It’s been storming a lot lately here, which is the perfect time for some spectacularly creepy reads.
Creeptacular reads, if you’ll forgive the pun. Which you will, obviously, because you haven’t all stormed my house yet with torches and pitchforks, even though goodness knows I deserve it for crimes against puns.
I’ve been on a real middle grade kick lately, especially with summer reading going on at the local library with the kiddos, and with Minion actually doing a bunch of reading for a change, so I thought I’d scratch my spooky book itch with some middle grade. Can’t say I was disappointed!
The Jumbies (The Jumbies #1)
by Tracey BaptistePublished by: Algonquin Young Readers on April 28, 2015
Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Middle Grade
Pages: 240
Format: eBook
Source: Library
Rating:
A spine-tingling tale rooted in Caribbean folklore that will have readers holding their breath as they fly through its pages.
Corinne La Mer isn't afraid of anything. Not scorpions, not the boys who tease her, and certainly not jumbies. They're just tricksters parents make up to frighten their children. Then one night Corinne chases an agouti all the way into the forbidden forest. Those shining yellow eyes that followed her to the edge of the trees, they couldn't belong to a jumbie. Or could they?
When Corinne spots a beautiful stranger speaking to the town witch at the market the next day, she knows something unexpected is about to happen. And when this same beauty, called Severine, turns up at Corinne's house, cooking dinner for Corinne's father, Corinne is sure that danger is in the air. She soon finds out that bewitching her father, Pierre, is only the first step in Severine's plan to claim the entire island for the jumbies. Corinne must call on her courage and her friends and learn to use ancient magic she didn't know she possessed to stop Severine and save her island home.
With its able and gutsy heroine, lyrical narration, and inventive twist on the classic Haitian folktale "The Magic Orange Tree," The Jumbies will be a favorite of fans of Breadcrumbs, A Tale Dark and Grimm, and Where the Mountain Meets the Moon.
This has been on my TBR for a while, but I finally picked it up as the monthly read for Middle Grade Marvels. Unfortunately, I threw the schedule out the window, because once I picked this up, there was no way I was putting it down again. Oops.
The Jumbies is a spooky middle grade read based on Caribbean folklore, written by an #ownvoices author, and boasting enough spooks to chill even an adult. The family bounds and found family bonds will help warm you up after the shivers, though.
There are two more books in the series, which I haven’t read yet, but it’s one that I’ll definitely be continuing.
This book is surprisingly dark for a middle grade book, but in a clean sort of way.
What I’m saying is that Jumbies are freaking scary, and the author doesn’t shy away from that reality. It’s still “clean” horror in the sense that there’s no blood or gore or anything, but the stakes are real and sky high, and absolutely no descriptive punches are pulled to portray the horror of these things.
Like the Lagahoo, which is a giant wolf bound in chains. Or the Douens, which are tiny spirits with backwards feet that spirit away children. Or La Diabless, who is a beautiful temptress spirit who seduces men and lures them into the woods and can only be identified by the fact that they have one foot and one hoof under their long skirts.
Have I mentioned how much I love this folklore, as creepy as it is?
I’d never heard of jumbies before this book, but I would for sure read more books about them. The lore seems pretty rich and rife with possibilities. Plus, the tension in this book is cranked right up to 11 with all these spooks living on the island.
It may come as no surprise at all, but jumbies? Not exactly thrilled with humans.
And if we’re honest, who really is? Even humans aren’t thrilled with other humans most of the time, so can you blame them? There’s some hardcore us vs. them going on in this book and Corinne needs to decide where she stands with everything. She’s really finding her own place on the island and where she belongs amidst everything.
The real tricky part, though, is who can blame the jumbies?! Their grievance is legitimate.
And if you get that reference, I love you. Also, get out of my head. It’s not a safe place in there.
Despite there being two sides coming together in a pretty big conflict during this book, neither side is right nor wrong, and I really enjoyed the nuance of it.
Tonight your time is finally done.
Silent children come and fight,
The people’s end begins tonight!
[…]
Children, children, stand on guard.
No one enters through our yard.
Sharpen claws and sticks and stones.
Tonight we shall retake our home.
While I can’t say I loved the villain in this, her perspective was surprisingly easy to understand, and dare I say I even felt a little bad for her?
