The Secret Dead Club
by Karen Strong (Author)
The Baby-Sitters Club meets Stranger Things in this eerie middle grade novel about friendship, fitting in, and the afterlife, following a girl who discovers she's not the only one at her new school who can see ghosts.
Wednesday Thomas sees ghosts. But that doesn't mean she has to talk to them. After a terrifying experience in an Arizona state park with a wicked ghost, Wednesday and her mother Olivia sell their RV and move back south to the family home in Alton, Georgia. Wednesday's determined not to use her gift anymore--until she meets a group of girls who also know about the spirit realm. There's free-spirited Miki Okada and Southern belle Danni-Lynn Porter who seem to know about the ghosts who roam the school's hallways, popular girl Alexa Scott who tells Wednesday to stay away from Miki and Danni-Lynn and not draw attention to herself, and mysterious neighbor Violet Delgado who died last year but still haunts the house across the street.
Wednesday feels these girls have some kind of shared history, but it isn't until Miki gives her an official invitation to the Dead Club that she starts to understand there's a lot more going on with the ghosts in Alton and the girls who can see them. And when another malevolent ghost threatens to harm Wednesday, it will take the help of new friends both living and dead to save her and banish the evil being to the spirit realm where it belongs.
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Kirkus
A strongly characterized paranormal coming-of-age story that grapples with relatable issues.
Publishers Weekly
A Black tween with a supernatural gift determines to banish a terrifying specter from her new town in this hair-raising, American South-set horror novel by Strong (Eden's Everdark). After fleeing a wicked ghost in Las Vegas, Wednesday Thomas and her artist mother travel to Alton, Ga., where Wednesday was born. Now the seventh grader is enrolled in Noble Middle School and living in her nana's family home, "which doesn't look haunted." Wednesday tries hard not to stand out, but her attempts are dashed when she makes a spectacle at lunch after discovering that she can see ghosts--and that her school is haunted. While navigating her newfound powers, Wednesday learns that she is protected by Lodestar, a "guiding light" that prevents Wednesday and her family from being possessed by spirits. As Halloween creeps closer, she's approached by classmates---each of whom has their own secrets--who invite Wednesday to be part of their covert paranormal mystery-solving group, the Dead Club. Strong uses tight plotting, fully fleshed out characters, and eerie and empathetic prose to examine themes of legacy and friendship, and deliver a smartly conceived mystery. Ages 8-12. Agent: Patrice Caldwell, New Leaf Literary & Media. (Aug.)
Copyright 2024 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.
Review quotes
"As heartwarming as it is heart-stopping, THE SECRET DEAD CLUB is a smart, sensitive look at grief, friendship and the power of lineage. This is the scary-good novel I've been waiting for since middle school!"——Leah Johnson, bestselling author of Ellie Engle Saves Herself
JUV011010 - Juvenile Fiction | People & Places | United States - African-American
JUV069000 - Juvenile Fiction | Ghost Stories
Schools
Ghosts
Middle schools
Ability
Clubs
Novels
Ghost fiction
