The synopsis of this book had me grabbing this book at the school book fair. Remember Scholastic book fairs? They aren’t fun to run but I do love buying books from them.
Lucy and her family have moved to a rural part of Alaska. In this town, they have remote learning from October to April. This keeps the kids off the dangerous roads throughout the winter. The class size is also tiny, only 13 kids. As April approaches, Lucy is excited to meet these friends she has been chatting with for the past few months. When she gets to the school, she finds a tiny cemetery. Looking at the headstones, she notices some familiar names. Are her new “friends” pulling a prank on the new kid? Or is it something even worse?
How could you not grab this book!?!?!
It’s a little crazy because Lucy is in this school. When she walks to her school for the first time for in-person learning, she finds that the school is burned to the ground. It’s not like it burned earlier in the week, but years ago. I couldn’t let go of how she was registered for this school without her parents ever looking at the school. Maybe it’s because I work in a school, but you have to come in and fill out a ton of paperwork to register your kid. Perhaps it’s just different in rural areas.
Her mom promised to drive her to school next week, and I was stressed reading this! What would the mom say when she saw that the school was burned? Meanwhile, we have the weekend to explore. Lucy wanders the woods in hopes of finding other kids. She ends up finding a little redheaded boy. She asks him about the school, and he tells her to stay away from it. He wants nothing to do with it.
This book was definitely spooky and weird, and I had a ton of questions in the end. Many questions were answered, but many were not, at least not well answered. I also feel like this book landed on a bit of a cliffhanger. Will there be a second? I can’t wait for my students to read this book. It is going to be a fun one to talk about!
RANDOM: This book reminds me of a story my mom used to tell me when I was younger. The 1958 Our Lady of the Angels school fire. We had been in a cemetery to visit family, and there was a large statue with many graves in the children’s section. Photo of the statue, but be warned, there is also a photo of a victim. It is heartbreaking to see.
Four out of Five Magical Coffee Cups
Literary Coffee 