter of an oil tycoon and the face of the family business who are seen as the enemy to the activists and Theo, who comes from a long line of fishermen, but his parents are struggling to make ends meet. Soon legions of other teenagers from around the world are developing variations of the same strange new ‘Greenfingers’ power and challenge the dangerous establishment of big business. This story was such a cool call to arms I hope it finds its way into the hands of countless teens and is the perfect blend of speculative and science fiction with a powerful message that you can make a difference. The use of social media exchanges and newspaper clippings were also seamlessly and convincingly integrated into the story. Highly recommended. AGE RANGE 12+ Pádraig Kenny - The Monsters of Rookhaven  Pádraig Kenny’s highly creative Monsters of Rookhaven was nominated for the prestigious Carnegie Medal and was a former Waterstones Children's Book of the Month and winner of the Honour Award for Fiction at the Irish Children's Book Awards back in 2021. This shadowy and gothic read is a perfect start for primary school kids who are after something a little bit spooky and it is a perfect entry point to the world of horror and dark fantasy. In this clever take on the monster story an orphaned brother and sister find a rip in the fabric of the universe which take them to the mansion of Rookhaven. In this strange place they meet Mirabelle, who looks human but is a monster, her whole family are monsters, but the magic they use ensures they are only seen by a few of the villagers who live close to their house. This was a wildly creative book which has shades of both the Aadams Family and Miss Pereguine’s Home for Peculiar Children and is loaded with oddities such as carnivorous plants and shapeshifting animals. The arrival of the two children leads to Mirabelle having to question who she is, whilst another soul eating monster is on its own hunt. This was a very enjoyable blend of fantasy and horror, with a perfectly pitched level of menace to keep younger kids on their toes. A sequel The Shadows of Rookhaven (2021) has since been published. AGE RANGE 9/10+ KL Kettle – The Boy I Am  As speculative thrillers go KL Kettle’s startling debut The Boy I Am truly held my attention and is a book which might shock teen readers. In some ways it turns Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale on its head but has more in common with Louise O’Neill’s dystopian YA classic Only Ever Yours except for the major shift in power, in this novel woman are in charge and the men are slaves. It cleverly reverses traditional gender roles and the dynamics of power, examining gender is the same way Malorie Blackman reversed race roles with her classic Noughts and Crosses series. This was a very uncompromising and thought-provoking story and teen readers are guaranteed to be hooked once they get their head around the unorthodox narrative style. The story takes place initially in the House of Boys, where once a year those selected are auctioned off to the female elite. Main character Jude is seventeen and time is running out for him, should he not be selected soon an unpleasant future awaits in the deep underground mines where he will be worked until death. However, the story revolves around the opportunity Jude might have for revenge for the death of his best friend and the complex plot he finds himself in to assassinate the all-powerful Chancellor. The Boy I Am was brimming with good ideas and the matriarchal society was very well drawn and the scenes where the boys had to wear blindfolds were very clever, but it did dance around the subject of sex without going into much detail. This was a clever novel which balanced clever ideas with action and convincing characterisation. AGE RANGE 13/14+ Jennifer Killick – Dread Wood  Jennifer Killick is fast becoming the uncrowned queen of Middle Grade horror with her third terrific read on the bounce. Dread Wood follows hot on the heels of Crater Lake (2020) and sequel Crater Lake Evolution (2021) with a similar vibe and likable group of young characters. Like in Crater Lake a group of kids aged around 11-12 find themselves isolated and being hunted after picking up a Saturday detention. The setting is their secondary school, which backs into a large forest, the Dread Wood of the title, and after their teacher Mr Canton disappears they realise something dodgy is going on. The only other adults in the local vicinity is the caretaker Mr Latchitt and his wife who repeatedly hum the old nursery rhythm ‘Incy Wincy Spider’ which gives you a good idea of what is in store for the four kids. Whilst out and about the four kids spy on Mrs Latchitt throwing a live chicken down a well and become suspicious for what has become of the poor bird, whilst they also worry about their teacher The four kids Angelo, Hattie, Gustav were all very believable characters who are all in detention for different reasons, secrets which are revealed over the course of the story. Although this was a horror novel, it also realistically touched upon real issues such as child food poverty and disabilities. The school setting was terrific, with the plot cleverly reversing what should have been a place of safety to one of great danger, shadows and chills. Dread Wood was a terrific fast paced read and would be perfect for both reluctant readers and as