Small spaces

Review by Booklist Review

*Starred Review* Things were already pretty spooky for Ollie after she rescued an antique book from a weeping, maniacal woman, but when the bus taking her and her classmates home from a school trip to a farm stalls in a dense bank of fog next to a field peppered with creepy scarecrows, it's clear something otherworldly is going on. Heeding the advice appearing in her late mother's digital watch RUN Ollie and a couple of classmates, Jamaican-born Brian and sensitive Coco, escape to the woods, trying to avoid the terrifying, animated scarecrows and find their way back to the farm, which has an eerie connection to the book, a story about a smiling man who makes deadly bargains. In spare, pithy, and evocative language, Arden skillfully cultivates a vivid sense of atmosphere, from Ollie's cozy, welcoming house to the creeping dread of the kids' journey through the ominous, clattering forest. There are genuinely creepy elements here scarecrows in relentless pursuit, ghostly beings lurking in abandoned houses, and a truly surprising villain at the center of it all but Arden doesn't skimp on character development either. Prickly Ollie, who's dealing with the grief of losing her mother, softens toward Brian and Coco, who are each gradually rounded out as well. With a tantalizing pace and palpable suspense, all nicely grounded in realistic emotions, this well-wrought spine-tingler is destined to be a hit (just makes sure the lights stay on).--Sarah Hunter Copyright 2018 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Eleven-year-old Ollie lives with her big-hearted baking enthusiast father following the tragic death of her mother, and finds respite from her grief through reading. Her circumstances take a supernatural turn when she encounters a frightening woman attempting to throw a book into the river. When Ollie, drawn to the book, takes it, the woman warns Ollie to "avoid large places at night... keep to small." In its pages, Ollie reads of a long-ago family whose losses led them to make a dreadful pact with a demonic figure known as "the smiling man." And on a class trip to a dairy farm, Ollie and two classmates-with whom she forms a reluctant connection-learn that the smiling man is very real. Arden (The Bear and the Nightingale) shrouds her Halloween-time story in autumnal mists, introducing a sometimes-crowded cast of ominous figures, from ghosts to shapeshifters and scarecrow minions. Ollie is a relatable heroine who finds strength through trusting in friendship, while her ghostly adventures lead her to learn an important truth: sometimes, the best way to honor the memory of a loved one is by moving forward, bravely, and with love. Ages 10-up. Agent: Paul Lucas, Janklow & Nesbit Associates. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

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Review by School Library Journal Review

Gr 5-8-After experiencing a terrible loss, Ollie doesn't care about math and softball anymore. She just wants to crawl into a book and ignore everything around her. Which is why when she runs into a woman crying and about to throw a book into the creek, Ollie jumps into action and saves it! The book, Small Spaces, is about a woman named Beth, the Webster brothers who wanted to marry her, and the disappearance of one of the brothers after he makes a horrible bargain with the smiling man. Ollie's fascinated, especially the next day when her class visits a farm and the crying woman is the farm's owner. Ollie also sees the Websters' headstones at the farm cemetery! Is the story real? And why would the bus driver tell her to avoid large spaces and keep to small ones at night? When the bus breaks down and it starts to get dark, Ollie must decide whether to listen to her teacher, her peers, the bus driver, or her broken watch which is now telling her to run. Renee Dorian's pacing and inflection sets the mood and keeps the story moving. VERDICT This is a must-have for all libraries because of the authentic and multidimensional characters and the satisfying mystery. It is an excellent audio choice for students who enjoy creepy tales.-Mariela Siegert, Westfield Middle School, Bloomingdale, IL © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Review by Horn Book Review

Adult author Ardens first book for middle-graders is an original, super-scary tale set in contemporary rural Vermont. Sixth grader Ollie is still reeling from the death of her beloved mother. When she has a strange encounter with a distressed woman and retrieves the book the woman is trying to discard, Ollie finds herself captivated by its tale of two brothers; Beth, the woman they love; and a sinister smiling man. On a school field trip the next day, a series of eerie mishaps strands Ollie and a busload of her classmates near a farm exactly like the one in the book. Only two other studentssensitive Coco and popular Brianbelieve her when she insists they are all in danger. Ollie knows that the smiling mans army of once-human scarecrows can attack them if theyre found out in the open (she has been told to stick to small spaces), and the entire class is doomed to be the victims of an age-old bargain unless Ollie, Coco, and Brian can save them. Over the course of their adventure, the three help one another to overcome their fears and to learn to trust. Ardens child characters display a mix of wisdom and immaturity, making them both likable and believable. The terrifying scarecrows and the tragic tale of Beth and the brothers make this supernatural thriller a page-turner, but its Ollies journey through grief and into friendship that makes it memorable. sarah berman (c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

