Exceptionally strong: delivers thrills and chills in equal measure.
This sequel dives right in where Erin Entrada Kelly’s series opener, The Last Resort (2025), concluded, with Teddy, Lila, and Caleb facing off against a murderous spirit known as the Fire Maiden.
Shifting from Lila, the third-person narration in this entry centers on Teddy’s point of view. He and Lila will soon be starting seventh grade at Castle Hill Middle School; Lila’s math whiz brother, Caleb, will be in fourth grade. Though he’s deeply knowledgeable about the supernatural from hanging out on his favorite forum, Phantom Hunters, real life proves more difficult for Teddy, who has a hard time fitting in at school. When popular girls befriend Lila, who arrived in Castle Hill over the summer, Teddy is left wondering how he now fits into her life. Plagued by recurring nightmares from past trauma, Teddy soon realizes that many locals who have family ties to the 19th-century circus fire involving the Fire Maiden may be at risk. The danger grows as Halloween draws near, and Lila’s new friends plan a seance at her parents’ haunted inn. Newbery Honor winner Warga’s imaginative installment is eerily delightful, skillfully balancing the angst of tween friendships and the sheer creepiness of ghosts. Franquiz’s haunting illustrations are interspersed, marking points where readers can use their smartphones to interact with the ghosts. Teddy is Jordanian and implied white, and the previous book established both Lila and Caleb as Filipino and white.
Exceptionally strong: delivers thrills and chills in equal measure. (Paranormal. 8-12)Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9781546162841
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Breathless action and engaging puzzles make this a page-turner.
In this follow-up to The Mystery of Locked Rooms (2024), young escape artists rashly accept a mysterious game designer’s offer to get a sneak peek at a challenging new set of escape rooms.
Worried by announcements of a new, high-tech fun house that might drive their employer, the Delta Game, out of business, middle schooler Sarah and her friends Hannah and West jump at the chance to give Mystery Mansion a try before it opens to the public. More’s at stake than they suspect, but Currie dispenses with the backstory in a perfunctory way at the end. Her real focus—and the chief appeal here—lies in the set of fiendishly clever escape rooms that she’s devised for the trio and the team dynamics that carry them through: Hannah is the reckless thrill seeker, West is the observant brainiac, and anxiety-prone Sarah has a knack for making correct choices. The story cranks up the suspense, and the Deltas call on all the courage and smarts they can muster, sweeping readers along as they work urgently against the clock to complete the course. Hannah is cued white, West is described as dark-haired, and narrator Sarah isn’t physically described.
Breathless action and engaging puzzles make this a page-turner. (Mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9781464234941
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Sourcebooks Young Readers
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
Delightful fun for budding mystery fans.
Only children, rejoice! A cozy mystery just for you! (People with siblings will probably enjoy it too.)
Debut novelist Cornett introduces the One and Onlys, a trio of mystery-solving only kids: Gloria Longshanks “Shanks” Hill, Alexander “Peephole” Calloway, and narrator Paul (alas, no nickname) Marconi. The trio has a knack for finding and solving low-level mysteries, but they come up against a true head-scratcher when the yard of a resident of their small town is covered in rubber ducks overnight. Working ahead of Officer Portnoy, who’s a little on the slow side, can Paul, Shanks, and Peephole solve the mystery? Cornett has a lot of fun with this adventure, dropping additional side mysteries, a subplot about small businesses, big corporations, and economics, and a town’s love of bratwurst into the mix. Most importantly, he plays fair with the clues throughout, allowing astute readers to potentially solve the case ahead of the trio. The tone and mystery are perfect for younger readers who want to test their detective skills but are put off by anything scary or gory. The pacing would serve well for chapter-by-chapter read-alouds. If there are any quibbles, it’s the lack of diversity of the cast, as it defaults white. Diversity exists in small towns, and this one is crying out for more. Hopefully a sequel will introduce additional faces.
Delightful fun for budding mystery fans. (Mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-3003-6
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
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