This is what middle grade books are all about! Rika goes on an adventure to save her loved ones and learns some valuable lessons along the way.

Darika Lovelace is a witch, only she doesn’t know this yet.
She’s been getting into trouble back home in Colorado so her Grandma has Rika spend the summer in Trinidad. Grandma Love has plans for Rika; clean the house and stay away from the woods! But Rika isn’t the best at following directions. She meets some neighbor kids and they head to the old silk cotton tree in the woods.
That’s when things turn banana-pants crazy and Rika starts to learn the truth— she’s a witch and her mom is in trouble.

A few things I absolutely loved in this book are:
1. Rika’s love of Skittles. They are the superior candy.
2. Piku, the sidekick iguana.
3. The definitions and educational information that was effortlessly placed through out the story
4. The underlying message of climate change and respecting our planet.
5. Trinidadian cultural representation and mythology.

Thank you so very much for this early copy to review. I truly loved it!

What an adorable spooky middle grade book! I enjoyed every minute of it and the character has so much sass she was instant favorite. Loved the culture that was brought into the book and can see this being a big hit with readers of all levels and ages.

Bumps in the Night follows a young girl who is a bit misunderstood. Rika's parents are divorced and she has a new stepmom and two new brothers. She starts to act out because she feels ignored and alone. When her dad sends her off to Trinidad to live with her grandma for the summer, she feels even more alone. However, while in Trinidad she discovers some family secrets and the real reason her mom has not contacted her in years. Along with her new friends, she has to go to great lengths to save her family, the forest, and the whole world.

This book is full of magic and love. It also has some evil and darkness in it. I think the magic was fun to follow and all of the different powers were interesting. The whole evil tree setup was a lot of fun too. There were many different levels and puzzles that the kids had to solve in order to escape. It was like a magical escape room and everything was described in great detail. It was easy to imagine the different puzzles and tricks that the kids faced. The kids were all fun to get to know throughout the story. I do feel like a few of them were a bit whiney and a little annoying but towards the ends everyone makes a good comeback. I also loved the animal sidekick that comes along in this book, he is so cute and fun! The description of the tropical climate and setting was very detailed and interesting as well. I love the cute cover of this book too!

I think this book touches on a lot of problems that adolescents have. A lot of children feel misunderstood and let out of family secrets. I feel like a lot of parents try to protect their children from things and the children feel like they are being lied to or treated like a baby. We also explore some friendship hardships as well that I think are pretty common in children. I think kids who read this book will be able to relate to the characters and their problems. I like how these problems were handled because it was not constantly in your face but the point was easily across. It was a good mix between fun and adventure and real life issues. The author did a great job balancing that.

I do wish it had just a bit more horror elements because the cover makes it seem more horror than it actually is. There are creatures and dark things but I would've liked just a bit more of the spooky aspect. It was not quite a five star for me but it was a solid middle grade read that I will recommend to the right age group! Thanks so much to netgalley and Random House Children's, Delacorte Press for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I will be posting a mini review in my Instagram story for this book sometime this week. I posted my review on Goodreads and will be posting a full review on my Instagram closer to the release day!

I enjoyed this book. I love the Trinidadian culture as it reminds me of the time I spent there. I’m not normally into fantasy books, but this one was enjoyable.

Rika has been sent to spend the summer with her grandmother after getting into trouble one too many times at home. Having reached Grannie's home, Rika discovers who she really is, and where her missing mother has been. Along with a trusty group of friends she must battle her way through a magical maze to save her family. The story can be gruesome at times, but reads like a page turning adventure. The characters are brave, intelligent and win the day using empathy and forgiveness as much as magic and skill.

I think this is an excellent middle grade read. The magic and adventure along with the setting are great. I think this is a wonderful story to expose younger readers to new places and culture while also being relatable no matter where you are from. The story did include great themes around dealing with change, family dynamics, forgiveness, and even caring for our environment. It was absolutely great to see inclusion of folklore that is probably lesser known for many people.

Bumps in the Night is such a wonderful magical adventure. I love the themes of family, friendships, forgiveness, and taking care of the planet. On that note, I love that none of the messages are shoved down the readers throat. They are there and obvious without being overemphasized so that the story gets lost amid the message (which I have had happen in books with messages).
I loved reading the authors notes afterward and finding out some of her inspiration. Bumps in the Night is such a great way for kids to experience fantasy while also exploring another location they probably aren't familiar with and culture.
I love the characters, the kids are so real with real emotions that they are able to express and even explain a little throughout the story. Fun read for kids or adults.