What it comes down to is she’s grieving … over a lot of things, which I don’t want to say because I’m pretty sure it’s all spoilers. But she’s sad, which turns to anger, and anger can get downright ugly sometimes. I can’t say I agreed with all her methods, and I definitely wasn’t rooting for her, but as a villain, her story tugged at my heartstrings just a little bit all the same.
The family bonds and found family in this book is just *chef’s kiss*.
There’s Corinne, who lost her mother and is trying to keep her family together with just her and her father. The bond between the two is just so sweet and so strong!
At the same time, Corinne is finding a little family of her own in the friends she’s meeting along the way. Making friends isn’t always easy, though, like Bouki and Malik, the brothers that torment her in the beginning of the book. The brothers are so adorable together, as brothers will be, but they tend to be a constant thorn in Corinne’s side, until they’re able to come to a certain mutual understanding.
The great thing about this book was that it was really about coming together, in general, for a larger purpose.
It really highlights the idea that grudges are lost or forgotten when there’s a greater crises underway, and the whole island has a part in it. I just loved seeing everyone working together.
The Mulberry Tree
by Allison RushbyPublished by: Candlewick Press on July 14, 2020
Genres: Middle Grade, Horror, Fantasy, Mystery
Pages: 304
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
Rating:
Is the eerie tree beside their bucolic cottage really a threat to ten-year-old Immy? Legend and hearsay give way to a creepy series of events in a captivating mystery.
Do naught wrong by the mulberry tree, or she’ll take your daughters . . . one, two, three.
Ten-year-old Immy and her family have run away from their storm cloud of problems to a tiny village in Cambridgeshire, England, where her depressed physician father can take a sabbatical and get back on his feet. Luckily, they find an adorable thatched cottage to begin a new life in. But their new home comes with one downside: in the backyard, there is an ancient, dark, and fierce-looking mulberry tree that has ceased bearing any fruit. There’s a legend that the towering tree steals away girls who live in the cottage on the eve of their eleventh birthday, and villagers even cross the street when they pass by the house. Of course, Immy thinks this is all ridiculous. But then she starts to hear a strange song in her head. . . . In a page-turner perfect for middle-graders, Allison Rushby folds themes of new-school travails, finding friends, being embarrassed by parents, and learning empathy into a deliciously goose-bumpy supernatural mystery.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Candlewick Press for a review copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. Quotes are taken from an unfinished version and may differ from the final product.
I’m an absolute sucker for books with creepy rhymes, so this one caught my eye right away. That cover is all dark and spooky, and the rhyme at the very beginning of the blurb? Yup, that’s about my speed.
Despite being dark and creepy, The Mulberry Tree has a surprising amount of heart. It’s about anger and revenge, but also about healing and forgiveness and understanding. The dichotomy was just *chef’s kiss*.
While I’d say this one was pretty low on the creep factor, it was spooky enough to stay interesting, but not so much that it would be considered too scary for younger middle grade readers. Rushby does a great job of building atmosphere, though, and her prose was so lovely to read.
Immy’s relationship with her dad is so sweet and strong, but it’s going through a bit of turmoil now as she struggles to cope with his PTSD.
This has all the sweetness of strong family bonds with an added layer of reality sprinkled on top. Because life is hard, and people go through things. Immy isn’t quite old enough to understand what her father is going through or what that means for their family, though.
The move to England is supposed to be a fresh start for Immy and her family, but there’s no running from their real problems: a workaholic mom who’s never home and a father suffering from PTSD.
This book really highlights the fact that you can’t run from these problems, and they have to be tackled head on. It’s made all more difficult by the fact that Immy doesn’t understand why her father has suddenly changed, which makes it hard for her to have empathy for the situation.
This is a very realistic scenario, and I enjoyed the way the book tackled it, because all the way through, you can still tell how much Immy and her father love each other, as they try to rekindle the closeness they’ve lost recently.
Immy inspected the cookies as well. “Do you think I should take them?”
“Maybe the less burnt ones.”
“Are there any?”
“At least four. I’m sure of it.”
I thought the PTSD and the family dynamics in general were really well done and give the reader a lot to think about.
