I don’t usually read middle-grade books, but I couldn’t resist picking up something new from Paul Tremblay, and I’m glad I did! This book was honestly pretty creepy and took me back to that childhood feeling of being scared at night. The way the author captures that sense of dread—like not wanting to turn around even though you’re pretty sure something’s lurking—was spot on.

Tremblay also did a fantastic job with the main character. I really felt for him, especially with the way his parents turned on him, leaving him to face all this terrifying stuff on his own.

I especially liked the ending, even though it’s a little ambiguous. It leaves you thinking, but in a way that fits perfectly with the eerie atmosphere of the story. Great read!

A prolific adult writer, this is Tremblays' first middle grade horror.

Great Things
Concept. Very cool idea that will engage middle grade readers.
Characters. The clay-like description and form of the face and body. Kids will love this.

Other Thoughts
The book starts strong with a middle grade voice. At times, this gets lost in the narrative. The actions and thoughts don't match the reality of early teens thoughts and actions.
Not enough back story on the antagonists.
Predictable.

This was such a good creepy read! I love middle grade scary books. I was a little too old for Goosebumps when it started but I still loved reading them. Middle grade scary isn't gore and blood, it's sometimes gross, but usually just unsettling. It's a creep that gets under your skin and sticks with you. And most Paul Trembley books get under your skin anyway, so no surprise that this one was a good kind of creepy.

The story takes place after the first year of covid, as we're figuring out the new normal. It doesn't harp on the covid stuff but it's nice to see it as part of a regular reality and not just forgotten about to make it easier. The main character is Casey, a pre-teen, who had an embarrassing thing happen on during a class over Zoom. He lost his friend group and was struggling with being lonely. That's when he mom gets a phone call that his friend is coming for a sleepover. He never asked any friends to come over and has no idea what to expect when a man shows up at their house with his "friend," Morel. Morel looks like he's made of clay and even has to mold his face to make facial expressions. Casey thinks this is weird but is happy to finally have a friend again and just tried to have fun. Of course things get weirder. His family gets weirder, even he feels weirder. And then you can't stop reading because you have to know just how weird can this all get!

It's so unsettling that this clay boy is there and Casey's parents act like it's perfectly normal. And at times, Casey thinks it's normal too. It's hard as the reader because you want to grab Casey and pull him away from such a scary situation. And you want to help him when his parents aren't. The characters aren't horribly deep, but they don't need to be and they're still all strong, well written characters. The way the end comes together is excellent, even if your heart breaks for Casey for a little bit.

I definitely recommend this to young and older readers, the writing works for all of us. It's spooky and creepy but not overly scary. There's some kinda gross nature stuff, pollen and plant/mushroom things, but nothing over the top for younger readers. And it's a quick read for adults that maybe can relate to being lonely as a kid. Would you have accepted a clay friend showing up at your house?

Middle grade horror set against the post peak COVID-19 world. In a strange way, I see this as a perfect book club title for middle graders. I would love to see the addition of a book club guide in the back. Themes around bullying, neurodiversity, self acceptance, and more feature heavily. One of my favorite parts was the loving relationship between brother and sister. Refreshing to see that relationship on page!

"Another" is a middle grade horror novel by Paul Tremblay. Casey is a middle schooler who is dealing with the fallout of a viral video taken of him during remote class where he had several facial and body tics while reading. He feels lonely and like he doesn't have any friends. One day a mysterious man comes to Casey's house and drops off a living mannequin named Morel to spend the week with him. Morel has a face of clay and can't speak, but is very interested in what Casey does. Though this is all very weird, Casey's parents readily accept it. Things start to get weirder, in the best "Goosebumps"-y fashion. A recommended purchase for middle grade fiction collections, especially where horror is popular.

Paul Tremblay is already a New York Times bestselling and widely acclaimed horror author, a unique voice in the horror world and a master of atmosphere and curiosity gone amok.

