Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

A young girl finds herself plagued by a dark spirit.Seventh grader Hannah Lee and her friends skip an assembly for children's horror author Leon Star and instead go to the school's supposedly haunted attic, where they attempt to contact the spirits. Soon after, Hannah realizes she's unwittingly released an evil curse. Now she must contend with bad luck such as accidentally being skewered by a scalpel during science class. Hannah suspects that Leon Star might know what's happening and seeks help; unfortunately, he tells her she doesn't have much time before she'll succumb to the curse. This inventive tale is presented in journal format as Hannah chronicles her troubles in a mix of doodlelike scrawls and diary entries. Even the pages of her notebook aren't safe from the malevolent spirit, who often interrupts her musings and responds in red ink. Readers will find much to enjoy in this fast-paced but extremely macabre tale. Body horror abounds. The book's pages become spattered with blood as Hannah's teeth fall out; later her dentist tells her that her gums are overrun with silverfish. Characters who initially seem merely unsettling become shockingly sinister-looking at times. Lai plays with the form and function of language, adding action and sound effects and deftly tying narrative and visuals together. In the cartoonish illustrations, characters have skin the white of the page.An ominous yet irresistible story that will delight and distress in equal measure. (Horror. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews

A young girl finds herself plagued by a dark spirit.Seventh grader Hannah Lee and her friends skip an assembly for children's horror author Leon Star and instead go to the school's supposedly haunted attic, where they attempt to contact the spirits. Soon after, Hannah realizes she's unwittingly released an evil curse. Now she must contend with bad luck such as accidentally being skewered by a scalpel during science class. Hannah suspects that Leon Star might know what's happening and seeks help; unfortunately, he tells her she doesn't have much time before she'll succumb to the curse. This inventive tale is presented in journal format as Hannah chronicles her troubles in a mix of doodlelike scrawls and diary entries. Even the pages of her notebook aren't safe from the malevolent spirit, who often interrupts her musings and responds in red ink. Readers will find much to enjoy in this fast-paced but extremely macabre tale. Body horror abounds. The book's pages become spattered with blood as Hannah's teeth fall out; later her dentist tells her that her gums are overrun with silverfish. Characters who initially seem merely unsettling become shockingly sinister-looking at times. Lai plays with the form and function of language, adding action and sound effects and deftly tying narrative and visuals together. In the cartoonish illustrations, characters have skin the white of the page.An ominous yet irresistible story that will delight and distress in equal measure. (Horror. 8-12)

School Library Journal (Thu Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

Gr 3–5 —Bugs crawling under skin and teeth falling out are the stuff of nightmares, making them perfect fodder for this heavily illustrated horror title. Readers follow Hannah after she is cursed by an ominous entity who lives in her school's abandoned library. She documents a series of freak accidents through increasingly frantic journal entries and as she attempts to rid herself of the hex, the entity begins to write back to her. Lai has already shown a talent for both humor and horror for middle graders, and this title is a natural fit for her talents. She strips down her usual warm and goofy illustrative style, as seen in Pawcasso and Pie in the Sky , for menacing doodles featuring vacant, black eyes, sharp teeth, and blood stains. Yet in both illustrations and text, she avoids tilting into overly scary territory, using comedic breaks and outlandish situations to maintain a balance for skittish readers. There are some logic jumps and missing details that might trip up the most observant, but the story's chaotic energy will inspire them to keep those pages turning. VERDICT For tweens seeking "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" meets Tim Burton, this is an enjoyable scare that may prompt readers to write their own.—Alexandra Quay