Mothman's Curse

April 27, 2015
Twelve-year-old Josie and her younger brother Fox love the auction house their family has run for generations, but when Fox takes a picture with an old Polaroid camera and a photo with a ghostly image develops, they are pulled into a life-and-death mystery. The ghost turns out to be that of John Goodrich, a reclusive local resident. Josie and Fox’s father will be handling the Goodrich estate sale, and the siblings discover a moth pin at the mansion that is linked to a centuries-old curse and the folkloric figure Mothman, who begins to terrorize their Ohio town. Through out-of-body visions and John’s ghostly guidance, Josie learns that a disaster is impending and that she must stop it. Debut author Hayes deftly balances the thriller elements of her story with resonant coming-of-age moments, and Hindle’s eerie b&w cartoons tweak the suspense further. Filled with spooky events and featuring a truly devious villain, the book will have readers racing to solve the mystery, though some may need to sleep with the lights on afterward. Ages 8–12. Author’s agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary Agency.

Starred review from April 1, 2015
Ghostly portents and horrifying visions drive two children to desperate efforts to avert an impending catastrophe in this debut chiller. Rummaging through estate goods their father has been hired to auction off, Ohio sibs Josie and Fox find two old Polaroid cameras that produce a spectral image of their sad former owner, a suicide victim, in every picture they spit out. The plot thickens with the further discovery of a gold pin that projects Josie back to the 19th century to watch as a love triangle ends with a gunshot and the creation of the Mothman-a cryptid of recent vintage that the author casts here as a vengeful spirit linked to a string of historical calamities. Worse yet, the old pin carries the titular curse, which requires its owner either to save every potential victim of an upcoming disaster or die. But what disaster looms? How to concoct a convincing warning? Can the curse ever be broken? Along with a red-eyed, winged monster who is not at all shy about appearing, even over crowds of terrified onlookers, Hayes folds sudden blasts of bone-chilling cold, conversations with the dead, and plenty of other thrillingly eerie elements into a tale that winds suspensefully to a wild, scary climax. Hindle's static cartoons add occasional notes of atmospheric gloom. An ectoplasmic extravaganza...tailor-made for reading beneath the bedcovers. (Suspense. 10-12)

May 1, 2015

Gr 4-6-Josie Fletcher and her brothers, Fox and Mason, have grown up helping out at their family's auction house. They know which trinkets are actually worth money and which ones are straight-up junk. The siblings aren't allowed to buy stuff once it's on the auction floor, but sometimes they borrow objects to play with and return them before the auction. That's what happens with Mr. Goodrich's old Polaroid camera. Josie snaps a picture, and when it prints out, there is a strange man in the shot: a man who wasn't there when she took the picture. The haunted camera is just the beginning of an adventure that will take the Fletchers into the history of local disasters and lead to a confrontation with the red-eyed Mothman. The fantasy elements (which are based on local legends) and the realistic portions of the plot are strongly crafted, resulting in a balanced blend of genre and literary elements. Hayes's characters are appealing but flawed, and their relationships will ring true for middle grade readers. Over time, the Fletcher children begin to come to terms with their mother's death by learning that they can always rely on one another. VERDICT Scary enough to appeal to readers who are growing out of R.L. Stine titles, this may also tempt fans of realistic fiction.-Gesse Stark-Smith, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2015
Grades 4-7 Hayes blends together curses, disasters, haunted cameras, auctions, and the urban legend of Mothman into a supernatural mystery as touching as it is spine-tingling. Josie Fletcher and her brothers, Fox and Mason, are still learning to live with their mother's death three years ago. They're baffled by a Polaroid camera from their father's auction stock that produces ghostly images, but that's nothing compared to what happens next. Mr. Fletcher is badly injured after something big with huge moth wings and blazing red eyes flies at him in an old house. Next thing she knows, Josie and her brothers are up to their eyeballs in troubles, not the least of which is that Josie has acquired the Mothman Curse. The plot moves at breakneck speed but not at the cost of the characterization. Josie, Fox, and Mason don't give up, and their strengths play off each other, demonstrating their deep loyalty to their family. All of the characters are very well-rounded, and the dialogue is convincing. Hindle's plentiful, comic-like illustrations enhance the text nicely.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)