Bye-bye, Blue Creek

September 1, 2020
Twelve-year-old Sam Abernathy is prepared to say goodbye to Blue Creek, the small Texas town he's endured his entire life. And goodbye to being known as the boy who got stuck in a well all those years ago. But Blue Creek isn't ready to say goodbye to Sam: Instead of spending the last few weeks before he departs for boarding school in Oregon chilling with his best friend, Karim, and Karim's cousin Bahar (a girl whom Sam insists he does not have a crush on), Sam must reckon with the supernatural family of monsters that has moved into Blue Creek's haunted manse, the Purdy House. After all, Sam can't just leave his home behind knowing it might be in danger. The sequel to The Size of the Truth (2019) improves upon its predecessor in nearly every way: The plotting is tighter, the jokes are funnier, the characters are sharper, and the messaging is on point. Sam's put-upon nature and the sharp-witted barbs slung between him and Karim make the novel into a crackling two-hander, creating a fun read. The novel's tertiary characters have just enough shading to make the cast feel lived in save for one notable exception: Bahar is a promising character who isn't given nearly enough page time to make the impact readers will want from her. Blue Creek is a mostly White community, but Bahar and Karim may be Persian; Karim is bisexual. A much-improved sequel. (Mystery. 10-14)

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October 15, 2020
Grades 6-8 Filling the gap between The Size of the Truth (2019) and Stand-Off (2015), this novel follows 12-year-old amateur chef and confirmed claustrophobe Sam Abernathy, who faces the scary prospect of leaving his small Texas town, his best friend Karim, and Karim's cousin Behar?on whom he does not, Not, NOT have a crush?for distant Oregon. Plus, the author of his favorite graphic-novel character, murderous unicorn Princess Snugglewarm, is coming to the local public library, and the Blanks, an odd family that has moved into the eldritch and long-deserted Purdy mansion, has hired him for a catering job on his last weekend in town. Sam's endearing (or, for some, annoying) narrative quirks in Truth are still on display here, as are familiar quirky characters from previous outings. Smith also works in a gentle romance between Karim and dreamy schoolmate Brendan on the way to Sam's climactic, lurid discoveries at the Blank's gothic home. So, yeah, by the end readers may be as reluctant to leave Blue Creek as Sam is. Final illustrations, which include significant numbers of text messages, not seen.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)