a gateway novel to more mature horror fiction. I was delighted to hear there is a sequel The Fear Ground already in the pipeline. Bring it on! AGE RANGE 9-12 Kate Alice Marshall – Brackenbeast (Thirteens book 2)  If you have a serious interest in YA or Middle Grade horror then Kate Alice Marshall is absolutely essential reading and one of the few authors who effortlessly moves between the two age groups and is equally skilled in writing for both. I would highly recommend both YA horror novels Rules for Vanishing and the recent Our Last Echoes. Brackenbeast, subtitled The Secrets of Eden Eld is a direct sequel to Thirteens, published in 2020. We reviewed (and loved) Thirteens a couple of years and had this to say: “Thirteens is such an engaging gateway supernatural novel I would happily recommend it to strong readers from the age of ten and up. The story involves a sleepy town which has a dark secret, every thirteen years in Eden Eld three thirteen-year-olds disappear, which is part of an ancient pact going back to the 1850s. This is a eally peculiar place and the way in which the supernatural is integrated into the story is cleverly done, doubling up with a terrifically well-paced plot which is guaranteed to have young readers turning the pages at speed. This novel also has a great villain, kids are going to love the dastardly ‘Mr January’ and the powerful hold he has over the place they call home.” Brackenbeast continues the fight against the nasty Mr January, with the three young teens this time coming up against the supernatural sister of the evil presence which has haunted their town for more than a century. After the disappearance of a few of the locals the three realise they have been kidnapped by mud drenched creatures who begin to stalk them, once again they have to use their book of magic fairy tales to lead them against the forces of darkness, uncovering wild family secrets and entering other worlds along the way. Brackenbeast was pitched just right for younger readers, with a lovely blend of fantasy, adventures, scares and strong friendship bonds. Terrific gateway horror for younger kids. AGE RANGE 10+ Caroline O’Donoghue – All Our Hidden Gifts  Caroline O’Donoghue’s impressive debut All Our Hidden Gifts was nominated for the prestigious Carnegie Medal and is an enticing blend of teen and supernatural drama set around an Irish private school. The main strength of this novel was the convincing teen voice of Maeve Chambers who finds herself in the shadows of her elder and more talented siblings and also very lonely due to a terrible argument with her former best friend Lily the previous year. Maeve’s psychological state is crucial to the success of the story and she finds herself drifting along aimlessly until she finds a deck of tarot cards in the basement of the school. Not knowing anything about them, she starts fooling around with the pack and soon begins to give scarily accurate readings to the girls in her class. Helped be her new best friend Fiona, Maeve begins to think she has found her true calling as the girls line up for readings on boyfriend trouble and other advice. However, after discovering another new card in the deck that definitely shouldn’t be there, her ex-best friend disappears after a reading develops into an argument. She realises her ability might have had something to do with the disappearance and begins to investigate. For the most part All Our Hidden Gifts keeps the supernatural element of the story on the backburner and this story could easily be enjoyed by teens who never read that sort of thing. Along the way there is also a very convincing and thoughtful LGBTQ+ storyline connected to Lily’s brother Roe which many readers will also connect with. This was a gripping and intriguing thriller which effortlessly gets its claws under the skin and readers will be delighted to hear that the sequel The Gifts That Bind Us arrives in 2022. AGE RANGE 13/14+ Vincent Tirado - Burn Down, Rise Up  Burn Down, Rise Up is a fascinating debut from Vincent Tirado set in the Bronx area of New York which nicely puts Black and Latino characters front and centre. It also has a convincing LGBTQ+ vibe with a gay lead character who has a crush on one of her oldest friends. The problem is her best friend (Aaron) also has a thing for the same girl, Charlize. The first half of the novel sets the teen scene and in the second things go full-blown supernatural. When the novel kicks off there have been a spate of disappearances which have been connected to a mysterious urban legend, a challenge called the Echo Game which soon sucks sixteen-year-old Raquel, Aaron and Charlize into its orbit, connecting to an alternative version of the Bronx from the 1970s. A cousin of Charlize was also rumoured to have been playing the Echo Game, which leads to a mysterious Illness which Raquel’s mother catches. Looking for a cure and answers they have to play the game themselves, taking them to a sinister world beneath the city connected to a dark chapter in New York’s past. Raquel was a great central character and teen readers will have fun following her on her dangerous adventures in taking on the Slumlord, a nasty character who lurks in the shadows of the book. AGE RANGE 13/14+ CHECK OUT TODAY'S OTHER ARTICLES ON GINGER NUTS OF HORROR
the heart and soul of ya horror fiction review websites |
Archives
April 2023
|
RSS Feed
|
|