A fun and engaging middle-grade boarding school horror! I love a well-done boarding school setting, and this one was written believably while maintaining the creepiness I was hoping for.

Eva is a great main character, with big feelings she doesn’t always know what to do with, but a kind heart and engaging curiosity. I love the connection she feels with her family, and in fact, my only major critique is that I wish the family connection in the ghost story had been given more narrative space.

This book contains the best description of a panic attack I’ve read in fiction for this age group.

Anything that name-drops Edward Gorey gets bonus points from me, but this spooky tale hardly needs the credit; it’s a solid, fun read all on its own.

This was such a strange book. It was so creepy but took forever to get entertaining. I wish this was a series.

I loved this book. LOVED. I love middle grade horror and Davis does not disappoint especially with an excellent portrayal of black girlhood and what it means to be understood in a world that was not built for you.

I enjoyed this book so much. I read it late at night, which made it even more spooky. While I don't think it would be appropriate for use in a classroom, I would recommend it to students who enjoy books by R.L Stine, Alvin Schwartz, or even Neil Gaiman. I do also like how there was a little history sprinkled into the story. While the college was fictional and so were the characters, the sharecroppers and their story could very well be real. It could inspire children to dive deeper into those issues and learn about the real american history.

A truly excellent addition to middle grade horror, this ghost story tells the tale of a Black Autistic girl being hanged by the many shades occupying her Mississippi boarding school.

As an autistic person myself, I thought the characterisation and representation of Eva’s inner world was truly flawless. It’s hard to navigate all the things in your head when you’re autistic, and Eva is the whip-smart, witty, frustrated, anxious heroine we all needed to read as a kid. She’s deeply relatable even in her extraordinary circumstances. The stakes for her getting along and doing well at the school feel SO HIGH, and it makes for some lovely tension and motivation for dealing with the ghosts.

Plot-wise, I was immediately intrigued and desperate to know more about the ghosts of Blythe, where they came from, and which of them was truly a threat to Eva and her friends. I kept trying to guess how it would all end, and I love that aspect of a good mysterious ghost story.

I was also really impressed with how rooted in place this felt. I love a good southern story, and this hit all the right notes—vernacular, descriptions, themes—in all the right ways.

G. Haron Davis is officially an insta-read author for me, and I can’t wait to see what they do next.

Thanks to NetGalley and Scholastic Press for giving me to opportunity to review this ARC!
The Lonely Below is a middle grade horror novel by g. haron davis that would be the perfect recommendation for someone who loves a good ghost story. If you are a fan of Goosebumps, this book is for you!
The book tells the story of Eva, a new student at the prestigious Blythe Academy. As soon as Eva steps foot on Blythe's campus, she can tell that something is off about the school. After numerous experiences with visions of the past and ghostly encounters, Eva starts to dig into the school's history for answers. Eva soon discovers that there are pieces of Blythe's history that haven't been fully and rightfully remembered and spoken about.
As a fan of horror and someone who grew up reading books like Goosebumps, I had a fun time with this book. It was a solid take on the age old ghost story formula. I thought Eva was very well written. She is a person of color who also has autism, and I loved how g. haron davis invited us as readers to hear about Eva's experiences and thoughts. Eva was authentically written, and I could see her as someone who could exist outside of the page.
I also think this book did an excellent job of speaking on serious subjects that younger readers may have not read about in other books. Topics like code switching and sharecropping are touched upon in a way that can be easily approached by middle school readers. A huge theme of this book is historical erasure and altering history in order to hide darker, and often gruesome, parts of the past. This is such an important topic, and I am glad that it was addressed in this book. I also think this book is helpful in showing readers a glimpse into the neurodivergent experience.
Overall, if you're looking for a fun read for the fall or spooky season, I would recommend checking this one out!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me access to this eBook. This review may contain spoilers.

I would recommend this book to anyone seeking out diverse, well-thought out middle grade books, especially if you’re looking for a ghost story. I think the strongest aspect of this book is its authenticity; there is a lot of love and earnestness written into these pages. I’m not the target audience or someone who is very familiar with middle grade books as a genre, so I don’t really have any suggestions for improvement or critiques for this book; I really enjoyed it and it does make me feel more inclined to checking out more middle grade horror. I’m interested in reading other works by g. haron davis in the future, and I’d especially like to read more books following Eva as a protagonist.

The Lonely Below is very clear and concise in its storytelling and exposition. The cast is very memorable and endearing; Eva and her group of friends are easy to root for and I really enjoyed the way the author wrote blossoming friendships. This book is quick-paced with a flow that matches it, making it an incredibly quick and easy read. The writing style is consistent and narratively appropriate, and details like phrasing and word choice are easy to understand and pick up on as a reader, which to me is very important in books targeted at this age group.

