Roll up, roll up, the Scareground is in town!
Twelve-year-old Nancy Crumpet lives above a bakery and her life is a delightful mix of flour, salt, and love. Yet her mind is brimming with questions no one can answer: Why did her birth parents disappear? Why can she speak with the sky? And why must she keep her mysterious birthmark hidden?
Everything is about to change when the Scareground returns to Greenwich. Nancy is convinced it holds the answers to her parents’ disappearance. Nancy and her best friend Arthur Green meet the fair’s spooky owner, Skelter, and discover a world full of dark magic and mystery. Nancy must confront her greatest fears to get to the truth. But is she ready for all the secrets the Scareground will reveal?
Book source ~ TWR Tour
MG | Mystery | Spooky
7 September 2023
244 Pages
My Rating ~ 4 Bites
When 12-yr-old Nancy was a baby she was adopted by the Crumpets. They are bakers and they live above their bakery. Nancy loves them, but wonders where she came from, who her parents are, and why the Sky talks to her. When the Scareground returns to Greenwich, Nancy pieces together a bunch of clues and decides she needs to go to it even if the Crumpets have forbidden it. With her best friend, Arthur Green, at her side, she can do anything. But is the Scareground going to prove their undoing?
Ooooh! Spooky, mysterious, and just a bit dangerous makes this a perfect tale for a reader with a sense of adventure, whimsy, and imagination. Nancy and Arthur are great characters inhabiting a creative world I’m glad I entered. I love that Nancy talks with the Sky and the Sky “talks” back. That Arthur is smart and supportive yet has things he is dealing with though that doesn’t stop him from enjoying time with his best friend. The kids could be obnoxious in their actions, but they aren’t.
Scareground leans toward horror without actually being horrifying and in trying to find her origins, Nancy learns more than she bargained for, but that’s what makes this a compelling read. Live, learn, and grow. We should all take a page from Nancy’s book.
Angela Kecojevic is a senior librarian, author and creative writing tutor. She has written for the Oxford Reading Tree programme and the multi-award-winning adventure park Hobbledown where her characters can be seen walking around, something she still finds incredibly charming! She is a member of the Climate Writers Fiction League, a group of international authors who use climate issues in their work. Angela lives in the city of Oxford with her family.
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