September 3, 2024 by Scholastic Inc.
Public library copy
Marcus, Andrew, and Angie have all been dragged by their families to a harvest festival in Gentle Valley after getting into trouble of different sorts. A lot of the problems centered around grades, or getting in fights, but Angie managed to make the entire girls' soccer team go bald because they made fun of her, and Kris Siddiqui dresses in full goth attire and decked a kid who teased her. Gentle Valley is a little too happy and gung ho for all of them, and they are especially suspicious of organizer Liv Thompson, whose daughter Elena seems to realize that the whole festival is an overdose of wholesome, from the apple bobbing to the constant excellent food. Anything that has the faintest whisper of spooky Halloween elements is banned, and carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns is strictly forbidden. There is a corn maze, and when the kids go into that, it is particularly creepy, especially when they see a scarecrow in the center called The Harvester, and two other kids they meet, Anthony and Zach, go missing. Despite hearing rumors that The Harvester will grab kids after dark and turn them into pumpkins, Kris decides to carve a pumpkin, and when she does, there is a weird blue light that emanates from it, and she thinks she sees a creepy boy from the corn maze. Trying to figure out what is going on, the kids stay up late, and see The Harvester stealing Angie's brother Greg. When they venture out, they run into other kids in the pumpkin patch, and begin to realize that the rumors are true. They manage to save Greg, and head to the town's local history museum to try to figure out what is going on. They overhear adults talking, and realize that their worst fears are true. In order to secure a good harvest, Gentle Valley lures families with problem children to the festival, turns them into pumpkins, and then covers up the police investigations. With some input from Elena, the kids manage to save Anthony and Zach, as well as other children, and set the town on a different, less violent path. Or do they?
Strengths: Gentle Valley sounds like a great place for a weekend trip in the fall, doesn't it? That makes it even creepier when The Harvester appears and the kids are in peril. It was a good decision to make the characters older, and also to have their behavior problematic, because then the adults are less likely to take them seriously. There's plenty of running around in creepy fields at night, and I am not sure that I will ever be able to go into a corn maze; certainly never later than 8 a.m. so that I have plenty of time to get out before dark! Kris' obsession with Halloween and all things goth will speak to some readers who long black nail polish and excessive eye liner. Elena, as a local kid, was a good inclusion, and I loved the scene at the local history museum. This is a short, fast paced title with a fantasic cover.
Weaknesses: While I can forgive improperly translated Latin ("Mors fortium praemia does not mean "death favors the strong" because praemia is the noun version of rewards, not the verb form, and fortium is not plural. I would have suggested just replacing "Mors" for "fortuna" in Terence's phrase "fortuna fortes adiuvat".), it's harder for me to be okay with referring to Liv Thompson as a "cult Karen". Yet again, if we don't want young readers to use negative stereotypes, we need to model that behavior in their literature.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who want lots of Halloween details with their creepy corn maze titles like Sutherland's Field of Screams or Arden's Small Spaces.
Again, if authors have questions about Latin translations, just e mail me. If I can't figure it out, I know people who can.
No comments:
Post a Comment