Mark Oshiro

This is one of the hardest books I have ever read in my life. I felt so uncomfortable during it and many times during some of the harder scenes, I said to myself, no way, you're exaggerating. Except I'm a white female so how do I know? I think I just wanted to excuse my feelings of discomfort and pretend that it was an exaggeration when in reality, my privilege reared its ugly head. And here I am admitting it to all of you. I think this book should be required reading. But be warned: it's show more brutal. It's graphic at times, it's difficult to read but for black and brown people? This is reality. This is life and we need to do better. The last line of this book destroyed me and overall, I'm going to be thinking about this for a really really long time.

Absolutely incredible work here. show less

A tale of an outcast 12 year old girl who has been isolated for the last 4 years after her father passed away and is haunted by various unknown increasingly expressive spirits and phenomena. None of the adults in her life will take her seriously about the ghosts, and so she turns to the only people she has found that she thinks might help and understand; the two members of the GSA at her new school, who are strangely obsessed with the supernatural.
I really enjoyed this story, and the show more characters were so relatable, even as an adult. The deep descriptions of emotions experienced by a traumatized 12 year old were amazingly accurate and very informative to the story and its progression. The inclusion of nonbinary characters, and characters with variable pronouns were a wonderful treat as those of us in the LGBTQ+ community are not always treated with respect in most narratives, let alone one for younger readers. This book was just so wholesome while also addressing some very real and hard topics about grief, family dynamics, and the strength of community. Highly recommended for queer teen and adult readers who enjoy supernatural stories with a bit of themselves inside. show less

The three of us were hurt to varying degrees by an organisation meant to love us. So I think we know the anger that comes with that sort of betrayal. The hopelessness, too, that makes it seem like nothing can ever repair what was broken.

I read the author's middle grade book The Insiders, which I loved for its genuine story about being a queer poc kid, with both serious topics and a lighthearted feeling. This was definitely a whole other genre. I think I'd call it a psychological horror show more thriller?
Mark shiro has a way with words that made the little things absolutely chilling. Manny's thoughts are filled with anxiety, confusion anger and fear and the reader gets to feel all those emotions with him.
The book alternated between Manny in the present day, and flashbacks. A big part of the suspense was the way information was slowly revealed to paint a picture of Manny's life, and they did a great job of giving the right amount of information at the right time.
The truly terrifying part is that this is not fiction, these things happen, and I greatly admire Mark for writing about these things after suffering similar experiences themselves.

The only reason I am not giving this 5 stars is a personal preference.
As queer person of colour, I greatly prefer more lighthearted stories about queer and poc experiences. Real life is often not nice, so I'd like my fiction to be.
Go read this as soon as it's published though

I read an ARC so not everything might be the same in the published version. show less

"Maybe there’s like . . . a haunted tree or something around here.”
“Can trees be haunted?” Jasmine asks.
He shrugs. “I don’t know.”
“Wouldn’t that make all books haunted, then?” she says.

I read an ARC of this book. It is my third middle grade book from this author, and once again I really enjoyed it. The writing style feels like a perfect blend between lighthearted and relatable for 10-14 year olds and serious enough for the mature subjects.
Like the other books, it’s show more filled with queer and POC characters. Unlike the others, this book doesn’t necessarily focuses on the middle grade experiences of queer kids, so I loved that this representation was included as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

As adult, I could see where the story was going from the first 50 pages, but that didn’t make the book less enjoyable.
The story emphasized how family and friends are loving but flawed, and how grief is like a literal ghost following you around. That ghost causes the main character to lash out, suppress her feelings and feel sad at random times, which felt like an accurate and honest portrayal of how children/pre-teens grieve. Jasmine doesn’t know what to do with her feelings and frustrations, only that she wants them to leave.

I think this is a story that is going to resonate with the age group very well, and I highly recommend it. show less