This was a very cute, very fun middle grade book. I enjoyed the little nudges at being a good person but also loved the nods to other books and stories to keep the adventure going. I liked that the kids weren't all good or all bad, just kids trying to be good people (making mistakes but also being really smart). The creepy and spooky parts were well done too, keeping it good and creepy and the lore and mystery were well done. I liked this one.

Really great Middle Grade fiction. Very well written, as I've come to expect from Katherine Arden, with impressively realistic 6th grade characters, and just the right amount of scary. A perfect Fall read.

Happy Halloween season everyone! A great way to kick it off is with Katherine Arden's Small Spaces that just released last week.

This is a story for the middle grade reader, but can be enjoyed by parents as well.

This is a creepy book about death and the bargains we make to overcame our sadness. Young Olivia has to face the sudden, tragic loss of her mother. Instead she decides to find solace in books and ignore reality. But she bit off a little more than she could chew with Small Spaces.

This is seriously a great book to be reading during Halloween season. I was appropriately freaked out. It has that perfect Halloween ick factor that makes your skin crawl while you read it. Yet I couldn't put the book down.

The main characters are a little flat and become overshadowed by some truly creepy background characters, like the smiling man and his henchmen. But I was okay with that as the villains seemed to be the most important part of the story.

The conclusion is a great way to explore how kids deal with loss in their life and build a new world around them. I highly recommend this novel.

Small Spaces is Katherine Arden’s debut middle grade novel and I loved it so much! This was like Scooby-Doo meets Jeepers Creepers but PG lol. I wasn't sure what this was going to hold for me, but it hooked me right away. This had me a little scared but mostly spooked. The scary love letter about what happened on the farm and how Johnathan felt losing his brother. Then beth feeling lost with out her husband. so sad. The actually story itself was good and I wanted to know more, and the story Beth wrote was so good! I forgot at times that we were reading a story within a story. Great spooky book to start off October. This is also a great book on having to heal after loss, making friends, and learning to move on when you are ready. I love it and can't wait to buy it. Thank you Netgalley and Katherine Arden for this ARC

I've never read a book by Katherine Arden before, and I can see why people like her. Small Spaces is a paranormal mystery for middle grade, which is well-written and spooky. Most of the characters are developed well, although I lost track of some of the classmates who were only mentioned a few times. The scarecrows gave the book a very Halloween feel, which I really appreciated. I did not expect the level of creepiness that I found in this middle grade book. I love a spooky story, and this one was an enjoyable and quick read.

If you have a young reader who loves scary things and/or Goosebump books, Small Spaces is perfect for them.


Middle schooler Ollie stops a woman from throwing a book, Small Spaces, into the river one night. As she reads it, she learns about the smiling man and the bargain he strikes with people. When they strike a bargain with the smiling man they'll eventually disappear and no one can find them.

The next day, Ollie and her classmates go to a local farm and it may be the home of the smiling man. That night, Ollie along with two of her classmates, Coco and Brian, are in for a night of terror as they try to stop the smiling man from making their classmates his next victims along with themselves.



The book was a quick read and gave me nostalgia for the Goosebumps books I read growing up. I'll be excited to see how this series continues with future books. This is also a good spooky read for adults who don't want anything too scary. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an e-copy of this book.

What a delightfully creepy novel. Small Spaces is one of those novels that is perfect for those dark and stormy nights, or even just at night in general. Arden did a fantastic job with this piece. She created an unputdownable novel about a young girl sucked into another world outside our own, a world between life and death set in a cornfield with creepy scarecrows that come to life as the sun sets. It is wonderful. Arden’s language and tone create a beautiful setting, beginning with nothing spectacular but undoubtedly eerie, as Ollie heads home after school one day. It seems like nothing remarkable, but Arden weaves in a remarkable eerie tone to unleash unease onto the reader.

From the opening pages, something is unsettling about everything happening around Ollie. She rescues a book from someone who seems deranged and heads home, discovering something eerie and mesmerizing about the novel she is reading. Moreover, when she goes on a school field trip, she discovers something scarier. Her watch is guiding her, helping her along, as her school bus breaks down, fog rolls in, and silence settles around her. For Ollie and her two friends, it is a journey to not only save themselves but to unravel the mystery and save their class as well.

It is incredibly perfect how the story moves, maintaining that spooky element, there is also something mature in the storytelling. Ollie lost her mother in a tragic accident sometime before the novel begins. She is still reeling, trying to move on with her life, but she is not going about it healthily. Ollie isolates herself and lingers on the past, often lingering on the event through hints given to the reader by descriptions tone. However, through the watch and through the events that follow, Ollie learns to make peace with her mothers’ death and learns that her mother is always with her, allowing her to open up again in school and move on.

Small Spaces is a fantastic novel that is incredibly spooky that deals with mature themes making for an incredible read.

