This is a wonderfully written novel! The setting is very well described and immersed me completely. I would definitely recommend this novel.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This book was creepy as heck.
Yes, even for a kid's book. Katherine Arden does an amazing job with the atmosphere.

Scarecrows can be scary! This was a really good book. Different, for sure. I enjoyed meeting Ollie and the rest of the characters. I will recommend this to my kids at school for sure. This is a great middle grade book, interesting enough for adults. I was lucky enough to receive an ARC for an unbiased review.

Such a terrifyingly good read. Quick paced and engaging from beginning to end. Bring on Halloween and nights by the fire with ghost stories and thrills like this!!

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read a free pre-released copy of Small Spaces in exchange for my honest opinion and review. Small Spaces is a Middle Grade children's book with true creepy powers! I won't lie, my heebie jeebies were pretty high during during the last 2/3rds of this creative book. A great story of mystery, adventure, and friendships while tackling issues like bullying and family losses. We, my 10 year old boy and I enjoyed this as a buddy read and appreciate the read!

A fun middle grade spooky story. I really enjoyed the imagination and the creepy (for younger kids) feel of the story. The setting is so fun and creepy too! I think this will be great for young kids (and parents!), especially in the Fall with all the scarecrows! The cover is so beautiful and a perfect fit for the story.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Group for Young Readers and the author, Katherine Arden for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book! I'm adult who grew up on Horror books written by Stephen King. I would have loved this book as a kid. I enjoyed the descriptions of Ollie's home and school, as well as the world they were trapped in. This was an imaginative story that scared the stuffing out of me! Definitely not one to read before bed. Yet, I don't think it was too scary for Middle school kids or YA's. Although, I don't think I can ever look at a scarecrow the same.
Definitely recommend to young lovers of the goosebumps series and other scary books. This was a fun, quick read with an ending that left me content. Perfect for Halloween season!

Slightly creepy and a good starter book for students who want to get into the horror genre without experiencing nightmares.

I love Katherine Arden's writing. The Bear and The Nightingale is one of my favorite fantasy books. I loved it so much, and I also loved this book.
It's a spooky middle grade book this time, and it has definitely eerie elements that would be perfect for October reading. However, it has also so much more. It has themes of friendship, grief, depression and all those emotions come through these pages so well.
It's perfectly written, at times entertaining, atmospheric and spooky. And at times, it's very emotional and real. I think it's a gem for Middle grade readers.
I'd highly recommend this book.

Thanks a lot to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

5th grade me would have loved this book! It's fun and exciting! It's the perfect level of spooky for a middle grade book. Any fan of goosebumps would love this story! Ollie steals book from an old lady threatening to throw it the river. She loves the story but soon finds clues that lead her to believe the story could be based on her real life. This is when the adventure beings. I loved this book! So much fun!

It's autumn in the small town of Evansburg, Vermont. Olivia Adler (called Ollie by everyone except her mother) and her dad live a house known as the Egg. Painted bright Easter colors, both inside and out, the Egg is filled with memories of her mother who died recently.

Tired of everyone's sympathy faces, eleven-year-old Ollie drops out of the chess club, quits the soft ball team and chooses to sit alone among classmates she's known since kindergarten. She retreats into books, long solitary bicycle rides along Lethe Creek and even cold swims at the swimming hole.

When she discovers a strange woman at the swimming hole about to drown a book, she offers to take it. When the woman refuses, Ollie surprises herself by snatching it from her, grabbing up her bike and rushing home. She can't believe she stole a book, but she likes books. No need to destroy a book. Someone will want it.

The book, called Small Spaces, is a ghost story copyrighted in 1895. It begins with a letter from a mother to her daughter. Ollie doesn't know when she begins to read how very real the story is about to become to her and her classmates.

A field trip to a local farm ends with a disabled school bus and becomes a nightmare for those inside when dusk falls. Ollie and two mismatched new friends are the only ones to escape and the only ones who might have a chance of surviving.

Creepy and suspenseful, this ghoulish tale is more than just a ghost story. Ollie, struggling with the loss of her mother, begins to trust again. She's able to make decisions based on beliefs her parents have taught her, and accept help from the most unlikely sources.

Small Spaces is a fast-paced and enganging read. The characters had depth, seemed real and one felt their struggles. I also really enjoyed the descriptions in this book, especially of the house Ollie and her dad lives in.

