Small Spaces by Katherine Arden

A delectable ghost story set in wintry Vermont. Three found friends: lonely, bookworm Ollie, literate hockey player Brian, and recent city transplant Coco… all go on a wild adventure to save their sixth grade class.

Ollie lost her mother last year and has retreated away from the chess club and the softball team into her novels. On the last sunny day of autumn while riding home she stops by the local swimming hole. She finds a distraught woman trying to throw an old book into the river. Ollie sees it as her mission to save the book and snatches it away from her. Over the next couple says, Ollie starts to read the book; the story in the pages and reality start to blend. A farm, scarecrows, and some help from her mother… Ollie will need to see through years of manipulation and the town’s gossip to help her classmates from an evil presence that is ready to strike.

What a great story! Perfect to curl up with a cup of hot cocoa. Filled with sympathetic characters and one strong young woman, Small Spaces is short and would be great for a middle grade audience hungry for a good scare.

4.5 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Young Readers Group, and the author for a copy for review.