A Bite Above the Rest

June 1, 2024

Gr 4-7-In this spooky middle grade adventure, Caleb and his mom relocate to the town of Samhain, WI, where Halloween is always on full display. Costumes in school are expected, businesses are decked out with themed decor, and even the mayor's office keeps "vampire hours." But when his English teacher's fangs and fur seem a bit too real, and his next door neighbor brews potions and has a wand, Caleb begins to wonder if Samhain is hiding a dark secret. Thankfully, he can rely on his friend and classmate Tai to help unravel this mystery, and they research and test theories to ward off werewolves and witches. Their actions raise the suspicions of the mayor, and what follows is a race to expose the truth behind Samhain to the rest of the town before Caleb and Tai's efforts are undone. The book strikes a good balance of humor alongside the horror: Caleb's daily choice of punny costume (e.g., writing "Go Ceiling Go!" on his hoodie to become a "ceiling fan") was a regular feature, and Caleb and Tai's illustrated monster research manual was peppered with good-humored sniping between them. A nighttime escape from a giant in the town library and full moon encounters with werewolves bring tension, but the book never gets so intense as to scare off readers. This is a good read-alike for fans of Kory Merritt's No Place For Monsters. VERDICT A fun title to get into the hands of middle graders, especially ones who can't get enough of Halloween.-Michael Van Wambeke

Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2024
It's Halloween every day in the town of Samhain--and not all the creepy residents are in costume. Playing with expectations in her fiction debut, Virnig transplants sixth grader Caleb Fisher and his recently widowed mom from Los Angeles to a Wisconsin town where, to crank up the tourism, residents and buildings are dressed up for Halloween all year round. But, as Caleb quickly discovers, some of the local vampires and witches are very convincing. Could they be real? The evidence remains ambiguous (at least until the climactic hullaballoo), but Caleb has help from enthusiastic classmate Tai Thompson, who's described as standing out from her "un-diverse" peers for being not only unusually small in stature and dressed as a fairy, but for having Asian and Caribbean heritage. Together they collect clues, dig into the town's tragic history, and, ultimately, expose a terrifying truth. The suspense and the amusingly eerie setting make effective hooks. So do both the developing friendship and an impulsive young protagonist whose emotional vulnerability in the wake of devastating family loss and sudden uprooting masks a streak of ingenuity that comes out not only in the clutch but all along in the inventive costumes he wears to school instead of the blandly conventional ones everyone else adopts. A twist at the suspiciously tidy tail end offers plenty of enticing potential for sequels. Thrills and chills in a gloriously goofy setting. (Light horror. 8-12)

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June 17, 2024
Heart and hilarity define this quirky All Hallow’s Eve tale by debut author Virnig, who evokes the classic Halloween Town film series to ghoulish effect. Following his father’s death, 11-year-old Caleb and his mother move from Los Angeles to her hometown—the Halloween-obsessed locale of Samhain, Wis.—for a fresh start. The first thing Caleb notices about Samhain is that everyone is in costume and acts like the character they’re portraying—all the time. It also seems as if a hint of evil permeates the air. Luckily, he quickly befriends classmate Tai, who’s dressed as “the World’s Most Perfect Fairy,” and with whom he’s paired for a school project. As they work on their assignment, the duo soon uncovers oddities that are a little out of place, even for Samhain—particularly with the vampiric mayor—and that residents have been experiencing curious memory lapses. Surrounded by witchy neighbors, werewolf teachers, and other things that go bump in the night, Caleb must navigate feelings of grief and isolation; levying hijinks balance weightier themes of loss and adjusting to a new
normal. Caleb and Tai are depicted on the cover with pale and brown skin, respectively. Ages 8–12. Agent: Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.