The Monster Hypothesis

November 1, 2019

Gr 3-7-Kick Winter is used to being the new girl at school. Her intense love of science does not endear her to her new classmates nor does it seem to garner the attention of her globe-trotting, scientist parents as she'd hoped. Even her outcast cousin keeps her distance. She's been dumped in Bohring, population 453, to stay with her Grandma Missouri at the Hollows. The Hollows sits on stilts way out in the swamps where Figgis the alligator patrols the waters. Grandma Missouri is one of the town's two psychics and widely known to be a fake. So what possesses Kick to claim to be a psychic when introduced to her new classmates? Everyone in town is worried about the Bohring Curse, said to recur every hundred years. Kick knows there's a scientific explanation behind this so-called curse; but she's hard-pressed to prove it once kids start disappearing and mysterious glowing creatures start growling in the swamps. Kick is an endearing misfit prone to blowing things up and making droll observations. Four real science experiments from the story are outlined at the end. VERDICT A rollicking, atmospheric STEM mystery.-Brenda Kahn, Tenakill Middle School, Closter, NJ

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2019
A skeptic finds herself caught up in paranormal shenanigans. Bernard situates readers in Southern, swampy, alligator-populated Bohring, amid the debris of 11-year-old Karis "Kick" Winter's explosion. Kick plans a career in STEM, like her "super scientist" mother, Dr. Georgia Winter, who leaves Kick with her admittedly fake-psychic and quite stylish mother, Grandma Missouri, at her home, the Hollows. Kick's visit coincides with the 100-year occurrence of the town's curse, in which "the children turned into monsters and took over the town." Kick's scientific mind dismisses the lore, which comes with a nursery rhyme, even as she lies about being a psychic to fit into her new school. This strategy backfires when one of the mean-girl bullies demands that she use that ability to remove the curse. Then Kick smells the "porta potty" odor and sees a "smear of glowing green" and "horrible figures," and she wonders if science can so easily dismiss these supernatural phenomena...and, halfway through the book, readers will wonder if the plot will pick up or stay plodding along. When done well, Southern ease, as heard in its legendary drawl and tasted in its cuisine, slows the pace to an elegant, earthy perfection. Alas, here Bernard's use of the Southern idiom just bogs her plot down. There are some secondary characters of color, but most of the cast presents white. Several of Kick's experiments are appended. This ambling tale takes too long to get going. (Paranormal adventure. 8-12)

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November 15, 2019
Grades 5-7 Naming her swampy Southern setting Bohring ( human population 453, alligator population 2,053 ) isn't all that Bernard does to mislead readers as local talk of an old curse grows following odd occurrences. Newly arrived to stay with her grandma Missouri, skeptical young Kick Winter prefers to trust in science, not magic for explanations, but her investigation turns up some mighty peculiar phenomena. It also opens a can of red herrings: town is positively awash in suspects, including billionaire recluse Dr. Hazmat and Grandma Missouri, a respected but avowedly fake psychic. As tensions mount, Kick finds an unexpected ally in princesslike cousin Carolina, who seems to have nothing in common with her chemistry-experiment-loving, phosphorescent-slime-making self but turns out to be a kindred spirit. Their bonding anchors a tale that culminates in the exposure of a hilariously byzantine set of interlocking schemes that are part politics, part (loosely) based on cutting-edge science. As a lagniappe for the latter, the author caps this comically eerie tale for young STEM-winders with recipes for green slime and several other science projects.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)