A girl steals a book and is swept up in its eerie origins. It's October in East Evansburg, Vermont, and Olivia "Ollie" Adler finds herself distracted from her sixth-grade lessons. She's reeling from the pain of her mother's absence, but she'd rather bottle it up than talk about it. Instead, Ollie escapes into books and reads them at her secret swimming hole. One day, a strange woman attempts to cast a book titled Small Spaces into the water. Ollie steals the book and is given a warning: "Avoid large places at night.Keep to small." Soon she is wrapped up in the book's haunting story of loss and a deal made with a being known as "the smiling man." A class field trip to Misty Valley Farm reveals the truth behind Small Spaces. Can Ollie save her classmates from the smiling man? Or will she, too, succumb to the lure of one of his bargains? The characters are sharply drawn, particularly Ollie and her quirky, bighearted father; one secondary character, black, Jamaican-born Brian, stands out in their mostly white community. The slow reveal of Ollie's trauma is achingly poignant (her mother's death isn't confirmed until nearly halfway through the book). Some elements seem less plausible than others (her teacher leaving kids alone with a creepy bus driver, for instance), but novelist for adults Arden's (The Bear and the Nightingale, 2017) middle-grade debut is atmospheric horror at its best. Chillingly tender. (Horror. 8-13) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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She pedaled hard past the hay bales in the roundabout on Main Street, turned onto Daisy Lane and raced past the clapboard houses, where jack-o'-lanterns grinned on every front porch. She aimed her bike to knock down a rotting gray rubber hand groping up out of the earth in the Steiners' yard, turned again at Johnson Hill and climbed panting up the steep dirt road. No one came after her. Well, why would they, Ollie thought. She was Off School Property. Ollie let her bike coast down the other side of Johnson Hill. was good to be alone in the warm sunshine. The river ran silver to her right, chattering over rocks. The fire-colored trees shook their leaves down around her. It wasn't hot, exactly--but warm for October. Just cool enough for jeans, but the sun was warm when you tilted your face to it. The swimming hole was Ollie's favorite place. Not far from her house, it had a secret spot on a rock half-hidden by a waterfall. That spot was Ollie's, especially on fall days. After mid-September, she was the only one there. People didn't go to swimming holes once the weather turned chilly. Other than her homework, Ollie was carrying Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini, a broken-spined paperback that she'd dug out of her dad's bookshelves. She mostly liked it. Peter Blood outsmarted everyone, which was a feature she liked in heroes, although she wished Peter were a girl, or the villain were a girl, or someone in the book besides his boat and his girlfriend (both named Arabella) were a girl. But at least the book had romance and high seas adventures and other absolutely not Evansburg things. Ollie liked that. Reading it meant going to a new place where she wasn't Olivia Adler at all. Ollie braked her bike. The ground by the road was carpeted with scarlet leaves; sugar maples start losing their leaves before other trees. Ollie kept a running list in her head of sugar maples in Evansburg that didn't belong to anyone. When the sap ran, she and her mom would-- Nope. No, they wouldn't. They could buy maple syrup. The road that ran beside the swimming hole looked like any other stretch of road. A person just driving by wouldn't know the swimming hole was there. But, if you knew just where to look, a skinny dirt trail went from the road to the water. Ollie walked her bike down the trail. The trees seemed to close in around her. Above was a white-railed bridge. Below, the stream paused in its trip down the mountain. It spread out, grew deep and quiet enough for swimming. There was a cliff for jumping and plenty of hiding places for one girl and her book. Ollie hurried. She was eager go and read by the water and be alone. The trees ended suddenly, and Ollie was standing on the bank of a cheerful brown swimming hole. But, to her surprise, there was someone already there. A slender woman, wearing jeans and flannel, stood at the edge of the water. Her jeans were nice, her flannel soft, but her boots were muddy and worn, the leather cracking across one heel. The woman was sobbing. Maybe Ollie's foot scuffed a rock, because the woman jerked upright and whirled around. Ollie gulped. The woman was pretty, with amber-honey hair. But she had circles under her eyes like purple thumbprints. Streaks of mascara had run down her face, like she'd been crying for awhile. "Hello," The woman said, trying to smile. "You surprised me." Her eyes