June 20, 2022
An eerie ghost story morphs into an anthem for cooperation amid climate change in Tandon’s (The Way I Say It) camaraderie-filled Maine mystery. “Particular and thorough” Parker Emerton, 12, loves his adoptive family’s secluded inn home, but with rising sea levels eroding coastal tourism, his parents fear having to give it up for jobs in Boston. Calling a secret tree house meeting with his cousins and best friend, Parker plots to save the beloved Home Away Inn, suggesting advertising and cooking classes, winning a fair prize for pumpkins... and breaking the curse of an ancient local shipwreck. After storms surge and unexplained green lights flash, the kids contact the ghostly young wanderer that haunts a crotchety neighbor’s yard, but when the figure reveals more questions than answers, the kids pit their ingenuity against the inn’s nebulous curse. Urgent present-tense narration and abundant sensory details initially establish a skin-crawling atmosphere, but a realistic, friendship-centric feel soon dominates the tightly paced narrative, and the young investigators’ idealistic tenacity results in a supernaturally tinged mystery with a summer camp vibe. All main characters cue as white. Ages 8–12. Agent: Emma Sector, Prospect Agency.
July 1, 2022
During a summer in coastal Maine, the kids of Spruce Point work to break a ghostly curse and save a family inn. The Home Away Inn has been in 12-year-old Parker Emerton's family for generations, and he wants to keep it that way, but unlucky occurrences mean money is tight, and Parker's parents are contemplating selling. He worries about having to leave this place he loves. Along with his younger sister, Bailey; two cousins; and summer friend Frankie, Parker is convinced that a ghost has placed a curse on the place. The kids also suspect grouchy neighbor Mrs. Gruvlig of being a witch. In seeking to contact the ghost and investigate suspected supernatural phenomena, the kids end up solving some of the inn's problems--just not the way they expected. Most of the phenomena turn out to have rational causes, but a bright green flashing light remains unexplained. The strange happenings draw television ghost hunters to Spruce Point, guaranteeing full rooms at the inn. This is a well-paced mystery with a strong sense of place and solidly developed, realistic relationships. Siblings, cousins, and friends work together closely--they have a high degree of independence but do not lack parental oversight. Parker is adopted, and his school counselor believes he has obsessive tendencies; these facts come up in passing. Main characters default to White. Kids tackle problems both supernatural and real in this atmospheric story. (Mystery. 9-12)
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