Engagement:
Genre:
Horror
Published:
2018
Page Count:
229
Where to Buy:
Small Spaces
Small Spaces
#
1
After reading a mysterious book about a woman who made a deal with a sinister entity called the Smiling Man, eleven-year-old Ollie and her classmates find themselves trapped on a haunted farm where scarecrows come to life and a ghostly presence hunts them. A genuinely frightening middle-grade horror novel with strong emotional depth. First in a trilogy.
Content Ratings
Intense Themes
Ollie is grieving the recent death of her mother and uses books as escape; the children face genuine supernatural danger with no guarantee of survival; themes of grief, terror, the fragility of safety, and the necessity of facing fear are emotionally intense; the novel is genuinely frightening.
High Violence
Living scarecrows hunt the children with the intent to capture or kill them; characters are in sustained mortal danger; the Smiling Man is a genuinely terrifying supernatural villain; violence and threat are sustained and intense though not graphically gory.