The portrayal of different marginalized identities in this book comes across as very authentic; I can’t personally speak to racial representation but the autistic representation definitely rang true to me as an autistic person who had different but very similar experiences with bullying in particular when I was a child. The book handles some difficult but important subjects for children to learn about—I’m of the belief that if a child is old enough to have experienced or be exposed to something, they are old enough to be educated on it—and it presents them well with consideration for the age of the audience and the fact that many of the readers have been or will also be affected personally by these topics such as racism, generational trauma, and ableism.

Really enjoyed this book. I’m very appreciative of having the chance to read this ARC! It’s a perfect gothic horror for middle grade readers. And I loved seeing the perspective from an autistic person.

I enjoyed this novel, The Lonely Below by G. Haron Davis! I realized pretty quickly in that I was a bit above the directed audience age but can certainly understand the sentiment of a new school as a middle schooler. I loved Eva, the main character and really appreciated the authenticity of her experience as an autistic human. I think this would be a very enlightening book for young people and important for representation.

Thank you to NetGalley and g.haron davis for the complimentary ARC for an honest review.

This was better than I expected it to be.
Eva is the new girl in this boarding school who has a dark history, besides the horrors of school. Eva also is in the spectrum, which makes this situation a little more difficult to navigate.
Every time Eva was in a social situation, the way she would have to talk to herself in able to survive each interaction was extremely relatable. I felt this was properly paced and how easy was to understand the way of thinking of the main character. I felt the friendships and minor characters were realistic.
The writing and simple for the main target audience. I did wish there was more elaboration on some different aspects of the book.

This was a good read not one of my favorites but still really good. I love the autistic inclusion it was great to read about it. My son is autistic and it made me feel happy to read about someone who is dealing with it and having experiences. Nice horror wasn't to scary for me but still good. I feel it was horror for a younger audience but still decent scares.

I really enjoyed The Lonely Below! It was a great, spooky story filled with ghosts, friendship, and finding your voice.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-copy of this novel!

While I am not the intended audience for this book, I still found it an enjoyable read. The writing style was easy to digest and the story easy to follow. I didn't really start thinking it was spooky until about halfway in, but I'm not sure if that was because of the writing style, age range, or something else entirely. I think it could have gone a little deeper with the messaging, but it works well as an introduction to oppression for a younger audience.

I’ve never read anything by g. haron davis before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I loved the writing in this book. I think the horror in the book was written very well and would have creeped me out as a younger child! The unique point of view from our May character kept me intrigued and I wanted to see how things were going to play out. I would definitely recommend this book to those looking for well written middle-grade/young adult horror.

I couldn’t get into the story just as I thought. Not disappointed but need more depth, I think. I can't remember when was the last time when I read a book in which the whole plot was 100% equal to what was written in the blurb and nothing more. There was no surprise there, no resolution to any of the plot threads and the whole story was blatantly predictable and painfully dull.

Eva's new school isn't quite what she expected. Between the nerves of a new school, being states away from her parents, and her anxiety with change, Eva is not excited for Blythe Academy. Even less so when she starts seeing ghastly figures and having strange visions. This new school year is going to test her resilience in unexpected ways, but just maybe with the help of some new allies she'll manage to make it through the semester. While I may not be the target audience for this book I thought it was fun, spooky, and an entertaining read. It has good messages for the target audience, pre-teens, which was really nice to see. I enjoyed it.
One of the selling points for me is that the protagonist is autistic, and my how it delivers. Eva's autism is well portrayed, even if we mostly see signs of it when she's in distress. I liked how she's not ashamed of her autism, but has nerves around others perception of it. The inclusion of other diversity was nice to see too. From minor characters having same gender spouses to a variety in cultures and a supporting character using they/them pronouns. While I can't speak on how well the story portrays racial issues, I can say that I found the inclusion of them to be compelling and not too grandiose for the target audience to understand. I was a bit confused on what happens with the locket and I did think one character has too much of an immediate change in behavior. But otherwise there's more I could praise than criticize.
I would definitely recommend it to anyone with a kid who's into spooky stories. If I had this as a pre-teen I would've devoured it. Especially if the kid is any of the demographics central to the story. I'd definitely get it for my kid if I had one.

This was a beautifully written YA novel that dealt with complex themes in a mature way. I found myself growing so attached to the protagonist, and I loved the descriptions of the setting. The book felt alive, and the dark mood was effectively captured throughout the book. I look forward to reading more from this author!

Oh, Eva is so relatable—with the masking, the food aversions, the learning how to talk with different people, how do adjust her talking for others. Love the intersection of autistic and Black rep!

The obsession on Theo’s looks and the crush on her was really distracting and annoying for me (I came for the spooks, not romance!); other readers will probably feel differently.

Overall, a fun, spooky story with depth, intersecting with the horrors of real-world history.

This book was awesome! It was so interesting and was very well written! I really loved seeing how the main character and her friends were able to bond over the ghosts and ultimately solve the problem!!

Be still my little neurodivergent heart.

This is a story for so many little girls who never have stories of their own and I love that about it. I hope those little girls find the book and see their strengths and potentials in its pages.

It is, also, delightfully spooky.