The Darkdeep

Condie, Ally. The Darkdeep. Bloomsbury, 2018.

Nico's drone is sent into the mist in an area that is prohibited. Naturally, he follows it in, and accompanied by a couple of friends as well as a frenemy, Nico discovers a mysterious island where strange and scary things are happening. The group tries to uncover the secret of the darkdeep.

This is touted as Stranger Things for kids, and that's a fairly accurate description. This is scarier than Goosebumps, but not too scary to recommend to most tweens (10-12 year olds and older). There is little backstory and scanty character development, but both of those things are sacrificed for the sake of the spooky action, which is the focus in this story. The scary, paranormal phenomena will keep kids turning pages. Recommended.

Recommended for: tweens
Red Flags: bullying, "minor peril"
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

I received a complimentary copy of this book through Netgalley for the purpose of review.

Burning

A eerie, spooky story that would fit right in as an X-Files episode.

Rollins, Danielle. Burning. Bloomsbury, 2016.

Angela is so close to getting out of juvie, she can almost taste freedom. Just a few more months toeing the line and she'll be out in the world again. Then Jessica arrives. Jessica is ten, the youngest of the inmates, and there are all kinds of wild rumors circulating about what she did to earn her sentence. Angela is tasked with befriending the young girl as a condition of her impending parole, but when she finds Jessica setting fire to her teddy bear in the middle of the night, she realizes she may have bitten off more than she can chew.

This book is equal parts spooky and mysterious, with just enough of a paranormal element thrown in to hook even the most reluctant of teen readers. I could easily pair this book with viewings of X-Files or Orange is the New Black. Because I imagined this book as a paranormal television show, it was easy to guess at the ending, but guessing it early did not spoil it for me. For all the teen readers who want the next scary book, Burning is highly recommended.

Recommended for: teens
Red Flags: language, violence - the story takes place in a prison
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

Read-Alikes: Juvie, Daughters Unto Devils,

I received a complimentary copy of this book through Netgalley for the purposes of review.

Daughters Unto Devils

Lukavics, Amy. Daughters Unto Devils. Harlequin Teen, 2015.

Amanda, her parents, and her four siblings are leaving the mountain and moving to the prairie. After a difficult winter, they need a new start. They travel until they come upon a large abandoned house, which their father declares to be the perfect spot for them. That's when the trouble begins ...

The cover of this book contains a blurb comparing it to a Little House and Stephen King mashup. That description actually fits. For the first part of the book, the story is pretty slow. It's obvious things have happened, but we don't get many of the details until much later. After the family settles in their midsize house on the prairie, though, things start going downhill, fast. The pacing picks up in the story and it delivers the punch of creepiness I'd expected from looking at the cover. This would be a great book to recommend to all the kids who come in the library looking for "the section with all the scary books."

Recommended for: teens, tweens who like creepy stories
Red Flags: mention of demons; Amanda has sex with the delivery boy, becomes pregnant, and miscarries her child; after the mother becomes possessed she says some rather unkind things to her children; the baby gets nearly eaten alive by red ants
Overall Rating: 3/5 star

The Night Gardener

Auxier, Jonathan. The Night Gardener. Harry N. Abrams, 2014.

Molly and her brother Kip are orphans, only Kip has been led to believe his parents are on a grand adventure somewhere in the world. Molly is caring for Kip and trying to make sure they are safe and fed and clothed. She finds work for them caring for a creepy old house and the family that has moved there. This house is right next to a mysterious tree; moreover, the house's inhabitants seem to have gotten very sick and weak since they moved in. Molly is able to put the pieces together and discovers the problem, but will she be able to save the family, and will they even want her to save them?

This book was appropriately mysterious, spooky, and creepy. I enjoyed the fairy-tale elements and the creepy bits of the story. Everything was great until I got to the end. I expected the ending to rush past in a blur as everything came to a climax, but it dragged a bit. Still, I would easily and readily recommend this book to middle grade students, tweens, and even some teens.

Recommended for: tweens, fans of spooky stories,

Red Flags: minor amounts of violence

Overall Rating: 4/5 stars