September 5, 2023 by Scholastic Press Language English
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Rafa's mother, Nikki, is serving time in prison, so he and his sister Brianna are living with their abuela and abuelo. It's nice to have a stable home, and Rafa has made some good friends at school, like Jayden, who hopes to one day perform certifiable miracles and be made a saint. There are still some things that are problematic; Rafa needs to take classes in summer school, and his mother is being released. She was a model prisoner, but he can still remember the difficult times that her addiction and arrest put him through. Rafa has gained some notoriety at school for his creepy storytelling, so when he meet his older neihbor, Dr. Martin, in the driveway, and she rants at him not to tell his scary stories because it is a blood moon, he doesn't think much of it. There was some local drama years ago with children going missing near a local park, but Rafa doesn't take it seriously. He tells a short scary story in Jayden's treehouse, and a schoolmate, Cash, tells one about Furrytoes as well. Rafa is surprised when parts of his story seem to come true, and he is worried when he thinks he hears his name being called. Is there something to the local legends? He does some research at the library and talks to his abuela, and finds that there have been a number of children who have died, including a girl named Tessa in the 1970s as well as Dr. Martin's brother Xavier. He also finds that Xavier is a distant cousin, and that the stories that the children told (and have left in journals) are similar to the ones about "the Caretaker" that have popped into his mind. Cash has been suffering from hauntings based on the story that he told, and when children from the neighborhood, including his sister Brianna, go on a school camping trip, the Caretaker ramps up his efforts to get the children. Will Rafa be able to understand what is going on well enough to foil the entity's bloodthirsty quest? And will he be able to make peace with having his mother back home?
Strengths: Cervantes did a really good job of interweaving the struggles with Rafa's mother's problems with the scary content. This is a difficult feat, but I cared just enough about his mother, had it in the back of my mind when I was worrying about the Caretaker grabbing people, and knew that on some level, Rafa's worries about the Caretaker mirrrored his struggles in reality. This will make language arts teachers especially happy. Dr. Martin was actually very learned, but comes across at times as a bit ditzy, which gave a great sense of disbelief to the whole Caretaker mythos. Rafa didn't believe it, and I didn't quite either, but there are lots of clues and things that happen that eventually made me think that this was something everyone should take seriously. Evil spirits who want to drown people aren't to be trusted, especially when they endanger the entire neighborhood. Well done.
Weaknesses: I'm not sure how I feel about the cover. In some ways, it captures the book perfectly, but I almost want it to be scarier so more of my students pick it up. It's perfect for elementary school, since the story just pushes the boundary of elementary creepy. Wouldn't want too scary a cover for younger students.
What I really think: This is a good chioce for readers who want a book that ends up being scarier than it looks, like Mott's Hush-a-Bye or McCall's The Keeper. It also shares the "creepy stories" thread with White's Nightbooks and Poblocki's Tales to Keep You Up at Night.
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