The Clackity (Blight Harbor #1)

by Lora Senf (Author)

Reading Level: 6th − 7th Grade
Series: Blight Harbor

Reminiscent of Doll Bones and Small Spaces, this "delightfully eerie" (Erin A. Craig, New York Times bestselling author of House of Salt and Sorrows) middle grade novel tells the story of a girl who must rescue her aunt by entering a world of ghosts, witches, and monsters to play a game with deadly consequences.

Evie Von Rathe lives in Blight Harbor--the seventh-most haunted town in America--with her Aunt Desdemona, the local paranormal expert. Des doesn't have many rules except one: Stay out of the abandoned slaughterhouse at the edge of town. But when her aunt disappears into the building, Evie goes searching for her.

There she meets The Clackity, a creature who lives in the shadows and seams of the slaughterhouse. The Clackity makes a deal with Evie to help get Des back in exchange for the ghost of John Jeffrey Pope, a serial killer who stalked Blight Harbor a hundred years earlier. Evie reluctantly embarks on a journey into a strange otherworld filled with hungry witches, penny-eyed ghosts, and a memory-thief, all while being pursued by a dead man whose only goal is to add Evie to his collection of lost souls. Will she ever find Des, or is The Clackity planning something far more sinister?

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Kirkus

Full of thrills and scares.

ALA/Booklist

Fans of David Almond’s Skellig, Holly Black’s Doll Bones (2013), or Katherine Arden’s Small Spaces quartet won’t be disappointed by this.

Publishers Weekly

Ever since her parents were declared legally dead, Evelyn von Rathe, a copper-haired 12-year-old who experiences anxiety and panic attacks, has lived with her aunt Desdemona in Blight Harbor, "the seventh most haunted town in America (per capita)." No stranger to the uncanny, Evie occasionally helps her aunt, an advice columnist on matters supernatural, when she takes on cases of "otherworldly concerns" around town. But when Desdemona is captured by frightening creature The Clackity, it offers Evie a bargain: she must venture into a nightmare realm to find her aunt, surviving a series of seven eldritch houses, and lure in the ghost of Jeffrey John Pope, a notorious serial killer who used an abattoir for his crimes. With only the magical tattoo of a sparrow for companionship and protection, Evie undergoes a terrifying journey, testing mind, body, and spirit. Adeptly invoking folkloric elements while creating something darkly original, Senf intimately renders Evie's trials as both internal and external in an atmospheric adventure that will appeal to readers of Neil Gaiman and middle grade horror. Occasional b&w art by Cáceres adds to the book's eerie feel; human characters cue as white. Ages 10-12. Author's agent: Ali Herring, Spencerhill Assoc. (June)

Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

"Delightfully eerie, The Clackity is full of chills aplenty and so much heart. I fell in love with Blight Harbor and Evie, even as they gave me goosebumps!"
—Erin A. Craig, New York Times bestselling author of House of Salt and Sorrows
Lora Senf
Lora Senf is a writer of dark and twisty stories for all ages. She is the author of The Clackity, a Bram Stoker Award winner The Nighthouse Keeper, and The Loneliest Place. She credits her love of words to her parents and to the public library that was walking distance from her childhood home. Lora finds inspiration for her writing in her children's retellings of their dreams, on road trips through Montana, and most recently at a very old plot in an older cemetery. She lives in eastern Washington with her husband, their twins, and two remarkably lazy cats. Visit her at LoraSenf.com.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781665902687
Lexile Measure
750
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publication date
July 18, 2023
Series
Blight Harbor
BISAC categories
JUV013030 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | Multigenerational
JUV058000 - Juvenile Fiction | Paranormal, Occult & Supernatural
JUV018000 - Juvenile Fiction | Horror
JUV039240 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Depression & Mental Illness
JUV069000 - Juvenile Fiction | Ghost Stories
Library of Congress categories
Ghosts
Ghost stories
Witches
Serial murderers
Missing persons
Haunted places

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