I saw postings about this being released in paperback and since it was by Bracken I wanted to read it. I had recently read The Darkest Minds series (1, 2, 3) and I read what the book was about but nothing else. So what I missed until I had it in my hands was that it was a middle grade book. But I am totally in love with Harry Potter so I am not against reading books categorized as children's or middle grade books. The blurb on the back of Dreadful sounded good and so I grabbed it.
It was what I would have expected from Bracken after reading the other books, it was creepy, it was snarky, it had moments of tension, there was mystery, deception, people not being who they seemed to be and some being more, and in true middle grade fashion there was snot and other grossness.
Prosper is part of a set of twins in a family that in its entire history only ever had two sets of twins. But the Redding family has been unusually lucky in every way, or almost every way. Prosper sees the lucky of his family members all around him, inches parents, sister, cousins, aunts, uncles, and his scary Grandmother, but none of it seems to be reaching him. He is picked on, feels like the odd one out, and like he can't be himself, his true artist self.
Then on Founder's Day something really creepy happens. And there is a ritual and a knife and a stranger and running for his life. And when the smoke clears Prosper finds himself in the company of Nell and Uncle B. And he goes to a different school and he can be himself while hiding in plain sight and he begins to feel what it feels like to be part of a group, to have a friend. Oh and he has a fiend living inside him gaining power and ready to fight his way out of Prosper on his fast approaching 13th Birthday.
But not everything is what it seems. And while Prosper tries to be strong and not give in to the fiend who wants to enter into a contract with him to make him as lucky and well off as the rest of his family Prosper just wants to do the right thing because he truly cares. It isn't always easy but he tries hard.
This was a really good story for the creep and mystery, but there was an underlying message that is really important for middle grade aged kids, be you no matter what, theater kid, art kid, jock, bookish kid, all of us deserve to be able to be who we are, it is good to be good, and fitting in isn't easy but it gets better and you don't have to sell your soul for it to happen. Don't worry, the message here for kids in middle school (or even high school and college) isn't a plank Bracken beats you over the head with but it is there in among the ghost(ish) story.
A good read!
(Finished September 17, 2018)
No comments:
Post a Comment