Fun, spooky story. It had a great atmosphere, especially the very creepy descriptions of the scarecrows in the mist. It was enjoyable. However, it somehow felt rushed and underdeveloped. There was no real explanation for what this misted world actually was, why it was possible for someone who was dead to communicate via a broken watch, what the smiling man really wanted, and many other character-driven questions. I found a major issue with the timing: the countdown moving too quickly when they are having a quick chat, only having six hours until dark after having just woken up, among other instances. Also, some of the inner monologues felt a bit heavy-handed. The characters were fine, but not very deep.
At first, I thought about giving the story four stars, going lenient for being a middle-grade story. As it stands, I am technically not the target audience. But while I certainly think a younger audience would enjoy the story, I feel like they are still smart enough to pick up on these issues.

So good I bought a print copy from my kids book fair.
We'll be reading it to the kiddos next month!

This is a good middle-school horror! Has the feel of a Goosebumps story. Love the main character, Ollie, and her two friends, Brian and Coco. Watch out for scarecrows at night! I'm already creeped out by scarecrows and corn mazes. This story just reminded my why! Will definitely follow this new author.

Sixth-grader Ollie is a voracious reader and falls into stories after a significant loss. She finds the story of Beth, a young woman who had a pair of brothers in love with her, and a deal made with "the smiling man," a figure that would fulfill wishes for a price. This becomes less of a story when she finds the graves of these people on a school trip to a farm. Her broken digital watch soon says RUN, and the bus driver gives creepy but accurate advice. Ollie and two of her classmates actually heed that advice, and their hair raising journey has just begun.

A new novel by the author of The Bear and The Nightingale? Sign me up! This features a tweener as the main character, but don't think that means this book is only for middle-grade readers. Yes, this is targeted for middle-grade readers, but that doesn't mean that adults won't find the story spooky as well. There are also very serious themes of grief and depression, love and loss, friendship and growth.

I appreciate the short and punctuated descriptions of things in the beginning, and how we slowly see what Ollie's grief is all about. The creepy and odd also begins slowly, so that it isn't until the school trip that we see the creepiness come to light. Ollie's prior nature walks with her mother are revealed as the story progresses, as well as Coco's former rock-climbing skill despite the very pink and sparkly personality she had shown in the beginning of the book. She cries easily, which other sixth graders make fun of and even Ollie had disdained, but Ollie soon realizes it's because Coco is so in tune with her emotions and feels everything, and Ollie currently feels almost nothing. Brian becomes more than the dumb jock as well, with knowledge of fantasy novels and mythology as well as kindness and preparedness from his Boy Scout training.

These are very nuanced characters being pushed to their limits, with the creepiness less in terms of blood and gore and more in Halloween style scarecrows that are everpresent, ghosts of long-dead people still lurking in the woods, and a "smiling man" only too eager to make deals in return for souls. This is a wonderfully atmospheric book, and actually good for all ages.

After suffering a tragic loss, 6th grader Ollie turns to books as an escape. During a walk home, she notices a crying, frantic woman about to throw a book into a river and she steals the book before she has a chance to destroy it. When she opens the boom, she becomes entranced by a story about a young woman caught in a love triangle with two brothers fighting over her affections, when one day, they disappear. The next day, her class goes on a field trip. There, she noticed things that make her believe, maybe the story....isn’t just a work of fiction.


Katherine Arden has a beautiful way of bringing this middle grade story TO LIFE. This is my first novel from her and I can’t wait to pick more up.
This story was SO CREEPY that I found myself anxious to figure out WHAT ON EARTH WAS HAPPENING!?!? She brought these characters to life, this world to life.... and made me hang on her every word.

What blows my mind is that this is a MIDDLE GRADE NOVEL and it kept my attention every step of the way. The PERFECT fall, creepy vibes read. Don’t shy away from this middle grade book even if you’re an adult. I enjoyed this very much.

I was in a reading slump for the month of October and didn't finish any books but today I finished two of the three books I started last month. I wasn't even 50% through this book this morning and I finished it tonight. For how long it took me to actually read it was a fast read. Small Spaces was great at keeping me interested and wanting to continue to read it. I believe this book is helping/helped me get out of this reading slump. This book has to do with grief and death of a parent. I like the friendship that the main character makes through out the story. I'm hoping to pick up book two soon. I want to buy the physical copy of this now. Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ecopy.

Small Spaces is Katherine Arden’s debut middle grade novel and I loved it so very much friends. Many of you know that The Bear and the Nightingale is one of my favorite books of all-time, and even though these stories are nothing like one another, the beautiful writing, amazing characters, and important themes shine through. I went into this expecting a fun and spooky read (which it was), but what I also got was such a beautiful love letter to grief, depression, and trying to live in a world that has taken away someone who you feel you cannot live without.

This is a great book to read around Halloween time. The book is about a young girl (11 years old who just lost her mom. Now living with her dad. The spooky story starts when Ollie sees a woman about to throw a book into the river and takes it. Though this is a middle grade book I enjoyed it like crazy! In fact I can't wait to find another of Katherines books. The characters really come alive in her books. This book is much like a R.L. Stine. I dare say I found another favorite author (how many is one aloud to have?)

I loved this middle grade story from Katherine Arden. Typically I do not go for middle grade but this was cute and spooky and so perfect for this time of year.

For the targeted audience being kids, me as an adult also thoroughly enjoyed and was creeped out by this novel. And those are the best kinds of novels to read, in my opinion. I love ones that people of any age can enjoy, regardless of what the targeted audience is. And though this was a spooky read, it was also so much more; dealing with issues like the loss of a loved one, depression, and friendship. This is one I plan to go out and buy a physical copy of, because having a digital copy just isn’t enough!

