Publishers Weekly
06/03/2024
With a quirky blend of history and the paranormal, Savaryn (The Edge of In Between) plumbs the depths of familial relationships and the lengths to which people will go to live their truth in this tender ghost story. All their lives, 12-year-old fraternal twins Maddie and Nat Maverick, who read as white, have done everything together, including wearing matching Halloween costumes, sharing secrets, and appearing on their family’s YouTube channel, Wrecked to Decked, where their parents upload videos of them flipping eerie dilapidated houses. The only thing they don’t share is a birthday—one twin was born on October 31, the other on November 1. When their nana dies, the girls discover a new commonality: they have each inherited Nana’s ability to communicate with ghosts. As their parents endeavor to renovate Signalman’s Cottage in the small town of Hush, residents prepare for the once-every-13-years reenactment of the train disaster that put them on the map, and Maddie and Nat attempt to navigate their newfound gifts to aid the ghosts of the decades-old wreck. While first-person narration by Maddie sometimes reads as too mature, her interactions with others, particularly Nat, ring true in this life-lesson-laden adventure-drama. Ages 8–12. (Aug.)
Kirkus Reviews
2024-05-04
Twelve-year-old Maddie must use her new ghost-seeing abilities to break a curse and save herself this Halloween.
After Nana died, her ability to help ghosts find eternal rest passed to Maddie and her fraternal twin sister, Nat. Maddie just wants to be “normal,” but Nat embraces their supernatural gift. Their different feelings lead to an emotional rift between the girls; Maddie wants to repair their relationship, but her anxiety gets in the way. Then the sisters see a dead girl, her lips sewn shut, in the Victorian signalman’s cottage their parents are renovating for their YouTube channel, “Wrecked to Decked.” She needs their help to right a wrong from a century ago that causes kids to disappear during the town’s reenactment, every 13 years, of the Oct. 31, 1893, Great Hush Train Wreck. There are ominous signs that unless they solve the mystery, Maddie could be next. With help from Nat, new friend Westin, and a trusted teacher, Maddie must overcome her anxiety to save herself and the souls of all the kids whose lives have already been claimed. The central mystery keeps the pages turning in this tale of kids learning to be themselves, one that incorporates many popular paranormal and horror tropes. Maddie’s anxiety is treated with respect, and she shares exercises that help during her panic attacks. The sisters are cued white; Westin is Black.
Part classic ghost tale, part cozy paranormal mystery: an accessible introduction to the genre. (historical note) (Paranormal. 8-12)