If I’m honest, I struggled a little understanding why Immy’s father was experiencing PTSD from what happened (which I won’t spoil for you, even though it’s revealed early on), but that’s kind of the point of the book and mental health. You don’t have to understand why it’s happening. The why doesn’t matter so much as realizing that it is happening and being able to support the person.
The way the family dynamic changes and unfolds through this story as Immy comes to grips with her father being a different person and unable to do the things she’s used to him doing was so poignant and tragic and beautiful, all at the same time.
Because he’s trying. No one can accuse him of not. But there’s no quick, easy fix for PTSD, but it starts with understanding and empathy. Actually, understanding is a major theme in the book, and I like how it all tied together in that way.
The creepy, daughter-stealing tree in this is really a character unto itself.
It’s given a personality itself and has a backstory and everything, which was an interesting choice, but I love the way this was built. I’ve been known to like other books where trees are characters, so you know what? Maybe this should just be a thing. Let’s have more tree characters!
At first, the tree is just that … a tree with a silly superstition surrounding it. As the book gets going, though, it takes on its own creepy persona.
The transformation is really neat to see, especially the way Immy’s perception of it and reaction to it changes as the story unfolds. I mean, creepy trees are creepy, but there’s so much more to the story here than meets the eye!
I loved the creepy rhyme in this, but the superstition was way overhyped and didn’t quite make sense.
I mean, two girls went missing. Two. In the past 150 years. It’s a pretty tenuous connection, if you ask me. Yeah, the circumstances are strange, and the girls belonged to the same family, but it felt really flimsy to me that the disappearances are tied together so suredly, from the mid-1800s and the mid-1900s, that it affects what happens in the present day. I understand why they’re linked, but it just struck me as odd that it was such a big deal.
The ending was also really convenient and deus ex machina feeling, to the point where Immy doesn’t actually do anything in this book, which I think robbed her of a real opportunity here.
The book delivers more on the emotional aspect than the creepy aspect, because as said, Immy isn’t really the hero in this. She doesn’t save the day, she’s just a puppet through which we see the truth unfolding. Her emotional transformation is a super powerful and beautiful one, and I loved the way that was done, but as for the overall conflict of the book, it was a bit of a bummer the way it was resolved because Immy didn’t actually play a real role in that at all.
Raiders of the Lost Archives
by Michael Dahl, Patricio ClareyPublished by: Stone Arch Books on August 1, 2020
Genres: Middle Grade, Fantasy, Adventure, Horror
Pages: 40
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
Rating:
Deep within the Library of Doom, raiders are searching for the treasure of the Lost Archives. The thieves have captured a young worker to guide them through the mazelike shelves. The boy doesn't want to betray the Librarian, but he is a Silent One. If he cannot speak, how can he call for help? Uncover hidden dangers and dark mysteries with SECRETS OF THE LIBRARY OF DOOM, a page-turning chapter book series from bestselling author Michael Dahl.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Stone Arch Books for a review copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. Images are taken from an unfinished version and may differ from the final product.
I’ve been a fan of Michael Dahl’s books since my own daughter was in the early reader phase and I was trying to find ways to convince her reluctant self to actually read something. She really enjoyed reading his books together, and so when I saw he had a new one coming out, I had to jump on the chance to read it. Plus, do you see that cover? It’s stunning. Who wouldn’t want to pick that up?
Raiders of the Lost Archives delivers on the fun, engaging books Dahl is known for, with vivid and gorgeous illustrations, a spooky atmosphere, and a hero that’s too cool to not root for.
The only reason I ended up going with four stars instead of five is because this falls into what I’ve noticed a lot of younger Dahl works do in that it feels very episodic, like it’s not quite complete but is part of a larger work that’s missing in order to give this part meaning and gravity. The story doesn’t quite feel complete to me.
Dahl has a talent for delivering tension with few words, and this book is no exception.
I’ve always enjoyed the way Dahl plays with words and structure to deliver a full, vivid image of what’s going on without bogging the reader down. After all, these books are for early readers, so word space is kind of at a premium here.
For such a short book, I do love Dahl’s word choice and the way he formats his sentences. It ramps up the tension and makes it a little creepier, which is impressive for such a short book.
