And with that, a deliciously creepy and hair-raising adventure begins.Ī Kirkus Best Book of 2018 - Middle-GradeĪ Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2018 - Middle-GradeĪ Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best Books of 2018 As the trio head out into the woods-bordered by a field of scarecrows that seem to be watching them-the bus driver has just one final piece of advice for Ollie and her friends: Avoid large places. Only Ollie and two of her classmates heed the bus driver's warning. Nightfall is, indeed, fast descending when Ollie's previously broken digital wristwatch, a keepsake reminder of better times, begins a startling countdown and delivers a terrifying message: RUN. At nightfall they'll come for the rest of you. But the strange bus driver has some advice for the kids left behind in his care: Best get moving. On the way home, the school bus breaks down, sending their teacher back to the farm for help. Could it be the story about the smiling man is true? Ollie doesn't have too long to think about the answer to that. There she stumbles upon the graves of the very people she's been reading about. Ollie is captivated by the tale until her school trip the next day to Smoke Hollow, a local farm with a haunting history all its own. As she begins to read the slender volume, Ollie discovers a chilling story about a girl named Beth, the two brothers who both loved her, and a peculiar deal made with the smiling man, a sinister specter who grants your most tightly held wish, but only for the ultimate price. So when she happens upon a crazed woman at the river threatening to throw a book into the water, Ollie doesn't think-she just acts, stealing the book and running away.

After suffering a tragic loss, eleven-year-old Ollie only finds solace in books. About the Book The bestselling author of the adult title 'The Bear and the Nightingale' makes her middle-grade debut with a spellbinding ghost story about an 11-year-old girl who must use her wits to survive in the scary woods after her school bus mysteriously breaks down on a field trip.īook Synopsis New York Times bestselling adult author of The Bear and the Nightingale makes her middle grade debut with a creepy, spellbinding ghost story destined to become a classic.

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