I absolutely adored everything about this book and couldn't get enough of it. Ollie is the most lovable little protagonist and I wanted with my whole heart to reach right into the book, pull her out, and give her a big hug, because she broke my heart time and time again with all of her pain and grief. Despite how hard it hit me whenever she dwelled on her loss, though, this story is first and foremost a horror book, and it excels at the spooky elements, too.

I know I'm not alone when I say that scarecrows are kind of creepy all on their own, and a story featuring a moving scarecrow is always going to make my blood chill a little (I blame R.L. Stine and the fact that The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight gave me literal nightmares as a kid!), but I thought these scarecrows were particularly unsettling and I really loved the descriptions of them!

I also adored the "book within a book" element of Small Spaces, which is a risky endeavor in my opinion because it can frequently ruin the immersion of the actual story, but in this case, Katherine Arden pulled it off flawlessly and I was just as invested in the Websters as I was in Ollie and her classmates! Well, almost—it's hard to compete with precious, soft little Coco and surprisingly clever and kind Brian. There's so much more than meets the eye with all three of these kiddos, and I loved getting to know them and watching them form the wonderful, adventurous, brave trio I knew they could be.

I'm so excited to continue the series and to see what terrifying little adventure Ollie is sent on next. I know nothing about the following books aside from their titles and covers, so I'm crossing my fingers that Brian and Coco are involved in the rest of them too, because I am nothing if not a sucker for an MG series with a brave, passionate little friend group going to battle for each other (and everyone else they know, usually). I loved this and can't recommend it highly enough, and I plan on continuing the series very, VERY soon!

✨ Representation: Ollie is implied biracial (her mother is described as having brown skin but no specifics are stated), Brian is Jamaican