Thank you NetGalley got an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book will be a must read for my students and for all who love a good scary story! I will no longer look at scarecrows the same after this enthralling and descriptive adventure. I look forward to the next books by the author.

This is a well-done creepy read that is age-appropriate for middle school readers, but still enjoyable for adults as well. It features three students who only peripherally know each other, but must band together when they find themselves in an unexpected spooky situation on what should have been a typical school field trip. There are a lot of good scares, and the characters are ones you definitely root for.

Katherine Arden’s imagination is a wonderful treat. Small Spaces is a wonderfully told spooky story for any middle-grade reader. I give this book a 5 out of star rating. This gave me old Goosebumps series vibes which amazing because I loved Goosebumps growing up.

“Avoid large places at night. Keep to small.”

We follow our many characters, Ollie, not Olivia as she and two friends try to escape the evil cornfields. Ollie who loves reading stumbles upon a book that tells a story that may pray not sound like the story of the spooky tale surrounding the local farm. While on a class trip Ollie is warned that her class may be in danger. So when the bus suddenly breaks down on their way back to school our spooky tale really begins. Ollie gets off the bus heeding the warning she was given however, no one believes her. The only person who believes her is the new girl Coco who is an even bigger outcast then Ollie. Brian the hockey star is such a Boy Scout and a gentleman that he can’t in good conscience little these two girls go off by themselves. There is safety in numbers after all (everyone knows that) and they should all stay on the bus and wait for help. However, Ollie and Coco are not listening to him and walk off to find their own safety and Brian reluctantly follows them. Soon Coco and Brian are glad that they followed Ollie off the bus because their classmates all disappeared from the bus. The trio goes into the woods and tries to find a way out of the nightmare they seem to find themselves in.
The characters in this book are created with such realism that it's easy to like them. Coco is a tiny ball of fun. She is super clumsy as they walk through the woods but the girl can climb like a monkey. She brings an interesting contrast to the other characters. Expect in the beginning she cried like every five minutes over stupid things that most people would have let roll off their shoulders. But thankfully her character grows and she becomes more confident and is able to “roll with the punches”. Brian was a boy jock who has a good side but rarely shows it. He thought he needed to be the protector of the two girls but soon realized the girls could handle themselves. He made a great supporting character.
I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who likes R.L. Stine’s middle-grade novels. This is such a great, super easy, and fast read. Great job to Katherine Arden for telling such a great story. I cannot wait to read the next book.

I received a free copy of this book from the author. I had the opportunity to review or not.

Are you afraid of scarecrows? Perhaps you should be. Three youngsters on a class trip found out that scarecrows were not to be ignored. Olivia, who preferred to be called Ollie, Coco, and Brian entered a nightmare of terror when their bus broke down on the return trip from a local farm where they spent an afternoon learning all about life on a farm.

Ms. Arden presented a tale filled with ordinary farm life and turned it into a fight for survival for three sixth graders who needed all the skills they had learned scouting, reading a very special book, and a knack for solving problems in order to save themselves and their classmates from an eternity of servitude of horror. The characters in this tale were endearing and likable. The story was well-written and the world they lived in was believable and realistic.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys horror stories, young or old. It is well worth the read.

Imagine sitting around a campfire when the ghost stories start. You move a little closer to the fire, hoping it will keep the dark shadows away, but keep looking over your shoulder to make sure nothing is there. That's the spooky, creepy, feeling you get when reading Small Spaces. When local lore is proven to be anything except lore, you just keep moving...and stay to the small. Absolutely love it!!!!

This book was ok. Maybe I had higher hopes and it just didn't hold up. I could definitely see people enjoying it. It was spooky but not TOO spooky. Good for middle grade. The story just didn't hold me in the whole time.

Slow build up to the action. I found my mind straying a lot, despite wanting to find out more because the concept/plot was intriguing. There was just too much build up and not enough action, unfortunately.

When Ollie stumbles on a book telling the chilling story of two brothers and the ominous "smiling man", she thinks she's found the perfect distraction to keep her from thinking about the tragic loss of her own mother and the growing distance between her and her father. What started as an engrossing distraction soon becomes threatening as Ollie has her own run in with the Smiling Man with the fate of her entire class hanging in the balance. Katherine Arden has managed to find that perfect balance of delightful creepiness without being too creepy for the age of the intended audience. Readers will find themselves keeping an extra eye on the next scarecrow they encounter!

When the mist rises and the smiling man comes walking, you must avoid large places at night. Keep to small.

A quick and perfect read for Halloween.

I like to sometimes read middle grade horror stories because that is how I fell in love with reading. I spent many years reading R.L. Stein books (and by that I mean Fear Street) and then reading all the books that were recommended at the back of those books. This book ranks up there with those books and hit me with such nostalgic feelings.

This story has a creepy bus driver, The Smiling Man, and scarecrow that chase you. Ollie and her two friends Brian and Coco are on a doomed field trip where they end up trying to survive and save their classmates at the same time.

I just found out there is a sequel...I’ll be in line with all the other grade schoolers.

Small Spaces is a fun and spooky middle grade book that can be enjoyed at any age. I enjoyed this book and didn't find it to be too scary for a young audience to enjoy. That said, there are themes of death and kidnapping, so it's best to be sure your kids are mature enough to handle that and discuss with them as appropriate.