June 1, 2018
Gr 3-6-When Josie's grandmother becomes ill, Josie and her family leave city life and move to her grandmother's home in the country. For Josie, this means starting sixth grade at a new school, far from her friends, with no Internet or cable TV. Her grandmother has many strange rules and is always muttering to herself about the witch in the woods, which makes it even more difficult for Josie to make friends. When children begin to disappear and horrible dreams start haunting Josie and her younger sister Anna, Josie learns that her grandmother's strange beliefs might not be the mutterings of an old woman, but real attempts to protect their family from something sinister in the woods. Alexander builds tension slowly, ramping up to a fight between Josie and the witch. Unfortunately, the resolution happens a bit too quickly for all the time spent setting the scene, and there are several story lines left unresolved. Josie and Vanessa's friendship feels too good to be true, and the characters could have used more depth and development. VERDICT Casual horror fans are likely to pick this up based on the cover alone. Recommended as an additional purchase for large collections where scary fiction circulates well.-Ellen Conlin, Naperville Public Library, IL
Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
June 15, 2018
A witch dolls up local children by transforming them into, well, dolls. Sixth-grader Josie, along with her mother and younger sister, Anna, moves from Chicago to a small town to live with their grandmother. Grandma Jeannie, who is experiencing memory loss, has only three house rules: Windows must stay closed after dark, no dolls are allowed inside, and, it is forbidden to visit the house in the woods where Beryl lives. When Josie and her sister start hearing voices calling to them in the night they begin to understand and abide by these rules. School and a growing friendship with classmate Vanessa bring some normalcy to Josie's new life. But when the two girls arrange to spend time together after school, Vanessa's house turns out to be the one Josie's grandma warned her about. Will Josie escape, or will she end up like the hundreds of other doll-children collected in the house? Alexander's middle-grade debut (this is a pen name; the author also publishes as Alex R. Kahler) is well-plotted genre fiction, with plenty of suspense and eerie imagery. Grandma's memory loss reads more like a trope than accurate characterization, but her involvement in the witch's backstory adds depth to the otherwise simple narrative. Lacking any signifiers, the cast assumes a white default. Josie is vegetarian.Delightfully spooky--readers may want to avoid dolls for a while after finishing this one. (Horror. 8-13)
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