MMGM- Ride or Die

It's

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
 at 

Always in the Middle 

and #IMWAYR day 

at

Unleashing Readers

I

Dawson, Delilah. Ride or Die

August 5, 2025 by Delacorte Press

Public Library copy

Brie has had to move to Stokely Prep after her older sister Artemis created an uncomfortable situation at her previous school, and she's just trying to keep her head down. At the end of the year, she ends up next to the hugely popular Emily, who runs the school along with her friends Emma and Emerson. While Brie knows that running afoul of "the Ems" could be catastrophic, she also knows that befriending them could make her school experience smoother. When Emily asks if Brie will be her partner during the three legged race so she can not only beat her boyfriend but also get money from her father, Brie reluctantly agrees, weighing her actions carefully. While Brie is a fast runner, Emily isn't, so Brie makes a quick decision, wins the race, and gets invited to Emily's birthday party. This is a sleepover held at the nearby Wildwoods Amusement Park. The girls check in to the Magnolia House, get the parameters of their night, and head off to enjoy the park. Emily wants to play Truth or Dare, which is a minefield. Brie is able to survive the first round by calculating her response, but Emma fails, and has to eat gum from the ground. Realizing that Emily is even more evil than she imagined, Brie decides to take a dare rather than answer a question about her sister that could end poorly. The park has an area that was closed off after four teens died in 1995, on the very day that the girls are visiting. Emily dares Brie to go behind the wall and retrieve a souvenir, but then locks Brie in. She panics at first, but manages to find a beeper. Shortly afterwards, she meets three teens, whom she assumes are there for the teen lock in. They hang out together, but strange things start to happen. Brie thinks she must be hallucinating because she is tired, being unused to staying up that late. As the evening progresses, however, things become weirder in terrifying ways. CJ, Dawn, and Trip are cool teenagers who are  nice to her, but what is their real story? Will Brie be able to survive the axe of Pickaxe Pete, the crocodile Monster Max, out of control amusement park rides, and zombies?Even if she makes it out of the amusement park, will she be able to come to terms with Emily and her friends?

Strengths: If you've read Dawson's Mine, rest assured that Ride or Die has a similar level of ick, with roaches, spoiled food, and zombies with rotting body parts. Someone connected with the 1995 deaths is trying to kill Brie, but I don't want to give too many details and spoil all of the twists and turns. I missed picking this book up before it came out, thinking that it would be more like Natasha Preston's YA horror; luckily, another librarian on Goodreads reviewed this. There were several reviewers who complained that this was repetitive and had too much friendship drama, but I think they are wrong. My students who love horror love to read about killer zombies and gross stuff, but are secretly REALLY terrified of... tween drama. Emily is scary, but what's brilliant about this book is the way Brie tries to navigate working with this villain. She knows Emily isn't nice, but feels it is worthwhile to try to deal with her so that her social life is easier. Hanging out with cool teenagers is fun... but is Brie imagining things because she's tired? I found myself really getting into this one, and enjoyed it tremendously. Definitely buying a copy. 
Weaknesses: This does start with a lot of drama; it might not be a bad idea to warn readers that it is worth getting through the first couple of chapters. The issue with the older sister didn't seem that serious that Brie would have had to change schools, but that didn't take up too much time in the story. Brie could have had to start a new school for other reasons, and Emily isn't the kind of person who needed any actual dirt on people. She'd just make some up. 

What I really think: A haunted amusement park is always great. I'll buy this for Dawson's fans or for readers who enjoyed Alexander's Escape. There aren't as many haunted amusement park books as I thought there were!