Keep to small.Īnd with that, a deliciously creepy and hair-raising adventure begins. As the trio head out into the woods-bordered by a field of scarecrows that seem to be watching them-the bus driver has just one final piece of advice for Ollie and her friends: Avoid large places. Only Ollie and two of her classmates heed the bus driver's warning.

In addition to writing novels, she enjoys aimless travel, growing vegetables, and running wild through the woods with her dog. Nightfall is, indeed, fast descending when Ollie's previously broken digital wristwatch, a keepsake reminder of better times, begins a startling countdown and delivers a terrifying message: RUN. Katherine Arden is the New York Times bestselling author of the Winternight trilogy and the Small Spaces quartet. Bulletin of the Center for Childrens Books, Volume 72, Number 1. At nightfall they'll come for the rest of you. Small Spaces by Katherine Arden (review). But the strange bus driver has some advice for the kids left behind in his care: Best get moving. Small Spaces, Katherine Arden’s atmospheric middle grade horror quartet, comes to a close with Empty Smiles, which features the final, frightening face-off between Ollie, Coco, and Brian. On the way home, the school bus breaks down, sending their teacher back to the farm for help. Could it be the story about the smiling man is true? Ollie doesn't have too long to think about the answer to that. There she stumbles upon the graves of the very people she's been reading about. Ollie is captivated by the tale until her school trip the next day to Smoke Hollow, a local farm with a haunting history all its own. As she begins to read the slender volume, Ollie discovers a chilling story about a girl named Beth, the two brothers who both loved her, and a peculiar deal made with the smiling man, a sinister specter who grants your most tightly held wish, but only for the ultimate price. So when she happens upon a crazed woman at the river threatening to throw a book into the water, Ollie doesn't think-she just acts, stealing the book and running away. Makes her middle grade debut with a creepy, spellbinding ghost story destined to become a classicĪfter suffering a tragic loss, eleven-year-old Ollie only finds solace in books.

Katherine arden small spaces