Review by Booklist Review
Light enough to induce shivers but not nightmares, this Hallowe'en tale sends three sixth-graders out to a schoolmate's remote house for a party that quickly devolves into an unbridled spider-fest. As it happens, shy Andi actually likes spiders, but when they start descending by the hundred from house and barn ceilings, swarming up from the ground over legs and arms, and wrapping all the grown-ups in thick webs, even she is squicked out. Neglecting to mention that spiders feed by liquifying the insides of their prey, Russell focuses on how being forced to take charge changes the reticent Andi, who leads the effort to free the captives and repel the incursion of creepy crawlies. To her relatable two-legged cast, the author adds a multitudinous eight-legged one, ranging from black widows and brown recluses to golf ball--sized cellar dwellers infected with a "zombie" fungus, plus one lab-grown, head-sized arachnid mastermind dubbed "Charlotte 17." Readers fond of buggy horrors will rattle their palps in glee.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Russell (Mystery James Digs Her Own Grave) weaves spine-tingling chills into a character-driven tale of friendship and courage. Twelve-year-old Andi, a shy Black girl who finds spiders more fascinating than people, would rather spend October 31 trick-or-treating and binging horror movies than awkwardly navigating a party. But Andi's two best friends persuade her to attend popular classmate Clementine's Halloween bash, luring her with the promise of viewing the host's father's unusual spider collection. At the party, the trio make their way to Clementine's father's office, which contains Specimen 17, a mysterious red-eyed, basketball-size spider in a terrarium, who exerts a hypnotic pull on Andi. After the creature escapes containment, adults suddenly vanish and hordes of spiders descend on the house. Now Andi must rally her peers to confront the swarm. Taut prose briskly sets the stage, humorously capturing the tweens' social landscape while deftly juxtaposing Andi's feelings of anxiety, loneliness, and self-doubt with her growth into a steadfast leader. A somewhat unfulfilling resolution is offset by tense action, chilling atmosphere, and a delightfully icky premise, making this an ideal read for fans of creepy-crawlies and light scares. Ages 8--12. (Dec.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Creepy-crawlies take over a Halloween party. Halloween is Andi's favorite holiday--to her, it's "serious business," and she loves spiders almost as much as she loves her best friends, Carly and Devon. But now that they're sixth graders, her friends are more interested in attending eighth grader Clementine's party than going trick-or-treating as usual. Andi reluctantly agrees, lured by the promise of seeing the office of Mr. Mendez, Clementine's science teacher dad, which is filled with spiders in terrariums. Andi recognizes the species in his collection--until she comes face to face with a spider that's as big as a person's head. Strangely, the more she looks into its red eyes, the more she wants to remove the lid and set it free. The party continues, but soon spiders start appearing out of every nook and cranny, all heading in the same direction. Andi and her friends follow them, discovering a giant funnel web where the adults are trapped. Andi suddenly fears spiders for the first time: Can she stop them before it's too late? Russell's sophomore novel balances slow-building creepiness with a genuine affection for arachnids and incorporates occasional scientific facts. The evocative descriptions of spiders and their webs make for some truly chilling scenes, and the explorations of loneliness and tween difficulties with making friends add human elements to the terror. Andi is Black, and there's racial diversity among the secondary characters. A well-spun tale that combines suspense with relatable emotional themes. (author's note)(Horror. 9-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