Thirteen-year-old Darika ‘Rika’ Lovelace faces a summer of unexpected twists when she’s sent to her grandmother’s estate in Trinidad. The island, however, is teeming with magical secrets. Rika encounters a group of kids known as Minders, each possessing elemental powers, and discovers her own connection to a long line of powerful witches. The plot thickens as Rika senses ominous jumbies and unravels a tale involving bloodcurdling monsters, supernatural silk cotton trees, and an endless maze. Torn between the desire to return home and the realization that her long-lost mom is in peril, Rika embarks on a magical quest. As she confronts the fearsome jumbie king, the story weaves together elements of magic, action-adventure, plot twists, and betrayal. Bumps in the Night offers a delightful take on witches and magic, blending a rich narrative with familiar references and an exploration of Trinidadian folklore. This middle-grade horror read promises great characters, plot development, and a touch of spookiness—making it an ideal choice for Halloween or any reader who loves a magical, twist-filled tale.

I was drawn to the cover and main concept of this book and was not disappointed. The thirteen-year-old main character is facing a lot of troubled times, she got in trouble in school, she misses her mom, her father remarried... so she ends up going to her grandmother who hopes to reconnect with her, but there is more to it. This is just the start of a series of trials and discoveries about her family and secrets, including magic, action-adventure, plot twists, and betrayal. The novel is very rich, there is always something happening or a cool reference to books or other familiar things.
A cool take on witches and magic.
Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for this e-ARC.

After almost thirteen-year-old Darika Lovelace vandalizes a school wall with her artwork, she is sent from Colorado to live with her grandmother, Delilah, out in the Trinadadian countryside. She's angry for many reasons; her mother Dulcie has been gone for several years and has not contacted her at all, her father has remarried and has other children, and there isn't even any internet at her grandmother's house. When Rika had visited when she was nine, her grandmother was mentoring an older girl named Monique who was possessive and nasty. There are a few good things about being with her grandmother, including the fact that her grandmother is having Rika clean out an older part of the house, including her mother's childhood bedroom. Rika hopes to get some insights into her mother's whereabouts, since her grandmother is oddly secretive about everything. This is actually a fairly awful plan on her grandmother's part. Rika has seen some odd people and things around, including a woman who acted oddly at the airport, Ushara. Neither the grandmother or her handyman will tell Rika anything, but they do demand that she stay away from parts of the property. Once she makes friends with a baby iguana and children from the area, she gets herself in some supernatural trouble with Bazil, a bad guy who seems to know a lot about her mother's disappearance. Rika is sent on a quest by Bazil, along with Nox, Hazel, Monique, and Fitz, an has to beat his challenge in order to shed light on a whole host of family secrets. Will Rika be able to be reunited with her mother, and will she learn more about the fact that she is actually a witch?
Strengths: This was an interesting look at summer with a grandmother who also happens to be a witch but isn't telling you anything. There are lots of good details about the house, the surrounding area, and the local traditions of magic. There are some interesting literary shout outs, including one to "old favorites" that Rika and her high school math teacher mother had in common, including Riordan's Percy Jackson. I did the math, and, yeah, the mother of a 13-year-old could have read The Lightnight Thief in middle school. Rika is able to assemble a team of local children to help her with her efforts to find out more about her mother. I love the cover on this one!
Weaknesses: This was heavy on middle grade fantasy tropes; finding out about powers at 13, going on a quest that involves going underground, answering riddles, and defeating a bad character, a missing parent, etc. Young readers who haven't read as many fantasy books as I have won't care, but I was hoping for something a bit fresher. I also didn't quite understand why Rika's grandmother just didn't tell her the truth.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who like culturally infused horror books like Traoré, Efua. Children of the Quicksands, Bourne's Nightmare Island, Hendrix's Adia Kelbara and the Circle of Shamans, or Abu-Jaber's Silverworld.

Just a side note: I don't believe in anything I can't see and explain, so I don't believe in douens or jumbies or witches. That being said, if my grandmother had told me not to do something AND I had seen some creepy things, I absolutely would have listened to her. If I came from a culture that DID believe in the supernatural the way that Trini culture does (Baptiste's The Jumbies is another good example of a book that incorporates these elements), I would not be messing around outside. Of course, I also have every confidence that no supernatural evil would have dared set foot on my Pennsylvanian Presbyterian grandmother's farm. She would have been able to wither it with a glance!

A fun middle grade horror read that is perfect for Halloween. Great characters and plot development.

I love Amalie Howard so I obviously knew I had to grab this one. Even though this is made for a middle grade audience and I was able to predict a lot of what was going to happen, there were still some wild twists and turns AND I was surprisingly spooked by some elements of this book. Since it drew on Trinidadian folklore, I think that helped with the spooky factor and as someone who loves myth and folklore, it felt like a must-read. I will not be able to stop gushing about this book, it was so cute and I am low-key obsessed.