MG Takes on Thursday

This is my new weekly meme celebrating amazing middle-grade books. I hope others will enjoy taking part in this too!

How to take part:

• Post a picture of the front cover of a middle-grade book which you have read and would recommend to others with details of the author, illustrator and publisher.
• Open the book to page 11 and share your favourite sentence. 
• Write three words to describe the book.
• Either share why you would recommend this book, or link to your review.

This week, I’m celebrating …

Favourite Sentence from Page 11:

“The dead walk the earth, little one,” he said to Corinne.

This book in three words:

SPOOKY, FRIENDSHIP, FOLKLORE

This was a book that I read for Middle Grade Marvels Book Club, and I’m so glad I did. I haven’t read a book based on Caribbean folklore before, but I’m definitely going to pick up the rest of this trilogy as I absolutely loved the story which is brimming with tension, danger and scariness.

Corinne doesn’t believe in the superstitious old tales of ‘jumbies’ hiding in the forest so has no issue with entering the mahogany Forest to retrieve her stone pendant, her most treasured possession as it was her deceased mother’s. However, she brings something dark and frightening back with her, something which is determined to exact revenge on the people of the island …

This story is a real roller coaster of tension and danger as Corinne may have unwittingly put the lives of the villagers at risk and must fight to save her father from a fate worse than death. The collection of ‘jumbies’ are spine-tinglingly scary, but none more so than Severine except, perhaps, the douens, man-children with backwards feet, who steal children.

Corinne has a wonderfully close relationship with her father, making it all the more heart-breaking when she walks into her house and sees him with Severine, knowing that she is in danger of losing him. She also develops three close friendships which are gorgeously portrayed, one with two homeless brothers, Malik and Bouki and the other with Dru who comes from a close-knit family.

Another element of the story which I found fascinating was the colonisation of the island by humans, and how they took over the island to the detriment of the jumbies, who were the native inhabitants, destroying their forest and homeland.

Full of endless courage, ancient magic and stunning revelations, this is a story I can definitely highly recommend.

I’d love if anyone who wants to give this meme a go would comment in the comments box and include a link to your post so I can visit, comment and find some great middle-grade recommendations. If you do create a post and are on Twitter, and would like to share your post, please use the hashtag  #MGTakesOnThursday so I can find it, read it and share it!