On par with all his books, the illustrations in this are absolutely gorgeous, and they really bring the story to life.
Not gonna lie, it was the illustrations that first had me pick up any of Dahl’s Library of Doom or Return to the Library of Doom series in the first place, because it’s so eye-catching and lovely. I especially love the fact that not only are pages illustrated with images so the reader can see what’s happening, but the words are also “illustrated” in small ways that really make them pop. It makes even the normal text engaging and interesting, which is one of the tricks I used to get my own reluctant reader to read this series when she was at this age, because the words just become all the more fun and reading in general becomes an entirely different experience from most other books in this age group.
As far as heroes go, the Librarian is super cool, and I love the idea of making a librarian a hero.
Because we are. We totally are. I mean, I haven’t throttled anyone yet, and according to the sign at my job, it’s even been weeks since we’ve had a Velociraptor attack there, so see? We’re obviously winning.
The Librarian is mildly sarcastic and nonchalant, with sort of fuzzy magic, which I don’t know any of the rules for, but which allows him to do some pretty neat things. Sometimes things don’t need an explanation, especially in kids’ books, and he’s a hero persona that’s just fun and enjoyable, without needing to question it.
Dahl’s books are sometimes so short and to the point that I often struggle with the “so, what?” part of the plot, and this wasn’t an exception to that.
This book doesn’t work as well as a standalone, because there’s no explanation of what the library is or who the Librarian is. Sure, you can put a good enough picture together from context clues, but it doesn’t feel like a complete story in and of itself. I love his books, but I tend to find that’s the case a lot from my perspective.
I think this suffers a bit from a lack of clear stakes, leaving it feel more episodic rather than a complete work.
It’s hard with books for younger kids, because you can’t bog it down with too many words. The whole point of books for this age group is brevity and hooking kids quickly and delivering a story as efficiently as possible. I get that. Unfortunately, this didn’t quite make it for me. The stakes are there, but they don’t stand on their own. Having not previously read any books about the Librarian and few about the library itself, I don’t know what the Archives are. What’s so important about them? Why do the raiders want to go there, and why can’t they? Obviously, they’re bad guys, so okay, it makes sense not to give them what they want, but I wanted a little more sense of the world.
All three of these sound like winners, and spooky reads are always a good thing. Minion must be lucky to have you, since you always give such great MG recommendations 😁
Tammy @ Books, Bones & Buffy recently posted…RANDOM SH*T FLYING THROUGH THE AIR by Jackson Ford – Review
I’m not sure she’d take that stance, because she’s so very sick of me throwing books at her. xD She’s definitely not like I was as a kid haha. But she’s finally starting to find series and books that interest her, so it’s worth it. :3
Okay, The Jumbies is going on my tbr right now! 🙂
I hope you end up loving it! I read it for Middle Grade Marvels, and it seemed like everyone in the group at least enjoyed it (though to varying degrees, as you might expect).
Okay, your review of The Jumbies has me thinking perhaps I should re-read it. I read it (last year maybe) and while I loved all the things you did I was so aggravated with the villain and it just didn’t capture me the way it sounds like it did you. However, you are reminding me how many things I did genuinely enjoy with this and maybe I should give the series another try. Excellent review, whew!
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Mmm I can definitely see why the villain aggravated you. I think there was a big missed opportunity to make her more sympathetic (because I WAS sympathetic about some of the things that happened in her life). Maybe that was the point, and she wasn’t supposed to be sympathetic, but I felt she was a bit cheated and didn’t get the well-rounded treatment she could’ve had.
I hope you do give it another try, though! The lore was just so much fun, and the children are all so adorable in their interactions (especially the boys).
I’m going to have to check out his Raiders of the Lost Archives book. Anything with librarian heroes is up my alley for obvious reasons.
I believe there’s a whole series of his books that feature The Librarian, but I haven’t read those books in particular. I’m definitely a sucker for librarians as heroes, too. xD
How have I never visited your blog before?? I absolutely loved this post. All the mini-reviews were really fun to read. I like the sound of Mulberry Tree in particular.
Thanks for stopping by! I hope you get a chance to check it out. :3
Found your blog through twitter, and I’m not mad about it!!
Thanks for stopping by! :3