This book was like a ghost story and a portal fantasy all in one. I did really enjoy it. It was fun! The characters were great and the setting was appropriately spooky. I mean what is creepier than a corn maze with scarecrows? I totally didn’t see the reveal coming! I kind of wish the “portal” part of the story was a little bit more obvious. But overall I really enjoyed this book and I’m looking forward to the next in the series!

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the characters and the storyline. The story want something I would normally read but I was pleasantly surprised by how original the story was. I have recommended this book to many people since reading it because of the amazing and original story line and how fascinating the story was.

This is one book I would like to see in our school library it had the right amount of scare to it. Ollie has lost her mother and she is dealing with it in her own way. She finds herself just wanting to be left alone and just read. When she takes a book from a woman who is trying to get rid of it by throwing it in water; Ollie's world will be turned upside down. The paranormal will makes its way into Ollie's life.

I was really proud of Ollie who stood up for a person she didn't really like in her class, she knew it was the right thing to do. Even if she knew she would get into trouble.

Yet, what she doesn't know is that she and this girl she sticks up for will find themselves saving their classmates (the bullies included).

When the kids go on a field trip it will be more than they bargain for and it will be up to Ollie, in the end, to get everyone safely home. She has to remember "Avoid large places. Keep to small." Yet, she doesn't know what that means just that it is what she is told.

I really loved how the author used her words to describe scenes and what Ollie was really trying to feel. She captured it so very well from the very beginning and I can imagine that a lot of kids will like that when they read it.

K and I enjoyed it. He said he wouldn't look at scarecrows the same for a long time. I really can't blame him they were a bit creepy but just in the right way.

Ollie is a middle schooler who lives in a small town with her dad. She is in recovery after her mom died. She seems to have few friends and she likes it that way. Above her relationship with her dad, Olivia loves books. So when she is on her way home one day and she sees a strange woman trying to throw a small book in the local creek. Thinking this is completely bizarre, Ollie steals the book. Unable to help herself, Ollie starts to read the book. It spins an unusual tale about a family from long ago who had an encounter with a man in the mist. Thinking it’s just another unusual story , Ollie continues her day to day routine which includes a field trip to a very successful local farm. When their bus leaves the farm, an unusual, dense fog descends, and the bus breaks down. At this point, Ollie’s compass, which used to belong to her mom, and hasn’t worked in forever, starts indicating messages to Olivia. To save herself, she has to trust these mystery messages and her instincts. This is an eerie story, that should appeal to fans of RL Stein. Even though it is a youth novel I actually really enjoyed the story. This is a first novel in the series and I look forward to reading the follow ups. I will also recommend it to my oldest son.

Oh, oh and oh! Small Spaces by Katherine Arden is a chillingly delightful book of adventure and scary-ness...in a good way! My son and I loved reading this book together and couldn't wait to find out what happened to Ollie in the end. Even I, couldn't wait to finish the story. Arden is now an author that we will keep an eye out for and yes, read more of her books. Way to go, Arden! Keep 'em coming.

I love a good middle grade. They hit your imagination in a different way than everything else you read. Small Spaces is no different.
Positives:
-Ollie: Smart, grumpy, trying to deal with her mother's death and how everyone treats her after. She loves math and science but just seems like a normal little girl. I feel like often when writers branch into non-stereotypes about any give person, they just put characters in a new box. Not this time.
-Coco: Clumsy, Girly, Emotional, loves climbing. Again, Coco is girly, but that's not all she is. She loves climbing and she cries because she feels things not because she is a crybaby. (Better stated by one of the other characters but you get the gist)
-Brian: Jock that reads and is caring.
-Dad: cooks and nits
-None of the above seems weird

Negatives:
-I've got nothing.

While this wasn’t my favorite story I can see my students really enjoying it. I thought the premise and story were both really creative. I enjoyed reading about Ollie and the history behind her town. I felt that this book had a strong message about friendships, hardships, and the act of not being selfish. The book did have me on the edge of my seat most of the time and wanting to learn more. I plan on recommending this book to my students and cannot wait to see what their thoughts are about it. I am also curious to see what the next book will bring.

I've seen a lot of rave reviews for Katherine Arden's writing, but I'd never read one of her books before reading this one. While I don't read a lot of middle-grade books, I do enjoy the occasional one and this was an excellent choice. Very atmospheric, I could feel the chill in the New England autumn air despite reading this in August in Florida. And there are plenty of creepy goings-on to send chills down a middle-graders' spine. As a mom, I loved the element of a mother's love transcending time. Well done overall, and I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

My thanks to Netgalley and Penguin for providing a copy for an unbiased review.

