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Staff Reviews
What better place than Vermont for a spooky, scary story about secrets, promises, ghosts, hauntings and scarecrows? Ollie is twelve years old, smart and independent. One afternoon she comes upon a distraught woman by the river. Ollie tries to talk her out of throwing a book in the water, but the woman is adamant; Ollie snatches it from her and runs away. She begins to read the strange tale about a promise made with the “smiling man." On a school field trip to a local farm Ollie realizes that the woman she saw is the farm owner. Upon the return trip the bus breaks down. The bus driver warns of being out in large spaces when the evening mist comes, the same notation as in her book. Ollie decides to take her chances going through the woods. She is joined by two classmates. The three must work together to escape from servants of the smiling man. Will the power of friendship, fearlessness, and ingenuity be enough to save them and their classmates? And about that watch... The story is wonderfully written for all ages.
— Christine
Description
"Bestselling adult author of The Bear and the Nightingale makes her middle grade debut with a creepy, spellbinding ghost story destined to become a classic
After suffering a tragic loss, eleven-year-old Ollie only finds solace in books. So when she happens upon a crazed woman at the river threatening to throw a book into the water, Ollie doesn't think--she just acts, stealing the book and running away. As she begins to read the slender volume, Ollie discovers a chilling story about a girl named Beth, the two brothers who both loved her, and a peculiar deal made with ""the smiling man,"" a sinister specter who grants your most tightly held wish, but only for the ultimate price.
Ollie is captivated by the tale until her school trip the next day to Smoke Hollow, a local farm with a haunting history all its own. There she stumbles upon the graves of the very people she's been reading about. Could it be the story about the smiling man is true? Ollie doesn't have too long to think about the answer to that. On the way home, the school bus breaks down, sending their teacher back to the farm for help. But the strange bus driver has some advice for the kids left behind in his care: ""Best get moving. At nightfall they'll come for the rest of you."" Nightfall is, indeed, fast descending when Ollie's previously broken digital wristwatch, a keepsake reminder of better times, begins a startling countdown and delivers a terrifying message: RUN.
Only Ollie and two of her classmates heed the bus driver's warning. As the trio head out into the woods--bordered by a field of scarecrows that seem to be watching them--the bus driver has just one final piece of advice for Ollie and her friends: ""Avoid large places. Keep to small.""
And with that, a deliciously creepy and hair-raising adventure begins."
