Cohen blends inspiration from Tuck Everlasting and "The Road Not Taken," by Robert Frost, with such things as Lovecraftian horror and tardigrades in this excellent, creepy (but not too scary) story about a very anxious boy who tries to keep his family safe. After a car crash, Arlo stumbles into what appears to be a ghost town with his sister and injured mother, but it doesn't turn out to be deserted at all. In fact, the people who inhabit the town called Livermore (inspired by a real place with real history) seem just a little strange. This story doesn't stray too far into scary territory, but it certainly keeps readers on their toes and unravels slowly enough to keep them turning the pages and guessing. Arlo and his family are realistic, fleshed-out characters, created without Cohen relying too much on dialogue and drama. Cohen's writing is sometimes disarmingly beautiful, with sentences like "Oily lamplight oozed down the walls and puddled on the ground at Arlo's feet." It's a fantastic show of craft and perfect for a read-along or read-aloud.

As his younger sister, Lola, loves to point out, twelve-year-old Arlo is afraid of everything. He has significant reasons to be anxious: his mother has just recovered from cancer; his father (divorced, with a new family) hardly seems to notice him and Lola; and now he, Lola, and their mom are stuck in a weird old-fashioned town after a car accident. Livermore is quaint, with a tiny schoolhouse and open hearths, but behind the vintage allure lies a sinister thread that Arlo picks up on right away. Why is there no cell service? Why don't the townsfolk use electricity? And why do they keep whispering behind closed doors? Arlo must convince Lola and Mom to leave Livermore before it's too late and they learn, perhaps fatally, what nameless horror the town had awakened over a century ago. Equal parts spooky and charming, the story offers plenty of suspense and relatable ties to real-world difficulties. Arlo, Lola, and Mom form a heartwarming triangle of familial loyalty and dogged optimism. Even if readers have worked out the mystery before the story's denouement, the promise of Arlo's growth into bravery will keep pages turning until the very end. Sarah Berman

There's something not quite right about the residents of the remote New Hampshire town in which three travelers find themselves stranded after a car crash."Leave now. While you still can," hisses the dour old woman who comes to the door when a shaken 12-year-old Arlo Davis; his little sister, Lola Davis; and their injured mother, Heather Flores, knock. Others in the strangely quiet, carless, electricity-free town of Livermore seem hardly more welcoming…though there does turn out to be a rambling B&B to spend the night in and, during the day, a graveyard, an abandoned sawmill, and spooky woods to explore. Further thickening both plot and creepy atmosphere with overheard snatches of conversation about secret meetings; flashbacks featuring a child parading through town in a deadly, smallpox-infected dress stolen from her dying sister; references to a mass grave with an eldritch resident; and nighttime glimpses of weirdly glowing figures, Cohen dishes up another expertly twisted chiller-inspired, she writes, by influences including Tuck Everlasting (although it is very different in tone), Robert Frost, and H.P. Lovecraft and set in a real New England ghost town. Most of the cast (its human members, anyway) present as White; Heather's surname may cue her as Latinx.Shivery reading for under the covers…or, for that matter, in broad daylight. (author's note) (Horror. 9-12)