Tales to Keep You Up at Night

Amelia and her brother Winter are bored hanging out at their grandmother's house while their moms clean it out and ready it for sale. Amelia loved her grandmother, and she feels that not keeping the house is admitting that her grandmother, who disappeared a year ago, isn't coming back. It's odd that no one talks about the fact that her grandfather had also gone missing under similar circumstances. When Amelia finds an old library book in the attic, she decides to return it. At the nearby public library, she meets Mrs. Bowen, the librarian, who says the book isn't from that library, but invites Amelia to read. Amelia has vague memories of her grandmother with the book, but also remembers a scrawled note at the front telling her not to read the book, but that is gone. When she gets a few stories in, she realizes that one of the families in the book is Bowen, but when she asks the librarian, she finds she was mistaken, and her name is Brown. The tales, starting with Moll's Well, about a woman whose healing powers are considered witchcraft so she is put to death and her accuser takes her property, outline the retribution that Moll's family took on different people who had mistreated them. And they are creepy tales, indeed. A girl who babysits is surprised that the family's grandmother is upstairs, and takes her a drink of water, only to find when the parents return that there is no grandmother. A group of teens summon "Baby Witch". Tarot cards go terribly wrong. The more stories Amelia reads, the more she starts to realize that elements of the stories are coming to life in her world! When Winter comes to the library to be read to, this becomes even more apparent, and I am now never going to grow pumpkins in my garden! Amelia finds out some clues to the past, and tries unsuccessfully to get rid of the book. Is the book her destiny? Is she going to be the one who writes more stories? Most importantly, will there be a sequel that tells us more about her grandmother?

What worked:
The story centers around an old, tattered library book titled Tales to Keep You Up at Night that Amelia finds in her grandmother’s attic. The book contains a collection of eerie stories beginning with Moll Bowen, a 90-year-old woman using a stiff, leather-bound book with yellowed pages to help her neighbors. Moll’s Well is said to have the purest, sweetest water anywhere, and she uses it to complete the recipes within the book’s pages, although Judge Turner sentences her to death for practicing witchcraft. This event becomes the catalyst for future tales surrounding the book and the well. Adding to the mystery, Amelia’s last name is Turner, and the librarian’s last name is Bowen.
Much of the book is comprised of creepy short stories that seem to be unrelated. However, the names in the stories should become familiar, and Amelia finally discovers connections, even though they’re very improbable. The stories describe witches that can appear as anyone, giant golem-like creatures wandering the forest, pumpkin vines seeking to kill, and other dangers that lurk in the night. The variety of tales will keep readers engaged and wondering where the plot is headed. They create a riddle to be solved with clues that will tingle your spine, and readers may not like the many possible solutions. Young readers may fear the dark after reading these stories!
The format of the plot is a bit unusual since most of it is introduced through the short stories. Brief chapters about Amelia, the main character, pop up throughout, but they mostly share Amelia’s actions between readings. She’s deeply distressed about her grandmother’s disappearance last year, and she’s extremely upset that her mothers have chosen to sell the old house. Amelia wants to learn what really happened to her grandmother, and that spurs the opening of the plot. She eventually uncovers what happened, but it’s not something she ever expected.
What didn’t work as well:
The early stories are unrelated, so understanding an overall conflict or plot is more challenging. You might imagine where the narrative should be going, but the stories don’t easily fit that idea until Amelia discovers how they tie together. They’re woven into a heart-pounding, ominous adventure.
The Final Verdict:
There are many ways a story can echo through life. The ghoulish tales will keep readers up at night, and the format of the narrative will keep readers thinking. The overall book successfully presents a chilling plot that will highly entertain middle-grade readers. I highly recommend you give it a shot.