Skip to main content

The In-Between

Image
By

By Rebecca K.S. Ansari
New York: Walden Pond Press, 2021. Fiction. 313 pgs.

Ever since his parents got divorced and his dad moved to San Diego to start a new family, 12-year-old Cooper is reluctant to let people in. He decides that it is better to be lonely than risk being hurt by someone -- so he pushes his friends, mother, and younger sister Jess, who is diabetic, away. Then one day a new boy named Gus shows up at school and Cooper is able to fall into an easy friendship with him. At around the same time, Jess convinces Cooper to solve the 100-year-old mystery of the Charfield railway disaster that seems to be mysteriously connected to Elena, their strange neighbor across the street. As Cooper and Jess are caught-up in a supernatural web of historical mysteries, they realize that disaster may be approaching their hometown of Chicago -- and they may be powerless to stop it.

This twisty, ghosty, eerie story is a perfectly complex mystery for middle grade readers. This is the type of book that is hard to talk about, because a memorable and surprising twist is one of the best parts of this tale. Middle grade fiction has exploded in recent years with scary stories featuring characters exploring tough psychological issues like grief, loss, and loneliness; and The In-Between falls perfectly in-step with favorites like Small Spaces, or City of Ghosts. A little bit scary and a little bit mysterious, Ansari manages to balance a fast-paced plot with excellent character development and exposition. Readers looking for a scary, well-written mystery with a surprising twist, need look no further.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Faker

By
Faker By Gordon Korman New York: Scholastic Press, 2024. Fiction. 214 pages. 12-year-old Trey is used to starting over at a new school -- he has the routine perfectly memorized: make new friends, introduce his dad to the wealthy parents of his new friends, and "Houdini" themselves out of there before they get caught running their latest scam. Trey's dad is a master con artist, and Trey has just been promoted to full-partner. Their new scheme for the next big score brings them to the affluent suburb of Boxelder, TN where Trey's dad has cooked up a fake electric car company for investors to buy into. The only problem is that Trey is starting to grow tired of moving around and never putting down roots, especially after forming a fast friendship with Logan and developing a crush on Kaylee, a socially conscious girl in his class. As Trey longs for a normal life, is there any way he can convince his dad to get out of the family business? Gordon Korman is a perennial favorit...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: The Bletchley Riddle

By
  The Bletchley Riddle By Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin New York: Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2024. Fiction. 392 pages. It's spring of 1940, Hitler has swept through most of Europe, and people believe England will be next. Half Polish-Jewish, half American Jakob has been recruited from Cambridge to Bletchley Park where they are working on deciphering the enigma machine. Jakob's sister Lizzie, meanwhile, is being forced to move from London to Cleveland to live with her grandmother after her mother disappeared in a 1939 attack in Poland. Lizzie manages to escape the keeper her grandmother sent for her to bring her to America and makes her way to Bletchley, where she's eventually given the task of delivering messages between departments. When secret messages begin appearing with Lizzie's belongings, she must decipher them to find the truth about her mother's past and location, while keeping the secrets away from the MI5 agent that seems a little t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Dragon Run

By
Dragon Run by Patrick Matthews Scholastic, 2013.  336 pgs.  Fantasy      Al Pilgrommor is excited for Testing Day, when he will receive his rank, a tattooed number on the back of his neck, and a path forward to his future occupation and life.  He feels confident because his parents were fours on a scale of seven, but he is worried for his friend Wisp who doesn't have much of a chance of scoring above a two at best. But when Al is scored a zero, he not only has no prospects, he may lose his life as the dreaded Cullers are unleashed to kill him and his family to purify the land's bloodlines.  Al's world is ruled by dragons--the lords and supposed creators of humankind--so he thinks that even if he survives, he will have to make his living as a beggar or thief. But when Al sticks up for his Earther friend in front of Magister Ludi, he is drawn into the struggle of a secret organization hoping to destroy the Cullers, and perhaps the dragons them...
1 comment
Read more