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Small Spaces cover art

Small Spaces

By: Katherine Arden
Narrated by: Renee Dorian
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Publisher's Summary

New York Times best-selling adult author of The Bear and the Nightingale makes her middle-grade debut with a creepy, spellbinding ghost story destined to become a classic.

After suffering a tragic loss, 11-year-old Ollie only finds solace in books. 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. 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.

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. There she stumbles upon the graves of the very people she's been reading about. Could it be the story about the smiling man is true? Ollie doesn't have too long to think about the answer to that. On the way home, the school bus breaks down, sending their teacher back to the farm for help. But the strange bus driver has some advice for the kids left behind in his care: "Best get moving. At nightfall they'll come for the rest of you." 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.

Only Ollie and two of her classmates heed the bus driver's warning. 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. Keep to small."

And with that, a deliciously creepy and hair-raising adventure begins.

©2018 Katherine Arden (P)2018 Listening Library

Critic Reviews

★ ★ ★ Three Starred Reviews

22 State Awards

A Kirkus Best Book of 2018–Middle-Grade

A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2018–Middle-Grade

A Chicago Public Library’s Best of the Best Books of 2018

An Amazon Best Book–October 2018

A CCBC Choices List Pick–2019

An ALA Notable Children’s Book–2019

Atmospheric horror at its best. Chillingly tender.”—Kirkus, starred review

“With a tantalizing pace and palpable suspense, all nicely grounded in realistic emotions, this well-wrought spine-tingler is destined to be a hit (just make sure the lights stay on).”—Booklist, starred review

★ “Riveting…The story moves at a good pace with just enough clues to keep the reader intrigued and guessing.”—School Library Connection, starred review

What listeners say about Small Spaces

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