Fun middle grade thriller that kept me guessing and was a world of fun!

I loved our main character and the writing was very digestible.

The characters are well developed and its like a recipe with all its ingredients perfectly mixed!

Love the cover on this one. It perfectly captures the vibe of the story. However, the title does not. I wish the author had put more thought into it. The story itself is typical Lindsay Currie. A ghost from the past is unsettled and chooses to reveal itself to a kid, hoping she will uncover the truth and put it to rest. Lindsay Currie MO.

Claire is the daughter of a ghost obsessed dad. He operates a ghost tour in Chicago. Claire wants none of it, and tries hard to keep her friends out of the know. But when the tour’s scheduled bus driver calls off, Claire must step in to assist her dad. While on the tour, a strange boy appears out of nowhere, attempts to communicate with her, and then vanishes. But that isn’t the end. Suddenly back at home she’s hearing noises, seeing the number 396, and having odd encounters with water. She’s convinced the boy is haunting her. With the help of her brother and two friends, she uses her science skills to solve the mystery of who the boy is so she can put his ghost to rest.

As I mentioned, not super original. I did appreciate that the boy ghost is based on a real person and a real ship disaster that happened on the Chicago River in the early 1900s. I’m a sucker for history. I also appreciate the inclusion of the friendship triangle between Claire, her longtime BFF Casley, and the new girl Emily. This was worked into the story well and gives a solid example to girls of how to properly handle this type of friend issue. All the characters, including the brother, are nice. No bullies. No jerks. But still believable. I did like this story moderately better than Currie’s other ghost stories, and since her books circulate well in my library, I’ll probably purchase. Her books are a good intro into the horror genre for younger middle grade readers.

This is an excellent spooky read for your upper elementary or midlevel students! It’s especially great for those fall months when Halloween is sneaking up on you! The kids loved it!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy in exchange my honest review.

A spine-tingling ghost story that keeps readers on the edge of their seats. The plot is engaging and deliciously eerie, making it a captivating read for those who enjoy thrilling mysteries. I recommend this book to young adult readers looking for a gripping supernatural tale that will leave them wanting more.

This is a nice spooky story but also a coming of age story. Friendship, ghost, middle school, family struggles. All tie in to the book. It should be suggested to any middle grader that wants an age appropriate book that features a science geek who is kind of ashamed of her dad and wants to solve a ghost mystery.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the DRC.

This is a great spooky read for middle school. The setting is just fun- it’s like taking a haunted ghost tour of Chicago. We will have this at our middle school library.

I didn't really like this one. If I had read it before I read Small Spaces I probably would've liked it more. Claire was hard to like at first, and I hated how she didn't tell her parents anything. Of all the book parents, hers would have believed her! So aggravating. On the other hand, I liked that she opened up to her brother.
I guess it just wasn't creepy enough for an actual ghost story and wasn't cute enough to be a feel good ghost story.

This book was fantastic! When I book talk this book this book all of my copies fly off the shelf. It is just the right amount of scary for elementary kids! This is a greatone!

My son Paxton and I read Scritch Scratch individually and together as a read aloud, because we knew it would be spooky out loud! We were both right!

This book is a story about a young girl who gets stuck helping her father with his Chicago ghost tour. The main character, Claire, thinks she sees something lurking in the back of the tour bus and she's right. That something is a someone.....

As she spends the next week trying to solve the mystery of the boy in the back of the bus, she gets a rude awakening; the boy has followed her home.

This book is scary is some parts but equally entertaining and educational. The author shares Chicago history along with this ghost story and instead of feeling scared and alarmed at the end, you feel empathy and happiness.

Claire's story isn't just about a ghost or her father's tour bus, it's about being a typical teenager, friendship, and family. This book is definitely Mom and Kid approved

Scritch Scratch is a book about ghosts, friendship, family, and history.

Claire is a scientist and believes in facts and logic; not ghost. Her dad is obsessed with the paranormal and even runs a ghost tour in their hometown of Chicago. Unfortunately for Claire, her dad's driver can't make it so she has to tag along and help. What Claire has not admitted to anyone, it that she's actually scared of the ghost stories her dad tells. Things go down hill when a ghost follows her home from the tour. With help from her brother, best friend, and the new girl at school, she is hoping to stop the ghost from haunting her and finally put him to rest.

Thank you to Lindsay Currie, Sourcebooks, and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I honestly could not finish this book-- I tried picking it up multiple times and was unable to get past the whiny main character. I expect a little bit of whiny-ness when it's objectively warranted, but this was just not for me.

This will be one of my top recommendations for spooky reads for middle grade this year!!!!! This is full of suspense and creepiness. I think it has the perfect balance of spooky and fright.

Great middle grade book for kids who like thrills and chills. Excited to add this to our library and promote in our Scary section. Recommended for grade 4-7.

