August 6, 2024 by Sourcebooks Young Readers
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Avery is super excited to have a sleepover at Chloe's house; the two are inseperable and looking forward to sleeping in a tent, eating lots of s'mores, and talking through the night. It helps distract Chloe, who has been struggling since the disappearance of her father. The girls aren't happy when Chloe's mom announces that her Aunt Sandy and cousin Madison will be coming over; Madison only cares about boys and clothes and can be rather annoying. The group is telling ghost stories when next door neighbor Elijah scares them; Avery and Chloe are just irritated, but Madison thinks he's cute. These problems pale in comparison when the girls settle down to sleep for the night and realizes that the lumps that have been moving under their sleeping bags are probably snakes... and all their phones are mysteriously dead! When Chloe and Avery's moms pop their head out, but don't seem to hear the girls, they decide to make a run for it, and giant, murderous tentacles burst from the lawn and attack the girls. Beating the tentacles with Madison's cot and the tent spikes seems to make the creature scream, and the girls make a panicked retreat to the tent. This doesn't last long, because soon the tentacles are tearing through the nylon and grabbing the frightened campers. They manage to escape to Chloe's weather beaten treehouse. Elijah emerges from his house, but it isn't until he is on Chloe's yard that he sees the monsters. They attack him, and soon he is fleeing for the safety of the treehouse as well. He tells the girls that from his yard, it looked like the tent was still standing, and was illuminated by a glow that seemed like the girls were on their cell phones. When the mothers pop their heads out the next time, Aunt Sandy is dragged down into the year by tentacles and disappears! Avery manages to make it to Elijah's house, but when the others overhear her talking to Mrs. Duncan, it's clear that she has no memory of the monsters. THEN THE TREEHOUSE EXPLODES! Elijah tries to run but is dragged under! Chloe's mom comes out of the house and gets dragged underground! Chloe has had it! She thinks about the disappearance of her dad, and channels her anger into smashing the tentacles with the boards from the treehouse. She and Madison write notes to themselves about what is going on and tuck them in their mouths in case they forget what's going on. Avery comes back, and the girls try to use an axe to chop away at the tentacles, but AVERY AND MADISON GET DRAGGED TO THE DEPTHS! Exhausted and terrified, Chloe realizes that she is alone. When she also drops into the lair of the tentacled monsters, she is resigned, but will she be able to gather her strength and save the world? (Don't want to spoil the ending!)
Strengths: Who doesn't like a sleepover where entire bags of marshmallows are eaten, neighbor boys are dismissed, and GIANT TENTACLES EMERGE FROM THE GROUND AND TRY TO KILL EVERYONE!!! You will notice that I am not usually given to using all caps, but boy, does this book need them to adequately describe the action! It's nonstop and pell mell, with the tiniest amount of breathing room before we are flung right back into the action. The biggest complaint I hear from readers is that "nothing happens" in books, so I am always surprised that there aren't more books like this one where the characters meet one horrifyingly exciting challenge after another. For the adults in the room, we do get some backstory of Chloe and her father's disappearance, as well as good examples of the kids working well together, but the whole point of this book is TO SMASH THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF THE TENTACLES!!! There is a satisfying ending, with the kids saving the day in a way that tweens will really enjoy, and everyone is happy. It doesn't get any better than that in an exciting and vaguely terrifying middle grade novel.
Weaknesses: The ending is a bit deus ex machina, but this means that we don't have to wait for a second novel to resolve everything. It does have a tween getting to drive a car! I had some questions about the state of the backyard. I grew up in an area where there were sinkholes caused by old mines, so I'd be super careful of Chloe's backyard going forward. Also, why are these girls not playing lacrosse? Clearly, they've got some excess energy that could be productively channeled!
What I really think: I'm afraid that this is a book that adult will read and dismiss out of hand because it is so unlikely. This is really too bad, because actual middle grade readers will LOVE this one. Part of me wishes that the main characters had been boys, because they tend to like the smash-and-grab writing style a little more, but the cover is neutral, and my readers have gotten much better about focusing on content rather than worrying about being seen with "girl books". There are just not enough books with NONSTOP ACTION. Klavan's If We Survive (2012), Cole's Z-Rex (2010), and Mbalia, and Makonnen's Last Gate of the Emperor (2022) are some of the few I can think of. This reminded me a tiny bit of Ockler's The Smashed Man of Dread End, and this goes well with the other Eek! book by Strand, It Watches in the Dark. I had never heard the term "implacable horror" until I read another review of this title, but it's a trope I've definitely going to look for now!
John Wilson's 2004 essay in Quill and Quire, "Eviscerating Noddy" (which I always wrongly remember as "Exploding Noddy"), explains why Strand's style in this book will make it so popular with readers!
