Gr 4–8 —Violet's new house has the space her growing family needs, but as soon as they move in, the house feels odd and lonely. Violet's older sister Mia declares the attic room with the peeling yellow wallpaper to be "creepy," so by default, that room becomes Violet's. Violet is dealing with a lot of personal issues, including nervously starting middle school, and it doesn't help when she gets sick the first week of school. When she's finally able to return, she's too tired for PE class, so she's sent to study in the library. There she meets a boy named Will who regularly sits out PE due to health reasons. He's researching ghosts and hauntings for a science credit, which Violet finds fascinating. She wants to help her new friend with his project, but her illness returns and she isn't getting better. Visits to multiple doctors lead nowhere, and she ends up homebound in her attic room. The vines on the yellow wallpaper seem to be moving now, and she thinks she sees the shape of a girl trapped beneath them. She's terrified, both of the girl, and her mysterious illness. Loosely based on Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 1892 short story "The Yellow Wallpaper," this is a story about a haunted house—but it's also a fresh, modern look at unexplained health issues, COVID-19 anxiety, changing friendships, and blended families. VERDICT Compulsively readable and relatable, Ursu's twisty middle grade novel is highly recommended.—Mandy Laferriere

This novel set in Minneapolis combines the stress of changes with a haunting.Eleven-year-old Violet is about to enter middle school. If that wasn't anxiety-inducing enough, her mom and stepdad announce that they will be moving. To Violet's relief, she'll still be in the same school district with her two best friends. The move to a larger if decrepit Victorian means that Violet and Mia, her older sister, won't be sharing a room anymore, something Violet has mixed feelings about. Her new attic room is private, but the ugly wallpaper in a mustard-and-green vine-filled pattern is decidedly creepy. Soon after starting school, Violet begins to have nightmares about the wallpaper coming to life, and she starts to feel weak and tired. Doctors can find nothing wrong, and her best friends become skeptical, implying it's all in her head. Meanwhile, Violet tries to navigate the strains of middle school-fitting in and changing friendships-with the ever-increasing menace of the haunted attic and its link, presented possibly as a metaphor, to her chronic illness. This storyline works pretty well, addressing the experience of invisible disabilities, which are too rarely represented in middle-grade fiction, but some readers may wish for the connection between Violet's illness and the ghost to feature a clearer resolution. Violet and her mom are white; Violet's stepfather is Black, and other characters bring diversity in race and sexual orientation.An ambitious presentation exploring resonant themes. (author's note) (Paranormal. 8-12)

Sandwiched between moody older sister Mia and three-year-old half brother Owen, Minneapolis sixth grader and middle child Violet Hart feels as if she’s the one who’s supposed to “make things easy” on her mother and stepfather, resulting in her reluctantly agreeing to take the disconcerting, wallpapered attic bedroom in the family’s new home. At school, Violet’s besties Paige and Ally are determined to expand their friend group now that they’re in middle school, but a sleepover with potential new recruits goes disastrously awry, leading to a mysterious sickness that Violet can’t shake. While enduring unrelenting exhaustion, the 11-year-old struggles to balance schoolwork and shifting friendship dynamics, as well as nightmares brought on by her bedroom’s disturbingly illogical wallpaper. Upon Violet discovering a haven in the school library with Will, a bespectacled boy researching ghosts, she wonders if there’s something sinister in her home. Inspired by Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” as addressed in an author’s note, Ursu (The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy) perceptively incorporates middle school drama into a page-turning tale about the difficulties of managing an invisible illness and any accompanying skepticism from friends and healthcare providers. Violet is white; there is racial diversity among the supporting cast. Ages 8–12. Agent: Tina Dubois, CAA. (Jan.)