At This Dead Hour

From beloved and bestselling author Gary D. Schmidt, a haunting ghost story set on the stormy Maine coast, where a group of kids face down a centuries-old curse that’s coming for them next.

Something terrifying has arrived in Sullivan’s Cove, but the townspeople—kids and teachers heading home from school, bus drivers following their routes, runners taking another lap on the back roads—don’t know it yet. It appears on the west dock, silhouetted in the fog, unnoticed. Bobo, from his bed of blankets in Mr. Sanders’ garage, senses it first, ears perked. Then RyLynn catches a strange movement out of the corner of her eye—did one of her parents’ sculptures on the front lawn just come closer? And when Reverend Brewer, Ronnie’s mom, goes missing from First Congregational Church, one thing becomes clear: Someone, or something, is targeting the people of Sullivan’s Cove.

Can three kids and a Language Arts teacher (and a stray dog) find a way to reckon with their town’s past and reverse the curse that’s come for them and their families before it’s too late?