Avery is super excited to have a sleepover at Chloe's house; the two are inseperable and looking forward to sleeping in a tent, eating lots of s'mores, and talking through the night. It helps distract Chloe, who has been struggling since the disappearance of her father. The girls aren't happy when Chloe's mom announces that her Aunt Sandy and cousin Madison will be coming over; Madison only cares about boys and clothes and can be rather annoying. The group is telling ghost stories when next door neighbor Elijah scares them; Avery and Chloe are just irritated, but Madison thinks he's cute. These problems pale in comparison when the girls settle down to sleep for the night and realizes that the lumps that have been moving under their sleeping bags are probably snakes... and all their phones are mysteriously dead! When Chloe and Avery's moms pop their head out, but don't seem to hear the girls, they decide to make a run for it, and giant, murderous tentacles burst from the lawn and attack the girls. Beating the tentacles with Madison's cot and the tent spikes seems to make the creature scream, and the girls make a panicked retreat to the tent. This doesn't last long, because soon the tentacles are tearing through the nylon and grabbing the frightened campers. They manage to escape to Chloe's weather beaten treehouse. Elijah emerges from his house, but it isn't until he is on Chloe's yard that he sees the monsters. They attack him, and soon he is fleeing for the safety of the treehouse as well. He tells the girls that from his yard, it looked like the tent was still standing, and was illuminated by a glow that seemed like the girls were on their cell phones. When the mothers pop their heads out the next time, Aunt Sandy is dragged down into the year by tentacles and disappears! Avery manages to make it to Elijah's house, but when the others overhear her talking to Mrs. Duncan, it's clear that she has no memory of the monsters. THEN THE TREEHOUSE EXPLODES! Elijah tries to run but is dragged under! Chloe's mom comes out of the house and gets dragged underground! Chloe has had it! She thinks about the disappearance of her dad, and channels her anger into smashing the tentacles with the boards from the treehouse. She and Madison write notes to themselves about what is going on and tuck them in their mouths in case they forget what's going on. Avery comes back, and the girls try to use an axe to chop away at the tentacles, but AVERY AND MADISON GET DRAGGED TO THE DEPTHS! Exhausted and terrified, Chloe realizes that she is alone. When she also drops into the lair of the tentacled monsters, she is resigned, but will she be able to gather her strength and save the world? (Don't want to spoil the ending!)
Strengths: Who doesn't like a sleepover where entire bags of marshmallows are eaten, neighbor boys are dismissed, and GIANT TENTACLES EMERGE FROM THE GROUND AND TRY TO KILL EVERYONE!!! You will notice that I am not usually given to using all caps, but boy, does this book need them to adequately describe the action! It's nonstop and pell mell, with the tiniest amount of breathing room before we are flung right back into the action. The biggest complaint I hear from readers is that "nothing happens" in books, so I am always surprised that there aren't more books like this one where the characters meet one horrifyingly exciting challenge after another. For the adults in the room, we do get some backstory of Chloe and her father's disappearance, as well as good examples of the kids working well together, but the whole point of this book is TO SMASH THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF THE TENTACLES!!! There is a satisfying ending, with the kids saving the day in a way that tweens will really enjoy, and everyone is happy. It doesn't get any better than that in an exciting and vaguely terrifying middle grade novel.
Weaknesses: The ending is a bit deus ex machina, but this means that we don't have to wait for a second novel to resolve everything. It does have a tween getting to drive a car! I had some questions about the state of the backyard. I grew up in an area where there were sinkholes caused by old mines, so I'd be super careful of Chloe's backyard going forward. Also, why are these girls not playing lacrosse? Clearly, they've got some excess energy that could be productively channeled!
What I really think: I'm afraid that this is a book that adult will read and dismiss out of hand because it is so unlikely. This is really too bad, because actual middle grade readers will LOVE this one. Part of me wishes that the main characters had been boys, because they tend to like the smash-and-grab writing style a little more, but the cover is neutral, and my readers have gotten much better about focusing on content rather than worrying about being seen with "girl books". There are just not enough books with NONSTOP ACTION. Klavan's If We Survive (2012), Cole's Z-Rex (2010), and Mbalia, and Makonnen's Last Gate of the Emperor (2022) are some of the few I can think of. This reminded me a tiny bit of Ockler's The Smashed Man of Dread End, and this goes well with the other Eek! book by Strand, It Watches in the Dark. I had never heard the term "implacable horror" until I read another review of this title, but it's a trope I've definitely going to look for now!
John Wilson's 2004 essay in Quill and Quire, "Eviscerating Noddy" (which I always wrongly remember as "Exploding Noddy"), explains why Strand's style in this book will make it so popular with readers!
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