A Little Too Haunted
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
The Lost Library meets Not Quite a Ghost in this middle grade horror novel about a girl uncovering secrets about her new, haunted home.
The only thing worse than having ghost hunters for parents is having fake ghost hunters for parents. Luna Catalano would know. Her moms are haunted house flippers who use their home reno skills and pretend psychic powers to turn spooky old houses into ghost-free modern homes. Not only does their job require the family to move all the time--meaning Luna is completely friendless--but the only thing haunting any of those houses is bad decor. For once Luna wishes there was an actual, for-real ghost.
When they move yet again, Luna isn't expecting much. But this house feels... different. Things start out innocent enough--items not where they should be, strange noises--but soon things turn sinister. Her moms are waking up with cuts and bruises, and disturbing drawings showing them with even worse injuries are being left in Luna's room. With the help of her next-door neighbors and a mysterious woman who seems to know a lot about the home, Luna starts to piece together what exactly happened in that house before she moved in. But not everything is as it seems. In order to save her moms, Luna will have to get the story right before everything goes completely wrong.
Stonewall Honor-winning author Justine Pucella Winans returns with another middle grade horror with heart about friendship, family, and the stories we tell when real life feels too scary.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Thirteen-year-old aspiring ghost hunter Luna Catalano always thought that her two mothers' jobs as home improvement influencers who renovate haunted houses were real—until she stumbles upon them faking a paranormal encounter and exposes them as frauds during a livestream. Their newest project in Cleveland is supposed to be a fresh start, and Luna is delighted to find that the house is actually haunted. But the resident specter seems decidedly unfriendly. The shade goes to increasingly frightening lengths to terrorize the family, and frames Luna by destroying her moms' film equipment—and even physically harming them. Recruiting her new neighbors, including horror novelist Evie, Luna must learn who or what is haunting her new home before the house claims another victim. But when an attempt at an exorcism goes wrong, Luna accidently empowers her tormentor. In this atmospheric ghost story, Winans (Wishbone) conjures satisfying, spine-tingling scares and a cozy mystery alongside quiet moments of adolescent uncertainty. As Luna juggles issues stemming from irritable bowel syndrome, her first crush on a girl, and her desire for belonging, she undergoes an emotionally volatile but fulfilling journey of self-discovery. Luna cues as white. Ages 8–12.