looked--stretched--the way a dog looks, hiding under the bed during a thunderstorm. Her white-knuckled hands gripped a small, dark thing. "I didn't mean to scare you," Ollie said cautiously. Why are you crying? she wanted to ask. But it seemed impolite to ask that question to a grown-up, even if her face was streaked with the runoff from her tears. The woman didn't reply; she darted a glance to the rocky path by the creek, then back to the water. Like she was looking out for something. Or someone. Ollie felt a chill creep down her spine. She said, "Are you okay?" "Of course." The woman tried to smile again. Fail. The wind rustled the leaves. Ollie glanced behind her. Nothing. "I'm fine," repeated the woman. She turned the dark thing over in her hands. Then she said, in a rush, "I just have to get rid of this. Put it in the water. And then--" The woman broke off. Then? What then? The woman held the thing out over the water. Ollie saw that it was a small black book, the size of her spread-out hand, with a cloth cover, its pages stained deep yellow. Her reaction was pure reflex. "You can't throw away a book!" Ollie let go of her bike and jumped forward. Part of her wondered, Why would you come here to throw a book in the river? You can donate a book. There were donation boxes all over Evansburg. "I have to!" snapped the woman, bringing Ollie up short. The woman went on, half to herself, "That's the bargain. Make the arrangements. Then give the book to the water." She gave Ollie a pleading look. "I don't have a choice, you see." Ollie tried to drag the conversation out of crazy town. "You can donate a book if you don't want it," she said firmly. "Or--or give it to someone. Don't just throw it in the river." "I have to," said the woman again. "Have to drop a book in the river?" "Before tomorrow," said the woman. Almost to herself, she whispered, "Tomorrow's the day." Ollie was nearly within arm's reach now. The woman smelled sour--frightened. Ollie, completely at sea, decided to ignore the stranger elements of the conversation. Later, she would wish she hadn't. "If you don't want that book, I'll take it," said Ollie. "I like books." The woman shook her head. "He said water. Upstream. Where Lethe Creek runs out of the mountain. I'm here. I'm doing it!" She shrieked the last sentence as though someone besides Ollie was listening. Ollie had to stop herself from looking behind her again. "Why?" she asked. Little mouse feet crept up her spine. "Who knows?" the woman whispered. "Just his game, maybe. He enjoys what he does, you know, and that is why he's always smiling--" She smiled too, a joyless pumpkin-head grin. Ollie nearly yelped. But instead, her hand darted up and she snatched the book. It felt old under her fingers, gritty with dust. Surprised at her own daring, Ollie hurriedly backed up. The woman's face turned red. "Give that back!" A glob of spit hit Ollie in the cheek. "I don't think so," said Ollie. "You don't want it anyway." She was backing toward her bike, half expecting the woman to fling herself forward. The woman was staring at Ollie as if really seeing her for the first time. "Why--?" A horrified understanding dawned on her face that Ollie didn't understand. "How old are you?" Ollie was still backing toward her bike. "Twelve," she answered, by reflex. Almost there . . . "Twelve?" the woman breathed. "Twelve. Of course, twelve." Ollie couldn't tell if the woman were giggling or crying. Maybe both. "Its his kind of joke--" She broke off, leaned forward to whisper. "Listen to me, Twelve. I'm going to tell you one thing, because I'm not a bad person. I just didn't have a choice. I'll give you some advice, and you give me the book." She had her hand out, fingers crooked like claws. Ollie, poised on the edge of flight, said, "Tell me what?" The stream rushed and rippled, but the harsh sounds of the woman breathing were louder than the water. "Avoid large places at night," the woman breathed. "Keep to small." "Small?" Ollie was torn between wanting to run and wanting to understand. "That's it?" "Small!" shrieked the woman. "Small spaces! Keep to small spaces or see what happens to you! Just see!" She burst into wild laughter. The animatronic witch sitting outside the Brewsters' next to a cauldron of dry ice laughed like that. "Now give me that book!" Her laughter turned into a whistling, shrieking sob; her hands reached out, snatching. Ollie heaved the Schwinn around and fled with it up the trail from the creek. The woman's footsteps scraped behind. "Come back!" she panted. "Come back!" Ollie was already on the main road, her leg thrown over the bike's saddle. She rode home as fast as she could, bent low over her handlebars, hair streaming in the wind, the book lying in her pocket like a secret. Excerpted from Small Spaces by Katherine Arden All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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