School Spirits

Starred review from April 1, 2013
Fifteen-year-old Izzy Brannick comes from generations of monster hunters. Witches, vampires, faeries, werewolves—her forebears have dealt with them all, and mostly come out on top. But ever since Izzy’s older sister disappeared a year ago while confronting a coven of witches, Izzy and her mother have become the last of the Brannicks. Keeping up the family business, the two of them move to a small Mississippi town to investigate a simple haunting. Naturally, nothing is quite that easy: the vengeful ghost is unusually powerful, the cute new boy in town has a mysterious aura of power around him, and homeschooled Izzy needs to learn how to make friends and survive her first high school experience. A charming and zippy paranormal mystery, Hawkins’s self-contained spinoff from her Hex Hall series is built around a likeable bunch of characters including a heroine who is smart, kind, and resourceful, and a team of refreshingly non-stereotypical friends. Ace plotting, snappy dialogue, unexpected twists, and an exhilarating finale will have readers eager for more. Ages 12–18. Agent: Holly Root, Waxman Leavell Literary Agency.

Starred review from April 15, 2013
Izzy--short for Isolde--and her mother are the last in their centuries-old line of monster killers. Izzy's sister Finley disappeared while the sisters were dealing with a witches' coven, and Izzy has felt guilty about the incident ever since, holding herself responsible. Looking for a break, Izzy's mom moves them to Ideal, Miss., and sends Izzy to high school, an environment completely foreign to the girl, with the hope that she will be able to deal with a local ghost. Izzy makes actual friends there but learns that this ghost has far more power than usual, and she comes to suspect that one of her cherished new friends may have summoned it. Worse, she's attracted to Dex, but the boy gives off vibes that Izzy picks up as supernatural. She can't tell just what kind of being Dex might be, but she hopes she won't have to kill him. Hawkins dials the level of humor up to high throughout most of the book, with deftly phrased witticisms in both the narrative ("worry slithered through me") and her characters' dialogue ("I am affronted!" declares Dex). Her characterizations shine as original and funny, especially Dex and Torin, an Elizabethan-era warlock trapped for centuries in the Brannicks' mirror, who dispenses dubious advice. Finley still being missing, it's entirely possible this, itself a spinoff of the Hex Hall books, may become a series. Here's hoping the Brannicks will be back--their story's marvelous fun. (Paranormal comedy/suspense. 12 & up)

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July 1, 2013

Gr 7-10-Since her older sister went missing nearly a year ago, 15-year-old Izzy and her mother are all that remain of the family. Endowed with extra strength and supernatural powers, the Brannicks have been ridding the world of evil creatures for thousands of years. Without her sister by her side, it's a lonely life for Izzy, who is still trying to prove to her mother that she is ready to handle the family business on her own. After a nearly disastrous run-in with a vampire, her mother decides to give her something easier to work on. They move to Mississippi, and the teen enrolls in the local high school where a rogue ghost has attempted to kill one of the teachers. Dealing with the ghost should be a simple task, but attending high school for the first time is a scary prospect for the homeschooled teen. She joins the school-sanctioned Paranormal Management Society and becomes friends with its members. She begins to fall in love with one of them and discovers that another member may be the reason she can't get the ghost under control. Always warned by her mother to go in, do the job, and get out, Izzy realizes that the relationships she's formed may be placing people's lives in jeopardy. It's impossible not to compare this book to Buffy the Vampire Slayer as it blends equal parts humor, drama, and romance-just like the popular TV series. Girls will eat this one up.-Cary Frostick, Mary Riley Styles Public Library, Falls Church, VA

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2013
Grades 7-10 In this Hex Hall spin-off, Hawkins takes us to Ideal, Mississippi, where 15-year-old Izzy Brannick and her mother have fled to escape Izzy's sister's disappearance and Izzy's own botched attempt to slay a vampire. But Ideal is hardly the ideal small town. Instead, the high school where Izzy will soon enroll has endured a series of progressively escalating hauntings. Perhaps this is Izzy's chance to restore her reputation by solving a tragic, yet harmless, ghost visitation gone awry. Or perhaps it's just the opportunity she hasn't even known she desired: to finally have a best friend and even a boyfriend, who, by the way, might just be a Prodigium, a warlock of sorts. In true Hawkins fashion, School Spirits combines romance, intrigue, and the paranormal with humor and high-school drama to produce a light read that bodes well for another Hawkins series, this time featuring the Brannicks. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: This spinoff of the New York Times best-selling Hex Hall series should be similarly well received.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)