The Clackity by Lora Senf
The Tease:
Evie moves to Blight Harbor to live with her Aunt Desdemona (Aunt Des for short) after her parents disappeared—possibly died—in a house fire. Blight Harbor is a different kind of town, for instance it’s haunted. Nothing too outrageous, just your normal ghosty things that people have to deal with mainly. Aunt Des is a ghost expert with her own advice column helping people with all things supernatural. However, when she goes to the old, abandoned slaughterhouse to clean out the evilness that lurks there, she disappears. Evie is desperate to get her aunt back! After all, she’s been through this before with the disappearance of her parents. It cannot happen to her aunt too! So, Evie goes to visit the slaughterhouse herself.
Evie makes a deal with the evil presence that resides there—The Clackity. The deal? Evie will cross over to the other world. She must explore 7 different cursed houses each with their own unique traps that Evie must navigate. Afterwards, IF she succeeds, she will find her aunt. But the Clackity says she must also return with the ghost of the serial killer John Jeffrey Pope who famously used the slaughterhouse for his murders of people in the early 20th century.
Can Evie do it? Should she do it? I mean yes, she wants her aunt back but to bring back the serial killer ghost—maybe not such a great idea. What will happen? You’ll have to read the book to find out!
This book is in our library. It’s also in Sora and Axis 360 as an ebook as well as an audio book. It is 10 AR points.
My Thoughts (Be Careful; There May Be Spoilers):
I loved this book! In fact, I couldn’t put it down. I also thought about the characters and plot when I wasn’t reading the book so it really stuck with me. I give this book 5 stars!
The character development in this book is fabulous. You really feel like you know Evie and I think everyone can relate to her. Although she loves her aunt and her aunt’s best friend a librarian named Lily, she is still somewhat lonely after her parents have disappeared/died. She has a lot of anxiety and makes a most vulnerable hero. But all of that makes you cheer for her in her journey. We see that she is capable and brave and reading about her—putting yourself in her shoes—just makes you feel good! Like you are capable and brave too! I must mention her little magic sparrow companion or maybe I should say side-kick. He is a huge lifeline throughout and makes her feel she has someone rooting for her as she tackles the twists and turns. You can’t help but fall in love with him too!
I love that all of the adults in this book are strong, caring women and good role models for Evie. The Clackity is also well-developed. It is a spider-legged creature with a toothy, gruesome smile. It is a trickster to say the least. To keep an eye on Evie, at each house it shows up in the Other World as different creatures but you can always tell it’s The Clackity by it’s smile. John Jeffrey Pope is especially creepy too as he is chasing Evie throughout the Other World getting closer and closer to her along the way. Never fear, Evie turns the tables on both of them in the end.
When I first read there would be seven houses that she would visit, I thought it might get a little tedious. It definitely did not. Each house is different and not expected—there are lots of surprises and interesting characters in each. Fabulous, fun, real page turner book that I can’t wait to recommend to the kids!
Recommendations:
This book is 288 pages. It is recommended by the publisher and book reviewers for grades 4-7th. Readers are going to LOVE it! I loved it and I’m an adult so really I would say this book is great for 10-years-old and up.
However, if your child is in 4th-6th grade and more a reluctant reader, 288 pages is pretty long. Yes, it’s a great story with lots of action. But if your child is not a strong reader this might get difficult regardless. Sounding out too many words makes you lose the story altogether.
I would suggest you and your child read it together—you read one page or chapter, your child reads one page or chapter. Or, I would suggest an audio book! I highly recommend audio books for reluctant readers. Yes, kids need to read and not just listen to a story. But audio books allow kids to love a good story and that’s the building block of reading on their own. In time, with this love of story, they’ll get there with reading. It’s about balance—yes, have your child read chapter books but sneak an audio book in here and there too. Plus, I think this one would be awesome to listen to with all the spookiness!
Enjoy!
