They Are Watching

Sadness is kicking in because my time to read is about to slow WAY down.  I go back to work in less than two weeks!

Meanwhile, I finished Small Spaces by Katherine Arden. Funny how sometimes books connect in weird ways.  While this book is nowhere near as disturbing as my previous read, it definitely registers on the creepy scale!

Ollie (Olivia) comes across a distraught woman who is throwing a book into the river.  Ollie grabs the book and discovers that it gives the history of a farm.  Namely that a deal was made with the “smiling man” to bring back a lost brother.  Strangely enough her sixth grade class is taking a field trip to this same farm.  The woman who she saw at the river is the woman who owns the farm.

The bus breaks down as her class is heading home.  This is when everything goes horribly wrong.  Ollie’s deceased mother is able to communicate with Ollie through her old broken watch, which helps Ollie and a couple of her classmates to escape the smiling man’s helpers.  His helpers are all disguised as scarecrows that come alive at night.  Ollie (with some help from her friends) is able to outsmart the bad guy and help release all of her classmates from the alternate dimension they have been trapped in.

This was an entertaining story.  It had some creepy elements and twists, but all manageable for younger readers.  My daughter who is going into seventh grade really enjoyed it!