A century of rainless years later, lake and town are memories-but, with the involuntary help of gangs of juvenile offenders, the last descendant of the last residents is still digging. Sentenced to a brutal juvenile detention camp for a crime he didn't commit, a wimpy teenager turns four generations of bad family luck around in this sunburnt tale of courage, obsession, and buried treasure from Sachar ( Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger, 1995, etc.).ĭriven mad by the murder of her black beau, a schoolteacher turns on the once-friendly, verdant town of Green Lake, Texas, becomes feared bandit Kissin' Kate Barlow, and dies, laughing, without revealing where she buried her stash. The cliffhanger ending sets the stage for a high-stakes final book.Īnother deliciously hair-raising entry in a series that continues to make a huge splash. The cast is majority White Brian is Black. Focalizing through Brian, Arden not only digs deeper into his characterization, but also brings a peripheral character, Phil, into the main squad. The deliberate pacing maintains a palpable sense of dread, equally anxiety-inducing and terrifying. Arden skillfully blends a creature feature with a survival tale, taking the series into new territory without deviating from its successful formula. The passengers escape to the island, but with no boat, no food, and a monstrous snake hunting them, it’s clear they are in more than just hot water. But a freak rainstorm brings mist, a mysterious island, and silvery water snakes that attack not only the passengers, but the boat itself. When a cryptic note with a black circle appears at Brian’s house one night, the sixth graders fear that spring in East Evansburg will bring new terrors from their cunning foe, “the smiling man.” Coco’s mom, a reporter, invites the tweens and Ollie’s dad (her boyfriend) to do a Lake Champlain boat tour and learn about Champ, Vermont’s fabled aquatic monster.
In this third entry in the Small Spaces quartet, friends Brian, Ollie, and Coco haven’t felt safe in months. A recreational sailing trip goes south when a lake monster attacks.
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