Small Spaces (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780525515029)

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.

Author: Katherine Arden
ISBN-10: 052551502X
ISBN-13: 9780525515029
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Language: English
Published: 09/25/2018
Pages: 224
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.75lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.70w x 1.00d

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 4.1
Point Value: 6
Interest Level: Middle Grade
Quiz #/Name: 197010 / Small Spaces


Review Citation(s):
Horn Book Magazine 11/01/2018 pg. 73
Kirkus Reviews 07/15/2018 pg. 87
Booklist 08/01/2018 pg. 91
Publishers Weekly 08/06/2018
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 09/01/2018
Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2019 - Superior,Well Above Average