I read and enjoyed Good Different, so when I saw this book available I had to pick it up as well. It's also a middle grade novel in verse with a neurodivergent girl as its main character, but it has a paranormal twist. V goes to spend the summer with her grandma Jojo, who she considers completely different from her artistic self. After a very short time in her grandma's house, she begins to notice strange occurrences and hear what seems to be a voice in the walls. It seems the house may be haunted, and her family full of secrets. What does she have in common with other women in her family, and how can she break the patterns of the past?

I appreciated the author's note at the beginning of this book about how she used it to tell of a different aspect of being neurodivergent than in Good Different, and what it may have been like in a different time or family. I enjoyed this story, but I also think I got more from it by reading it soon after her first book.

This was a fun, creepy novel in verse. The pacing was fast and the writing style/structure added a lot to the storytelling.

Thank you to Scholastic Press and NetGalley for en ebook ARC of this novel in verse.

Star rating: 3.25

DNF @25%

This could have been so so amazing, but I just could not keep going. I could not vibe with the tone, the characters, or the plot. Also I was a little lost. I think the rep is there and children will love this, especially since it is written in verse. I usually love that.
I bet it got better, but I could not stick it out because I didn’t want to drag it out.

You know those books that speak to the soft squishy parts of your soul and hurt in the best ways? The Girl in the Walls is that for me, cuz whoo boy did this hit my emotions in so many relatable ways. V’s experiences as an autistic kid and the things people have said to her to try getting her to fit in are too real, and even with a positive support network it’s hard not to hear the negative voices. I loved the framing of this story through a ghost in the walls and how secrets can eat us up and create problems. There’s so much nuance to the characters and I really love how things were resolved. Definitely going to be reading more from Meg Eden Kuyatt!

Full Review:

As an autistic adult, I love finding stories that I could have used in my life as a young person, and The Girl in the Walls definitely qualifies. The way V describes herself, being herself, is such a great thing to read, even as she’s dealing with the voices outside that think she just needs to fit in. It’s really hard to be unapologetically “strange” when peers, and especially adults, poke at the sensitive spots.

V is spending the summer with her grandmother, Jojo, after something happened with her school art teacher, and while at Jojo’s V starts hearing voices in the wall. One day when she goes searching for the knocking in the walls, she finds a girl about her age who looks like her cousin Cat, recently in college and struggling with her own conflicts with Jojo, who raised Cat. The girl encourages V to prank Jojo and cause her to feel the pain that she’s inflicted on V by making her feel small and like her interests are childish.

One of my absolute favorite elements of this book was the intergenerational trauma of mental health and disability, and the cost of burying those stories. It’s hard to talk about things that society colors as shameful, but when you don’t talk about the pains and struggles, don’t talk about the loved ones sent away, if festers in the walls and makes everyone hurt.

This was a phenomenal novel in verse that gut-punched me with how relatable so much of V’s experiences and feelings were. This also tells a really great story, and I loved the paranormal elements that make the topics slightly more approachable. As the author talks about in her author’s note, this is a story told on a slant, and it works so well to deal with the heavy topics in a way that makes them bearable.

I loved the story of this book. The emotions were real and I could empathize with each character in their own way! Each character was unique and had their own story to tell. The mystery of the girl in the wall kept the story moving along and kept me wondering who she was and why she was trapped there. I will definitely be purchasing this book for my school library and already have several students in mind who would just love this book!