The House at the Edge of Magic

The Land of Forgotten Girls

The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World

Un Lun Dun

Unraveller

Maybe a Fox

The Thirteenth Cat

All the Answers

Small Spaces Quartet

New York Times bestselling adult author of The Bear and the Nightingale makes her middle grade debut with a creepy, spellbinding ghost story destined to become a classic

After suffering a tragic loss, eleven-year-old Ollie only finds solace in books. So when she happens upon a crazed woman at the river threatening to throw a book into the water, Ollie doesn't think—she just acts, stealing the book and running away. As she begins to read the slender volume, Ollie discovers a chilling story about a girl named Beth, the two brothers who both loved her, and a peculiar deal made with "the smiling man," a sinister specter who grants your most tightly held wish, but only for the ultimate price. 

Ollie is captivated by the tale until her school trip the next day to Smoke Hollow, a local farm with a haunting history all its own. There she stumbles upon the graves of the very people she's been reading about. Could it be the story about the smiling man is true? Ollie doesn't have too long to think about the answer to that. On the way home, the school bus breaks down, sending their teacher back to the farm for help. But the strange bus driver has some advice for the kids left behind in his care: "Best get moving. At nightfall they'll come for the rest of you." Nightfall is, indeed, fast descending when Ollie's previously broken digital wristwatch, a keepsake reminder of better times, begins a startling countdown and delivers a terrifying message: RUN. 

Only Ollie and two of her classmates heed the bus driver's warning. As the trio head out into the woods--bordered by a field of scarecrows that seem to be watching them--the bus driver has just one final piece of advice for Ollie and her friends: "Avoid large places. Keep to small." 

And with that, a deliciously creepy and hair-raising adventure begins.

Discover Your Child's Next Read

The House at the Edge of Magic

Amy Sparkes, 2021

The Land of Forgotten Girls

Erin Entrada Kelly, 2016

The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World

E.L. Konigsburg, 2007

Un Lun Dun

China Miéville, 2007

Unraveller

Frances Hardinge, 2022

Maybe a Fox

Alison Mcghee, Kathi Appelt, 2016

The Thirteenth Cat

Mary Downing Hahn, 2021

All the Answers

Kate Messner, 2015