This book….wow! It almost felt as if I were in the mind of a neurodivergent young person. I felt a whole roller coaster of emotions throughout the book - anger, frustration, fear, disgust, hope, love. V is spending the summer with her grandmother, Jojo, who she’s pretty sure doesn’t even like her. Jojo wants V to be a typical kid, but V knows she’s anything but typical. V finds a ghost in the walls of the house, and through interactions with and as a result of this ghost, V learns more about herself, her family, and their history. The ghost comes to symbolize so much of the pain and secrets that V, her grandmother, and her great-grandmother have carried. The ghostly aspect of the book will draw readers in, and then they will experience a story of finding self-acceptance. I highly recommend this book to anyone as I think everyone can find a piece of themselves within.

I was pulled in from the beginning to learn the story of V, her family, and the unfolding drama. I remember spending summers with my grandparents and over the course of many summers I learned to love it but there were definitely years in which I struggled like V does.

V is autistic and Kuyatt does a good job of sharing her internal thoughts and struggles and how she feels about masking her behavior to try and fit in. After reading this, I hope readers will be more understanding and accepting of anyone who doesn’t fit society’s idea of “normal” but especially those people considered neurospicy/neurodivergent.

I don’t commonly read poetry but this was easily accessible and the way it was written made it easy to read. It flowed and conveyed emotion well in the way lines were broken or shifted. By the end, I almost preferred the poetry in novel form versus prose because of how quickly it reads.

The overall theme was well written without being overt, especially for children in those middle years struggling to understand the adults around them and dealing with the issues of fitting in. This is also a great reminder for some of those parents who have forgotten what it was like when they were struggling with the same issues. The theme of generational trauma was subtly woven through and I don’t know if that was intentional or if I’m reading into it.

I have not read anything by this author previously and was impressed by this book. I plan to seek out her other offerings.

This was a fast-paced, character-focused read about a girl who delves into family secrets and explores her own trauma. I definitely appreciated the care that went into representing an autistic experience and I liked the thread of neurodivergence throughout a family line. Personally I found it a bit too quick, it almost felt like two acts instead of three, but I can see how this could be a strength for younger readers or those with shorter attention spans.

Meg Eden Kuyatt's The Girl in the Walls is a horror novel in verse with a neurodivergent main character. And while saying all of those elements may feel like this book was written using a random book generator, in Kuyatt's skilled hand, The Girl in the Walls is an absolute delight. V is forced to spend the summer at the home of her uptight Grandma Jojo, who is constantly critical of V. V, who is neurodivergent, has a difficult time adjusting to the rules at Jojo's house. When V discovers a ghost girl in the walls after hearing mysterious noises, she thinks her summer might be looking up. Unfortunately, the ghost may not have everyone's best interests at heart.

The Girl in the Walls has appeal to a number of readers in my library. Many of my students are huge fans of Good Different, and many more of my students are fans of any books with ghosts doing creepy things.

Perfect for fans of Anne Ursu's Not Quite A Ghost.

Haunting and beautiful by equal turns, The Girl in the Walls turns the traditional haunted house on its head to examine generational trauma. This novel-in-verse is the perfect addition to the middle grades classroom. As a teacher educator, I can easily see how this novel could be used to not only teach poetic form, but also prompt conversations about ableism. I look forward to adding this novel to me course syllabi next fall!

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!