Synopsis
For fans of Small Spaces and the Goosebumps series by R.L Stine comes a chilling story about a twelve-year old girl who must face down the most notorious ghost in her haunted East coast town to stop a centuries-old curse that threatens to destroy everything, from the New York Times bestselling author of Scritch Scratch and The Mystery of Locked Rooms.
Mallory hasn’t quite adapted to life in her new town of Eastport yet. Maybe it’s because everyone is obsessed with keeping the town’s reputation as the most cursed town in the US.
And thanks to the nightmares she’s had since arriving, Mallory hardly sleeps. Combined with the unsettling sensation of being watched, she’s quickly becoming convinced there’s more to her town. Something darker.
When Mallory has a terrifying encounter with the same old woman from her dreams, she knows she has to do something―but what? With Eastport gearing up to celebrate the anniversary of their first recorded legend Mallory is forced to investigate the one legend she’s always secretly been afraid of . . . Sweet Molly.
Pick up The Girl in White if you are looking for:
- A book for middle school students, 5th grade to 9th grade
- A story with a strong female protagonist that explores bravery, friendship, and family
- Mystery books for kids 9-12
- Chilling ghost stories and ghost books for kids (perfect for Halloween!)
- Historical mysteries for kids
- Spooky middle grade for fans of stories about Salem or Spooky Hollow
Review
This one kept popping up on instagram and I gotta say…they got me. I absolutely love the cover, it gives me Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt vibes, which is one of my favorite covers.
The town of Eastport is filled with legends of curses and dark pasts. Mallory, 12, and a recent transplant there, can’t seem to wrap her head around the town’s “every day is Halloween” vibe…and what’s worse is, her parents are entirely bought it. They run a diner and go 110% with the spooky vibe. Mallory does her best to help out in between all the school work, but she can’t take it seriously. The only curse she finds even remotely creepy is the tale of the girl in white—thankfully it’s just a legend, right? And why do her dreams seem to be getting realer and realer?
This had some really dark descriptions that felt almost somewhere between Goosebumps and Fear Street, although with the ages chosen, it’s decidedly middle grade. Regardless, this gripped me pretty much throughout and I think the length worked in its favor. As someone that loves Stine and nostalgia, but also isn’t a child anymore, this at least felt like a fully paced novel. Not exactly creepy at my age, but most definitely up there for young readers.
This does fall into the realm of most things for kids, where we know they have to have parents, but we also don’t exactly want them heavily involved. There’s some nice beats involving them, and they are described as almost out-of-their-depths busy, so it’s not like they are bad as characters or anything—I just know I’d be way more locked in to where my child was if I had a 12 year old. Otherwise, the cast of characters was very solid. Mallory makes mistakes and owns them, trying to do right, even while being haunted. And I enjoyed that they went to an art school, giving them backstory that also functioned as their differences…photography, acting, painting.
I was afraid the ending would lose me, but I’m glad it reeled itself back in and worked for me overall. The lore of the girl being the only one to see the danger as they sent her brother, a sailor, into a storm, and then supposedly cursing the town for it, was dark but worked. The town then making money year round on the curse, and holding her on a sort of pedestal, would be enough to bring anyone back from the dead! Perfect for young readers looking to try horror.
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