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Reviewed by: Lisa Rice, Middle School Librarian Title: Wretched Waterpark: Sinister Summer Book 1
Author: Kiersten White Illustrator:
Publisher: Yearling
Year: 2022 Good for Grades: 4-7 Genre/Type of Book: J mystery, horror, fantasy, adventure
Content Warnings, or things that other School Librarians should be aware of: some spooky parts for elementary students
Recommended for a school library: Yes Reason(s) for choosing the book: The cover drew me in, and I was interested in spending some time in a spooky water park! The New York times describes it as "wickedly weird," so sign me up!
If you were tasked by the publisher with writing a short quote for the back cover of this book, what would it be:
"Theo loved libraries but was generally only tolerated by librarians. They had all these finicky rules about not climbing the shelves to reach something on top or even just to see how quickly you could do it." -Alexander, page 110
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Review:
There were some great parts to this book. It drew me in right on page one with the description "fog drifted around their feet, clinging greedily, like it wanted to pull them into a watery grave." I was excited to dive in! Ultimately, though, I thought this book needed some editing and reworking. There was a lot of mysterious events that don't seem to get the plot moved along. It has a lot of weird, random things happening and not a lot of resolution to them. Some parts of the book I really liked, and others, I was bored with or confused by. Some parts are rather creepy, and others are funny and creative. I didn't love the ending, but my middle schoolers might. It does provide a nice lead into the next book in the series.
Sixteen-year-old Wilhelmina Sinister-Winterbottom, and twelve-year-olds Theodora and Alexander Sinister-Winterbottom are spending the summer with their Aunt Saffronia Sinister, who they have never met before. Their parents left them with no warning at their aunt's house, and no one can remember how they got to their aunt's house, but they can remember their parents' worried faces. Aunt Saffronia says that the first task to be accomplished is going to the waterpark. The waterpark that has been plagued with a series of mysterious disappearances. She tells the children to get the week pass, as that should be long enough to find what was lost.
The waterpark is creative. It has a five-star rating on Gulp (not Yelp), the prices are listed in Roman numerals, you need to sign a last will and testament, which you sign with quill and ink. Passes come with a mausoleum where you can store your belongings. Instead of the waterpark smelling like chlorine, it smells like the ocean. The names of the water slides are Oblivion, Abandon Hope, Infinite Plunge, Mortal Coil, The Other Side, and The Afterlife. The lazy river is called The River Styx. The best part about this waterpark? It has a library, heavy on the Gothic and mystery section. Mom has some advice for the kids: Theo, be brave (he is always the brave one), Alexander, be cautious (his first words were "be careful"), and Wil, use your phone (might as well just tell him to breathe).
This book will appeal to fans of A Series of Unfortunate Events, and I like that it is a part of a series so that readers have something to read next. It might not have a lot of curricular connections, but I think middle schooler will like it, and it seems like a great book to read (and the whole series) over the summer! It could be fun to have students design their own waterpark (spooky or otherwise) after reading the book. It could be a drawing, or a makerspace activity. There are also some great, well-written descriptions in the book that I would point out and discuss with a class if I were doing a read aloud with this book. While I did not love it as much as I had hoped, I still may decide to read the rest of the series at some point, and ultimately, I think middle schoolers will like this book.
Number of party hats:
For more information about this book, see the publisher's website
Find resources and activities for Wild Poppies at TeachingBooks.net