Black Sand Beach: Are You Afraid of the Light? (Black Sand Beach #1)

Creepy, bizarre, and compelling.

Fairgray keeps the humor high to soften some genuine spookiness and crafts a cast that readers will want to follow into future volumes.

Gr 3-5--A boring summer at the beach turns into a chilling otherworldly adventure. Dash and his friend Lily head to Black Sand Beach, where Dash's family owns a cabin. Dash is less than thrilled, but Lily thinks the house and eccentric family members are great, especially spirited cousin Andy and prankster Aunt Lynne. When Dash hears voices calling his name and sees a light in the long abandoned lighthouse, he, Lily, and cousins Andy and Eleanor head out to investigate. When they arrive, they become trapped inside the lighthouse and an ocean full of shipwrecked ghosts appears. Mysterious happenings continue when the neighbors need to run their cows (which are in fact paranormal creatures--though everyone but Lily is oblivious to that fact) through the family's land. The multiple story lines don't all tie up perfectly, but the cliff-hanger ending is sure to have readers eagerly awaiting the next installment of the series. Fairgray's bulgy-eyed cartoons are appealing, and his story and his artwork, relying on a palette of grays, blues, and purples, both strike the perfect note: creepy fun tempered by plenty of silliness. VERDICT Fans of Kier Graff's The Matchstick Castle and Ben Hatke's "Zita the Spacegirl" will adore this spooky series starter.--Ellen Conlin, Naperville Public Library, IL

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

With a large cast and plenty of surprising developments, the book plants seeds for potential future story lines, even as layers of its mystery are peeled away to ensure immediate satisfaction. Funny and playful but also creepy and intriguing, Black Sand Beach: Are You Afraid of the Light? is an entertaining graphic novel that establishes a rich world of possibilities and impossibilities.—Foreword Reviews

This graphic novel was designed with digestible chapters allowing for good breaking points in the stories. . . . This first title in a new graphic novel series features just the right mix of Gravity Falls and Goosebumps that kids will love.—School Library Connection

I loved the humor and weirdness of it. . . . the characters are so confident in this world that you take comfort in how they saunter through it.—A Fuse #8 Production