Mind over Monsters
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected Jul 16, 2024
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- $11.99
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- Pre-Order
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Gordon Korman meets Scooby-Doo when anxiety-prone middle schoolers try a mindfulness app that has them face their fears all-too-literally in this spooky and humorous middle grade adventure.
FACE YOUR FEARS! That’s what the meditation app with the cheesy name De-stress-o-rama is telling Lena to do. She’s one of seven always-worried middle schoolers trying out this new app to see if it can help students handle stress. But something is going wrong—very, very wrong.
The group’s fears are becoming all too real, first lurking and dangling, then chasing them around and threatening to swallow them whole. From a stubborn inky blob that is fear of the dark, to the queasy giant in sweaty underpants that is fear of public speaking, monsters are invading Cranberry Bog Middle School! Can Lena’s group of worriers figure out how to conquer their fears before the whole school is swarmed?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
White seventh grader Lena Lennox is a "champion worrier." When school administrators invite Lena and six of her similarly anxious Cranberry Bog Middle School classmates to participate in a mindfulness meditation trial meant to help reduce student stress via app, she's skeptical but hopes it proves beneficial. Though the tweens find the first part of the exercises—"Calming and Clearing Our Minds"—to be useful, strange things occur when they begin part two: "Finding and Facing Our Fears." Soon, their dread starts manifesting in the physical world as inky, tangible blobs. As the group try to uncover the app's origins and ascertain how their terrors are becoming real, they must also find a way to keep the administration from deploying the program to the entire school. Uhrig (The Polter-Ghost Problem) keeps a steady pace and intertwines Lena's encounters with her fear monsters with interpersonal worries surrounding her best friend Gina—now going by Regina—who's "gone pretty" and started flirting with boys after returning from summer camp. Capably balanced humorous and heartfelt prose depicts kids finding the courage to face their demons, both internal and external. Ages 8–12.
