If you know me a little bit, you will know that I usually don’t like creepy stuff. Keep to small.”Īnd with that, a deliciously creepy and hair-raising adventure begins. As the trio head out into the woods–bordered by a field of scarecrows that seem to be watching them–the bus driver has just one final piece of advice for Ollie and her friends: “Avoid large places. Only Ollie and two of her classmates heed the bus driver’s warning. At nightfall they’ll come for the rest of you.” Nightfall is, indeed, fast descending when Ollie’s previously broken digital wristwatch, a keepsake reminder of better times, begins a startling countdown and delivers a terrifying message: RUN.

But the strange bus driver has some advice for the kids left behind in his care: “Best get moving. On the way home, the school bus breaks down, sending their teacher back to the farm for help.

Could it be the story about the smiling man is true? Ollie doesn’t have too long to think about the answer to that. There she stumbles upon the graves of the very people she’s been reading about. Ollie is captivated by the tale until her school trip the next day to Smoke Hollow, a local farm with a haunting history all its own.

As she begins to read the slender volume, Ollie discovers a chilling story about a girl named Beth, the two brothers who both loved her, and a peculiar deal made with “the smiling man,” a sinister specter who grants your most tightly held wish, but only for the ultimate price. So when she happens upon a crazed woman at the river threatening to throw a book into the water, Ollie doesn’t think–she just acts, stealing the book and running away. The Middle Grade Marvels and I have been reading Small Spaces as our book of the month of August, and this was the first time I just couldn’t stick to our reading schedule! After the second section I just grabbed the book and finished in the course of a few short hours, because I have no self-restraint when it comes to good books – and that’s what Small Spaces is – a really, really good book!Īfter suffering a tragic loss, eleven-year-old Ollie only finds solace in books. Today I have a book for you that you absolutely HAVE to read, and it’s Small Spaces by Katherine Arden – you may know that name from her super famous novel The Bear and the Nightingale (that I’m still in the midst of reading).

Katherine arden small spaces book 4