Nightmare Island
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
From rising star Shakirah Bourne, author of Josephine Against the Sea, comes a mysterious adventure that explores one of the most chilling tales in Caribbean mythology: the faceless douen children.
Twelve-year-old Serenity Noah has never told anyone about her recurring nightmares -- the haunting images of silver butterflies whose flapping wings drive away all sound, leaving only suffocating silence in their wake. Her parents already favor her "perfect" younger brother, Peace, and she doesn't want to be seen as the "problem" child.
Instead, Serenity's found a productive way to channel her fears: creating a horror movie as scary as her nightmares.
When Peace suddenly becomes afraid of the dark and refuses to sleep alone, their parents take him away for "treatment" on Duppy Island. Serenity has a very bad feeling about the mysterious island and the facility's creepy leader, Dr. Whisper. And when she sees a silver butterfly from her nightmares in the forbidden forest she realizes that something is seriously, dangerously awry.
But nothing could've prepared Serenity for the truth: the island is home to douens -- faceless children with backward feet who are trapped in limbo between the world of the living and the land of the dead. And unless Serenity acts soon, her brother is going to join their ranks...
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Horror movie–obsessed Serenity Noah, a Black 12-year-old, longs to meet a monster scarier than the ones in her recurring nightmares. But her passions and boisterous personality often make her feel out of place in her soft-spoken family, especially compared to her calm, artistic younger brother Peace. When Peace suddenly develops his own night terrors, her parents blame Serenity's monster flicks, and plan a trip to a silent retreat on Duppy Island—a locale that Serenity believes harbors malicious spirits—to cure his nightmares without her. Determined not to be left behind, Serenity stows away on the next boat to Duppy Island; once there, she encounters the creatures from her dreams. That's not the only worrying thing she uncovers, however: the retreat's shady director seems eager to get her off the island, a forgetting spell has befallen the rest of the adults, and douens—faceless children with backward feet—are haunting the land. Even as she faces fears of her own, Serenity endeavors to save Peace from the island's horrors. Occasionally awkward worldbuilding dampens the anticipatory atmosphere, but Bourne (Josephine Against the Sea) nevertheless delivers a chilling adventure steeped in Afro-Caribbean mythology that teems with twists, turns, and propulsive action. Ages 8–12.