There is nothing about Scritch Scratch that I did not enjoy. Our heroine, Claire is smart and kind. She has a great relationship with her brother, Sam, a theme I love seeing explored in novels of this age group, as well as healthy friendships. She also has a present parental figure. I mean that in the figurative sense. In a lot of younger age and young adult books, parents are either checked out mentally or emotionally. That dynamic is not used as a means of finding new adventures in this book. Instead, adventure finds Claire while she is with her father at work on his ghost tour bus when she meets her first real ghost. This moment would be terribly disconcerting for anyone. Claire, however, is doubly troubled by what she sees because of her self-proclaimed scientist title. This moment is the overarching conflict in the novel. How she reacts and utilizes the scientific method to come to grips with the supernatural.

The premise is a bit like City of Ghost, which my daughters also enjoyed and can be read as a companion. However, it is set and takes advantage of the city of Chicago and its history and legends. Moreover, City of Bones’ does not have a skeptic as the narrator despite both girls being sort of haunted by a ghost. Claire just happens to be in contention with an unfriendly ghost, which can be disturbing. The book isn’t too scary, though. While I was unnerved by it as an adult, I didn’t have to be concerned that it would keep my kids up at night, plagued by gory images, but it can be unsettling. Knowing that, I loved everything about it and highly recommend reading it at any age.

I was given this ARC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Just what I love. A delightful mix of history and scary. This is a read perfect for middle graders and reminds me of the good old Fear Street days. An excellent read, perfect for fans of Victoria Schwabe's City of Ghosts, Scritch Scratch will have you looking behind doors and under your bed before going to sleep at night!

First things first - Is that a terrific cover or what??? I have 2 mid grade kids who both love this type of story. One loves anything scary, especially ghosts, and the other loves all things crime and all things ghosts, so this book practically screamed their names. And they loved it. As it turns out, I loved it too. It was just dark enough to give even an adult some creepy chills without being too dark for the targeted age group. As an added bonus, we get lots of Chicago history, so we got to discuss some of that as we read, which I enjoyed - it's not every day that you can get mid grade kids to fully engage, so we had a few teaching moments along the way. The whole thing is well done and way harder to put down than I would've expected. If you like ghosts, thrillers, or horrors, I'd recommend this one, and that goes for any age because this adult enjoyed this book as much as, if not more, than the kids.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Scritch Scratch was such a fun read. It was such an addicting story that I had a hard time putting it down! It reminded me of my obsession with RL Stine as a kid. I loved the well developed plot and how much Chicago history was woven throughout the story.

This mysterious spooky story is one that I think middle-grade kids will love!

As a result of my various committee appointments and commitments I am unable to disclose my personal thoughts on this title at this time. Please see my star rating for a general overview of how I felt about this title. Additionally, you may check my GoodReads for additional information on what thoughts I’m able to share publicly. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read this and any other titles you are in charge of.

This is a fun read for upper elementary and middle grade students. My grade 8 son found it a little beneath his interest level, but I would say it would be very engaging and suspenseful for students in grades 4-7.

WOW! I wanted to get lost in a story and get my mind off the craziness in our world and this ghost story certainly did the trick! I started reading and had trouble putting it down. I loved Lindsay’s first book, #thepeculiarincidentonshadystreet so I expected to like SCRITCH SCRATCH. Well, I might have loved it even more!

Clair, a seventh grader who is passionate about science, lives in an old house in Lincoln Park (a section of Chicago) with her older brother, mom and dad. Much to Clair’s dismay, her dad, who is so fascinated by Chicago history and ghosts that he wrote a book about it, now has a Ghost Tour Bus company! Clair, the scientist who doesn’t believe in ghosts, tries her best to distance herself from her dad’s business, so when he asks her to assist him one Saturday night, it’s the last thing she wants to do. She really shouldn’t be able to go with her dad. She should be spending the evening with her best friend like she always does, but lately she’s worried her friend has moved on without her. So reluctantly, Clair becomes her dad’s assistant for the evening tour. It’s fairly uneventful, although a bit spooky, until she sees something that changes her life. She sees a little boy staring at her from the back of the bus. He has a sad face, dark eyes and is wearing knickers. But when she looks for him at the end of the tour, he’s gone! Even though he seems so real, she convinces herself it was just her imagination UNTIL she is awakened by a scritch scratch sound in her wall! And the next morning her dresser is full of water! And so it goes, as her life spirals out of control!

I loved this spooky mystery, which is also very much a story about trust, friendship, empathy, courage and Chicago history. Even though I’ve lived in Chicago for more than thirty years, I learned so much about the city.

I also loved the lessons Clair learns from her experiences:
“Everyone has problems. It doesn’t mean you’re weak. What matters is how you handle them.”
Her mom’s “teachable moments” including “look for the story history doesn’t tell, because that may be the one that matters.”
Her realization that “everyone needs help sometimes… even the girls who seem perfect.”

This would make a perfect read aloud in October. It will not only satisfy your class’s thirst for Halloween stories, but it will also give you SO MUCH to discuss about friendships, facing your fears and trusting one another.