Grave Mistakes
A Dead Family Novel
$37.94
- Hardcover
288 pages
- Release Date
12 September 2023
Summary
Middle school is hard—add a deadly embarrassing family and a huge secret, and it’s nearly impossible. An Addams-esque family faces a perilous plot in this energetic, ghostly middle grade mystery.
Molly Dade has big problems. She’s got an important violin audition coming up, she’s been paired with her nemesis for a group project, and she’s struggling to hide a life-or-death secret from…well, from everyone. It wasn’t long ago that the Dades were just a regular Maine family living in the…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781368083478 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 1368083471 |
| Author: | Kitty Curran |
| Publisher: | Melissa de la Cruz Studio |
| Imprint: | Melissa de la Cruz Studio |
| Format: | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages: | 288 |
| Release Date: | 12 September 2023 |
| Weight: | 397g |
| Dimensions: | 25mm x 146mm x 217mm |
| Series: | Dead Family |
| Audience Age: | 8-12 |
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Critics Review
A middle schooler discovers that her unusual family is the least of her problems. Readers will have no problem understanding why Molly Dade is stressed–being as her spacey mom is dead but still present as a disembodied voice; Marty, her likewise dead twin brother, is hanging around as a prank-loving poltergeist; and Dyandra, her adopted little sister, is a zombie who craves brains. Keeping these facts from becoming general knowledge has turned both school and her lifelong friendship with classmate Grace into nightmares. Oh, and Molly has actual nightmares, too, along with other symptoms suggesting that she’s been cursed by a witch. Emerging hints that the explosion that (more or less) killed her mother and brother a year ago wasn’t accidental steer the plotline to a melodramatic climax, but overall, debut author Curran keeps the tone light by, for instance, replacing Molly’s supposed grief with irritation at the cloying sympathy she has to endure in public to keep up pretenses. Curran also surrounds her with a secondary cast that, to Molly’s amazement and relief, takes her family’s differences calmly in stride once they’re revealed. By the end, some villains remain at large for future rematches, but everyone else, even ex-nemesis classmate Cara, is on Molly’s side–and Molly herself is not quite as “normal” as she had supposed. Most characters seem to be White; one of Molly’s grandmothers was Chinese. Addams Family lite for readers seeking spooky fun grounded in relationships. (Fantasy. 9-13)- Kirkus (June 1, 2023)
Kitty Curran
Kitty Curran is the co-author of two adult books published by Quirk: For Your Consideration: Keanu Reaves and My Lady’s Choosing: An Interactive Romance Novel. She also has a YA time-travel fantasy graphic novel forthcoming from Boom! Studios.
Kitty has worked as a designer, with her work featured in publications such as Time, Upworthy, CNN, HelloGiggles, CBS, and The Huffington Post.
A London native, she is now based in Chicago. Grave Mistakes is her middle grade debut.
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