Small Spaces
Small Spaces QuartetNamed one of the best books of the year by Kirkus and Publishers Weekly
Named a Best Book for Chicago Public Libraries
A CCBC Choices List Pick – 2019
A Great Texas Mosquito Reading List Pick – 2019-2020
A Maine Student Book Award Nominee – 2019-2020
A Sunshine State Young Readers Award Nominee – 2019-2020
A Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award Nominee – 2019-2020
After suffering a tragic loss, eleven-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.
Praise for Small Spaces
- R. L. STINE, AUTHOR OF THE GOOSEBUMPS AND FEAR STREET SERIES
- SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL read full review
- J. A. WHITE, AUTHOR OF THE THICKETY SERIES AND NIGHTBOOKS
- KIRKUS, STARRED REVIEW read full review
- BOOKLIST, STARRED REVIEW
- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY read full review
- BCCB
Signed Editions
I've partnered with Pheonix Books in Burlington Vermont to make alternate editions of my books available for purchase. View the full selection of available signed, world, and special editions on their website.
For more info, be sure to check my Frequently Asked Questions or contact me for assistance.
Set in contemporary Vermont, the Small Spaces Quartet is the story of three friends who face a series of horrifying games and schemes dreamed up by an ancient evil called the Smiling Man. Each book is attached to a season. We begin in the fall with Small Spaces, continue into a haunted winter with Dead Voices, move into a monstrous spring with Dark Waters and finally a terrifying summer with Empty Smiles.