This is a book I'd have wanted to read as a 12 years old and this is a book I found amazing as an adult.
It's about grief, growing, it's dark and spooky, entertaining and engrossing.
I read it in one setting as I couldn't put it down. It moved me and it talked to the child inside me.
The style of writing, the character development and the world building are amazing. It can be funny and it can be really spooky.
I'm happy I got this ARC and hope to read the next instalment in this series soon.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

A delectable ghost story set in wintry Vermont. Three found friends: lonely, bookworm Ollie, literate hockey player Brian, and recent city transplant Coco… all go on a wild adventure to save their sixth grade class.

Ollie lost her mother last year and has retreated away from the chess club and the softball team into her novels. On the last sunny day of autumn while riding home she stops by the local swimming hole. She finds a distraught woman trying to throw an old book into the river. Ollie sees it as her mission to save the book and snatches it away from her. Over the next couple says, Ollie starts to read the book; the story in the pages and reality start to blend. A farm, scarecrows, and some help from her mother… Ollie will need to see through years of manipulation and the town’s gossip to help her classmates from an evil presence that is ready to strike.

What a great story! Perfect to curl up with a cup of hot cocoa. Filled with sympathetic characters and one strong young woman, Small Spaces is short and would be great for a middle grade audience hungry for a good scare.

4.5 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Young Readers Group, and the author for a copy for review.

Very interesting and well written. It kept me hanging on to find out what would happen next. This story had an R.L. Stine feel to it and I loved it.

I requested to read this story because I thought my 8yr old would like it. He was worried about it being too scary. Now that I’ve read it, I will get him to read it because it’s a great “campfire” tale.

This was interesting. At times I compared it to a horror story by Stephen King but it is more a ghost story. Very short and a very quick read. There is a sequel which should be interesting as this seem to end

A young girl recovering from a recent tragedy must think on her feet to help herself and her classmates out of a scary situation involving ghosts. If she can’t find the answers—or the heart to follow them—all of the kids will be stuck serving an evil power. Author Katherine Arden gives middle grade readers a fair number of thrills and touching moments in the novel Small Spaces.

Olivia “Ollie” Adler just wishes she could stop being “that” girl. The one whose mother died. The one who had a breakdown after it happened. She’s done everything she could to make herself invisible including quitting the softball team and the chess club. But people still keep looking at her and gossiping.

Like when she stands up for Coco Zintner. Is it really Ollie’s fault that Coco has a weird name and is, like, two feet tall? What’s even weirder is that Coco doesn’t really fight back, and she doesn’t seem to hold a grudge afterwards. Just because Ollie stood up to a bunch of the jocks, like Brian Battersby, Coco thinks they’re best friends or something. All the more reason to get lost in a good book. Books are reliable.

On her way home from school one day, Ollie sees a woman standing at the edge of a lake with a book in her hand. The woman looks like she’s ready to pitch the book in the water, and Ollie can’t help herself. She stops to find out what’s going on. The woman looks at her with wild eyes, so Ollie just rescues the book and gets out of there before the crazy lady can hurt her.

When she starts reading, she discovers that the book is actually an old journal kept by someone named Beth who tells the story of her life, hoping, she says, to make sense of it. At one time, a pair of brothers vied for Beth’s attention. Both of them, she says, disappeared after paying a terrible price for one another.

The story is freaky, but what’s even more freaky is the field trip Ollie’s class takes to the very farm where Beth lived. When the class boards the bus to leave, the bus gets lost in a fog that appears out of nowhere. Ollie’s instincts tell her to get off the bus, and just before she does the driver gives her a warning: stick to the small spaces, he says, if she wants to survive.

Coco tags along, and at the last minute Brian does too. The three decide to trek back to the farm to get help, and along the way Ollie learns more about Coco. Even though she’s known Brian for practically most of her life, he, too, surprises her. The three begin to work together as true friends, which will become essential if they want to get out of the woods alive.

Author Katherine Arden offers readers a number of refreshing elements that make the book a departure from others. Ollie’s father breaks stereotypes by being the main chef of the family, a track of the story that is already well established before the novel begins. He doesn’t “discover” a knack for cooking in the wake of losing his wife; instead, his cooking gives him an outlet to reach Ollie through her grief. His dependability—that no matter how hard Ollie cries or how bad the day is, she’ll always have a good meal at the end of it—will endear him to readers, despite the fact that he disappears (out of necessity) for part of the book.

Also, Arden takes Brian from a casual bystander to one of the main supporting characters with deft. She shows his middle school awkwardness in an organic way; it’s clear that Brian feels safe enough with Ollie to share parts of his personality that he wouldn’t share with his hockey friends. Yet sometimes he reverts to that role of class jock, and this seesawing of his nature comes straight out of any middle school. Readers will have no trouble relating to either him or Ollie.

