Starred Review ALA Booklist (Wed Sep 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Starred Review After the night the Fear Maker found Penny, she was never the same. She grew afraid of the world and shy around those in it. And, of course, it's when the nightmares began. Four years later, the 11-year-old's dreams are getting worse, leeching into the real world as the Fear Maker's power grows. A creeping dread permeates the pages as Penny realizes she must face this monster down in his own territory, a tangled wood where his rickety house feeds on stolen souls. Poetry, sunflower seeds, and a new friend become Penny's unlikely weapons in this endeavor, but they are exactly what is needed. Her poems weave their way through the narrative, fortifying Allen's own lyrical writing and adding to the overall message that strength can be found in words and creativity. Family also plays an important role, especially Penny's close relationship with her grandmother, a published poet. Fans of Jonathan Auxier's The Night Gardener (2014) will find the Fear Maker alluring but may suffer some nightmares of their own after following Penny to his door. Allen deals in both beauty and terror, rendering this a sophisticated choice for horror readers.

Kirkus Reviews

An anxious 11-year-old girl must save her loved ones from the soul-stealing Fear Maker.One Halloween four years ago, Penny Hope left candy as an offering for the monster under her bed. She receives a gift in return, but it's only after she accepts it that she realizes it's cursed, plaguing her with recurring nightmares. In the daylight, Penny sees that everyone around her has blank, hollow eyes. She learns that the giver of the cursed gift, responsible for both her constant bad dreams and the vacant-eyed people, is the Fear Maker-and his power is quickly growing. Armed with her love of poetry and with new friend Aarush Banerjee by her side, can Penny conquer the Fear Maker before he reaps the souls of everyone around her? For much of Allen's spine chiller, Penny's struggles are internalized; her fear keeps her from reaching out to those around her. Slowly, she tells those she trusts most, and the narrative takes a turn, moving the needle to genuine scares as Penny and Aarush battle the Fear Maker at his terrifying haunted house. The horror aspects are immersive, but murky characterization and thin worldbuilding leave this novel feeling disjointed and faltering under its own weight. Prose and verse, including a variety of different poetic forms, are interestingly juxtaposed in short chapters. Penny reads White; Aarush is cued South Asian.An ambitious premise that never quite coalesces. (Horror. 10-12)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

White-cued 11-year-old Penny Hope’s anxiety manifests as a real-life monster under her bed in this ethereal novel by Allen (Breathing Underwater). For the past four years, Penny’s anxieties have been heightened by the presence of the Fear Maker, a creature of “nightmare and shadow” who lives beneath her bed. But now the Fear Maker, having become a corporeal entity, is stealing the “soul, their them-ness” of the people in her town. Only Penny can see her soulless neighbors’ “blank, colorless, empty eyes,” resulting in intense feelings of isolation. When her supportive poet grandmother encourages her to write about her fears and introduces her to homeschooled Indian-cued peer Aarush Banerjee, Penny feels as if she’s found a bright spot. As the Fear Maker’s power intensifies, however, Penny learns that to destroy him, she must “pick one thing you’re afraid of, and do it.” She resolves to face her fears by joining Aarush in a poetry contest, hoping to find the right words to overcome her anxieties. Poetic prose and visceral emotion infuse realistic depth into this mood-driven, allegorical portrayal of mental illness. Stark b&w illustrations by Hewitt employ a photo negative effect to accentuate Penny’s brooding poems. Ages 10–12. Agent: Rena Rossner, Deborah Harris Agency. (Aug.)