Back when I was in middle school, I spent my nights buried under the covers, a flashlight held in one hand, and a scary book held in the other (this is long before the invention of the kindle, and we had to get creative when we were supposed to be asleep!). I read late into the night with authors like RL Stine, Christopher Pike, and any other author that wrote for Point Horror. I've never been a fan of scary movies, but a terrifying book has always intrigued me. Now a days, I don't see as many scary books aimed at our young readers. The days of Fear Street and Goosebumps seem to be behind us, but authors like Katherine Arden are introducing a whole new generation to late night scares.

Small Spaces is about a young girl named Ollie who has lost her mother in the past year. She's struggled with her life since then, burying herself in books, and completely separating herself from anything that made her happy in the past. She's alienated her friends, and doesn't talk to anyone at school, coming off as a loner. One day when she ventures to her happy place, she finds a strange woman trying to destroy a book in the river. Before she even knows what happened, she's stolen the book and rushed home. Little did she know that the book was going to change everything she knew about her small town, and her life as she currently lives it.

I absolutely ADORED Ollie, and her small group of classmates who turn into her best friends. This book was chilling, but taught some good life lessons at the same time. I was hooked from page one, and finished the book in nearly one setting, immediately ordering the sequel. I cannot wait until my kids are a little older and I can share Small Spaces with them. It's definitely a book that I want to share and shove into all my friend's hands and tell them to read it this October!

I have read several of Katherine Arden's books. They are full of beautiful imagery, strong characters, and creative stories. Small Spaces, her newest middle-grade novel, continues with these high standards. This was a fun, creepy story that younger readers will love.

What I Liked:
Setting:

An eerie little town in Autumn, a school trip to a farm (with a haunted past), a strange encounter with a woman muttering about a book. All of these work to create a sense of foreboding that is compelling and scary. Not to mention, the scarecrows...

Characters:

Ollie, the main character, will be a kid others will identify with. Ollie is a girl who's mother has died. She tries to remain under the radar, as she can't stand the sympathetic tone of teachers, and her fellow students. She even lashes out against her father when he tries to tell her to move on. No one seems to truly acknowledge her right to her own feelings.

I also liked Brian and Coco, who's characters went beyond stereotypes and showed Ollie not to judge others. I liked that the novel took the time to really develop these characters and make them an important part of the story.

The Book:

Although it is not a person, the book that Ollie steals is practically a living character. We get to read portions of it as the story progresses, which gives the backstory of the farm and the "smiling man". As Ollie and her friends try to find their way, they meet various people who might be connected to the book's story. It all make for a chilling tale.

Story:

This is a creepy story, but one that is not too scary for middle-grade readers (ten and up). I will never look at scarecrows or school trips the same way again! The sense of dread permeates the story, which makes for a page-turning, exciting story. I hope you don't mind if I am being vague, but I really don't want to give away spoilers.

I will say that this is a perfect book to read as Halloween approaches. It is fun, exciting, and scary.

Such a great book! As someone who often reads adult fiction titles, I found myself glued to the couch as I read this one. I liked the fact that Arden's writing provides enough description/imagery for the reader to see the world from Ollie's perspective while allowing the reader to use their imagination to "fill in the blanks" if you will. There's nothing more frightening than imagining the fog that overtook the farm, or the garden tool appendages of the scarecrows as they inch ever closer to the ones they're stalking. This is a great middle grade horror book because it does allow readers who don't want all the imagery to engage with the book without feeling overwhelmed by scarier moments.

What a fun and spooky book!! Although it was middle grade, I did feel a little spooked out at times! I recommend this book to anyone looking for a great Halloween haunting read. Looking forward to the next book in this series. Katerine Arden really knows how to write perfect atmospheric books.

3,5 stars

That I love the Winternight trilogy must come as no surprise to any of you. So when I got the chance to read and review her first middle grade book I had to take it. This is quite a different kind of ball game but still pretty good in different ways.

Ollie is eleven years old, living in a rural town where everyone knows everyone. She is still grieving the loss of her mom and does this through hiding away in books. When she sees a woman about to throw a book into a river she has to save it. When she dives into she uncovers a weird horror story that might turn out to become true.

For a middle grade this books it’s strength lies in its characters and the story itself. Ollie is easy to feel for, someone you want to protect despite her defensive nature. She does reflect on herself and her behavior and that makes her so likeable to me. She makes mistakes but she also sees them. I always find that important in characters and more so in middle grade.

The story is a basic horror story that takes place partially in the bus, surrounding forest and a farm. That alone should creep most of us out. I was also pleased that despite this being a horror middle grade there is barely any true violence in this story. There are so many ways you can creep someone out and you don’t need over the top violence for that.

However for me the downfall for this book was is that I was expecting more depth in the plot and a better reason as to why he wanted to take the children. Just because is so tiresome and I think Katherine Arden could have done better there that could have still appealed to middle grade readers as well.