Coco is the livewire, the smallest member of the trio in stature but one who will surprise Ollie, Brian, and readers time and again. Arden establishes her early on as the annoying girl, which gives her space and time to deepen her character when the three friends are faced with the most dire circumstances.

The scary elements later in the book might frighten more sensitive readers, but those who look forward to a good thrill will love them. Arden keeps offering surprises while balancing them with real-life elements, making the book a winner in the end. I recommend readers Bookmark Small Spaces by Katherine Arden.

#smallspaces #karenadler #gpputnamssonsbooksforyoungreaders #penguinbooks #netgalley #arc #bookstagram #bookreview #yabook #yabookstagram When I picked this book I'll admit I was just judging a book by its cover 🤷😂🙈 I didn't realize it was recommended for 10 & up. Unfortunately I didn't read it right away 👎👎 people. This book is phenomenal. I lived the storyline. Yes. It's a little out there, with scarecrows and all. But. As a child I adored #rlstine #christopherpike #vcandrews #mysteries #thrillers. This book is nothing short of that. I'll definitely have two of my kiddos read this. The story line was glorious. You felt the thrill and emotions with the characters. You were wondering where the story was going. And I loved that the ending was done perfectly. Nothing rushed or leaving you with the ugh really feeling. I would definitely read this author again. Such a fun book that gripped me from the first page. I was pleasantly surprised

Katherine Arden fails to disappoint, once again. This was a great YA horror book! I don't know what to say about it that won't give away a lot of stuff, but I loved that a scary book Ollie (Olivia) was reading was sort of the catalyst for the whole scenario, which she got in a weird/creepy way. The characters were great, the plot was great, the scare-factor was sufficient without getting gruesome, and I NEEDED to finish it almost as soon as I started it. Going to grab the second book now!

Just remember, stick to small spaces because *they* can't get you there ...

I received a free e-copy through NetGalley from the publishers at Penguin Young Readers. Trigger warnings: death, parent death, grief, depression, violence, injury, blood, kidnapping, bullying.

Since her mother’s death, eleven-year-old Ollie only wants to read books and ignore the outside world. She’s retreated from all the activities she used to love, and her friend group is nonexistent. When she comes across a sobbing woman trying to throw a book in the creek, Ollie rescues it and runs before it can be destroyed. She can’t imagine why anyone would want to throw away a book, but Small Spaces is no ordinary book. It tells the story of a girl named Beth, two brothers, and a deal with a mysterious being called “the smiling man.” Of course, Ollie thinks it’s only a story until she visits Smoke Hollow farm on a class trip and stumbles across the graves of Beth and her family. Is it possible that some stories are more than stories, and that there may be a more horrifying history to her small town than she ever imagined?

It can be difficult to find middle-grade books that are equally engaging for adults, but Small Spaces makes it look effortless. It has everything in it that I loved as both a kid and an adult: clever, distinctive characters, evocative writing, spooky atmosphere, and a better-drawn terror than I’ve seen in many adult horror novels. If you’ve been on the fence about reading it, it’s as good as its hype, and maybe even a little better.

Ollie is the best kind of main character. She’s a reader, first of all, and that makes her easy for readers to relate to. Her frustration over wanting people to leave her alone so she can read her book is basically the embodiment of my eleven-year-old self. Ollie is much cleverer than I was though (I’d have probably died in the woods), and she’s brave enough to face down both bullies and monsters. She’s also struggling hard with her mother’s absence, and it adds another layer of development to the plot. (I also love how much her dad loves to cook and knit. Break down those gender norms! This book should come with recipes.) The other characters are less interesting but provide a well-rounded cast with a shy outcast and a reformed bully. The group dynamics are excellent, and I love the way the novel gives each of them the opportunity to use their skills or cleverness; they’re all essential to things working out the way they do.

The writing is darkly atmospheric and full of descriptions that are alternately lovely and horrifying (or a mix of both). The mood, first of Ollie’s small town in autumn and then of a forest at night full of ghosts and monsters, was so palpable it was like I was there, and Arden never sidelines very real concerns like dehydration or twisted ankles in favor of spookiness–though there are plenty of both. She also never leaves her characters completely in darkness; like all the best fairytales, it has a magical talisman to point the way. She had me at walking scarecrows, but the real villain, “the smiling man,” is a terrifying amalgamation of crossroads demon, god of the underworld, and rural horror. You can’t have a strong horror book without a good villain, and this one is top shelf. Small Spaces is the perfect October read.

I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.