With his middle grade debut "Another," Tremblay leans into this reputation with a novel that leans more gently into the horror yet firmly into the atmosphere setting that we've come to expect from Tremblay.

"Another" centers around an unsettling, unbreakable friendship. Casey lives with his parents. He's a social pariah ever since that Zoom incident and has a tic disorder that is clearly getting worse. So, when his parents calmly reveal that he has a friend coming over for a sleepover he can't imagine who it would be.

It's Morel. He's a fun guy.

He's not like any friend Casey's ever met. With clay-like skin and an inability to speak, he's more than a little mysterious at the get-go. Still, Casey's parents seem to adore him and he gives Casey someone to talk to other than his older sister, Ally. Over time, Casey's parents seem to increasingly adore Morel while becoming less interested in Casey.

Still, something's not quite right.

Tremblay's background as a high school teacher amplifies his sense of honest, natural dialogue and ability to infuse Casey with all the awkward, outsider traits we'd expect from a middle-grade outsider with just a hint of self-esteem. "Another" never dips heavily into the horror, however, we can't help but have our minds wander as the key characters here become stranger and this strange world becomes stranger. It's absolutely engaging as Tremblay builds up to a climax that convinces but overwhelms and creates this world that intrigues and makes you wonder and wander.

"Another" wasn't a novel that blew me away, however, I think that was part of the literary aim. I felt immersed in this world and drawn toward both Casey and Morel. This is an uncomfortable, immersive world that leaves you wondering from beginning to end and even as the closing pages wrap up you'll find yourself more than a little unsettled.

As an adult, I’m tickled to say the YA horror genre is really winning me over lately. This book is a winner. I’ve heard a lot about this author in the modern horror genre, and after reading Another, I totally get why.

First off, the premise of this book is perfectly spooky. Not over the top for the audience, but enough there to creep a millennial like myself out. I would have loved this as the target age group and it would have stood up to my favorite Goosebumps books.

I really liked the main character, Casey. To anyone who’s ever been a weird kid, anyone who is still kept up at night cringing over something embarrassing from a decade ago, you really feel the things he’s going through. He’s having a hard time at school, a hard time making friends, and then, when the horror element in the book is introduced, a hard time at home as well. Some of the best horror riffs on very real emotional trauma and one’s vulnerabilities.

The dialogue feels authentic. It’s a big turn off when an author writes kids as impossible little adults. The book is successful here in my opinion.

For the horror genre, the big question always remains: did he stick the ending? The verdict: it was decent to good. Just a bit anti-climactic because it wasn’t a huge crescendo for the plot, but totally solid, especially by horror standards (outrage is usually the bar for being bad).

I can be a tough crowd sometimes, but I think I have to give this a highly coveted 5/5. As a former weird kid (and current weird adult), this is a fun one, check it out.

*An uncorrected proof of this book was provided by the publisher at the reviewer’s request in exchange for a fair and uncompromising review.

Paul Tremblay has a strong writing style for the horror genre, it was a great overall feel that was everything that I was looking for. It was suspenseful and enjoyed the overall story being told. It uses the children’s fiction element perfectly and had that supernatural element that I was looking for.

I need to make it a habit of reading more horror aimed for children because there's something about it that hits all the right fears. This book had me so anxious and upset, wanting so badly to protect my book son.

I can't wait for kids to read this and fall in love with being scared and just fall in love with reading! It was fast paced and the lore was so good.

This is my second Paul book, and I wasn't a fan of the first one I read, but this changed my tune. Maybe because it was aimed for a younger crowd his writing worked for me here? Who knows but this was a lot of fun to read.

Thank you to netgalley and Harper Collins for the arc!

This was written for a younger crowd, but as an adult I loved it.
It still had the Tremblay feel too it, just a bit scaled down, but this is absolutely a amazing way to let your middle school aged kid figure out if they like horror or not.l, with out you know, scarring them for life.

Story was great, had me hooked in, even as a older reader.
Very fun, I did feel a little dread as I read, I was not sure how Tremblay was going to handle the ending for a middle a middle school level, considering his adult endings, but it was well done and very age appropriate.

Would absolutely read more of this kinda writing even as an adult, was a great little quick read.

Paul Tremblay's middle grade debut, Another, is unlike his non-middle grade, full-on horror novels, obviously, but it's still full-on Tremblay, and I've gotta say: this one drummed up all the fear and dread, possibly more so than his other books, even.

I had planned my usual plan. That is, I was going to dive in, hit that first page, then keep on flying, flying, flying, greedily gobbling up the words like Ms. Pac-Man does pellets, racing to clear the board, finish the story, let it go all aswirl inside me and delight a cloudburst of sated synapses. I was going to do that. I had every intention of doing so, and, to be fair, I maybe probably sort of could've? What was stopping me, after all? That's when I realized how this book was hitting me, that the dread was creeping in, doing horror story mind tricks in my brain. The fear had taken hold. I was terrified.

Could Casey survive this strange sleepover? And, would he still be Casey?

It was getting to me, maybe got me wondering if I, too, could survive this.

So racing gave way to pacing. A couple chapters, then a break. This only lasted a couple cycles, though.

Damn the fear! I had to know what happened. I had to keep going. I had to. For Casey.

This novel, Another, is one for the ages, no doubt (and, were a book a club, it'd be all ages, too), but it is also, more importantly, a novel for now. We need this story for now and for going forward. We need all the hope and heart it contains, like we need each other.

And remember, "stories keep going."

ANOTHER is a seriously creepy novel made all the more so due to the intensely subtle terror, creeping on little cat feet like fog. I realize "intensely subtle" sounds like an oxymoron: just read ANOTHER and see. Reading it is equivalent to watching your mind collapse as reality busily skews itself around you. If you've read Paul Tremblay's masterpieces A HEAD FULL OF GHOSTS and DISAPPEARANCE AT DEVIL'S ROCK, you're going to leap for joy when you start ANOTHER.

I will be 49 next month. So why am I reading a Middle Grade book?

1. I got an advanced copy from NetGalley.
2. I am an unapologetic Paul Tremblay fangirl, so I would have read it anyway.
3. I am extremely curious about what a PT Middle Grade book would be like, and if he intends to emotionally-devastate young minds.
4. I need to see if it’s finally time to get my nieces and nephews into reading PT.

It was really good! Maybe I need to get into Middle Grade books because they are really quick reads. And you know I love me a quick read.

I’ve always liked how PT writes kids… I’m talking to you, Disappearance at Devil’s Rock. So I knew that part of it would ring true. It’s also pretty creepy. Not ambiguous/emotionally-devastating like his adult stuff. But I thought it was pretty sophisticated (if that’s the right word) for that age group. Like, actually intelligent and challenging. (Not that I have other MG books to compare it to.)

On a personal note, this kid had transient tic disorder which I guarantee I had as a kid. I remember a teacher bringing it up to my parents. Never saw anyone about it, but eventually it went away. There’s a lot of good stuff here about loneliness and the struggle of being a kid. And the relationship between Casey and his sister was great.

I hope this gets traction with The Kids… and leads them to more PT when they’re old enough to handle emotional devastation.

Oooo. This is a fun one. I got Coraline vibes from it. Although it's middle grade, it's still crazy creepy. My elementary aged daughter loves scary stories so I'll share this one with her in a couple of years.

I did find some typos (missing words) throughout, but I know it's uncorrected.

Thanks for the ARC! Will review on goodreads and my Instagram @stressiereads this week!

A fun, quick read! Like a souped up Goosebumps book (complimentary). I know ambiguous endings are Paul Tremblay’s thing so I wasn’t sure how the ending would go in a middle grade format. I was very pleasantly surprised! (No spoilers for you.) I loved this, it was very Growing Things vibes.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.