Doggem by John F. Leonard

"Sentience? I’m just a throwaway toy, an inanimate object. How can I have thought and emotion? Opinion and experience? I’d shrug my shoulders if I could. The world is brimful of mystery."

All the kids adore Doggem, the class cuddly toy.
They each get to take him home. Hug him and love him and show him their world outside of school.
All they have to do in return is write his diary.
It’s George Gould’s turn and he’s going to introduce Doggem to a rather unusual family.
Before we go any further, it’s worth pointing out that both the stuffed toy and little boy are far from ordinary.
Doggem is no longer your run-of-the-mill snuggle doggy. Designed to fall apart after a few years. Perfect for squishing and squashing into a comfort blanket.
He’s a million miles from that now. Doggem has just become a living creature. Thinking and reasoning. Trying to make sense of an unexpected existence.
Strange places and scary experiences are in store during this sojourn with his latest custodian. Things no respectable fluffy dog should ever have to witness. It might end up in deadly territory.
Make no mistake, there is magic here. Some of it as black as a starless night.
And George?
Well, George is descended from decidedly dicey stock. There are folk in delightful George’s lineage who have indulged in practices of a somewhat shadowy nature. The ramifications of which aren’t ready to be consigned to history. They want to spill out of the past and have their say in the future...

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It's been 20 years since I was the parent of a kindergartener, but I still remember my son coming home with a stuffed toy and a note from the teacher telling me it was our turn to host said toy for the weekend, and to record in it's diary the events of our time together. I don't remember what we shared with the class but I do remember keeping quiet about our cat dragging it to the litter box in an attempt to bury it or maybe murder it. Perhaps the cat sensed something? In this short story Doggem goes home with a very special boy. George is to host Doggem for the entire 6 week school break. This is more than enough time for Doggem to become privy to dark family secrets that even little George has yet to discover.
Is there such a category as whimsical horror? If not, I think the author has invented it. This was an enjoyable read that would have fit in perfectly as an episode of Amazing Stories or Tales from The Darkside.

I received a complimentary copy for review.


About the author
John was born in England and grew up in the midlands where he learned to love the sound of scrapyard dogs and the rattle and clank of passing trains. He studied English, Art and History and has, at different times, been a sculptor, odd-job man and office worker. He enjoys horror and comedy (not necessarily together). Married with two astonishing children, he now lives a few miles from the old Victorian house in which he was born. Scribbling scary stories seems to keep him vaguely sane. 

Curse of the Dead-Eyed Doll Thomas Kingsley Troupe

Alejandro Padilla isn't superstitious and he doesn't believe the stories that an old sailor doll in a Key West, Florida, museum is haunted. Robert the Doll might look creepy, but that doesn't mean the doll is cursed. So Al ignores the tour guide's warning to ask Robert's permission before taking the doll's photograph. But it isn't long after Al's field trip to the museum that strange things start happening. Al is quick to dismiss the odd occurrences as coincidence and bad luck . . . that is until they become more frequent and more sinister. Is the doll tormenting Al? And if so, what will Al have to do to get him to stop?

Every state has its own spine-tingling stories of ghosts and mysterious hauntings grounded in its regional history. The Haunted States of America series uses real-life ghost lore as jumping-off points to new, chilling tales. An author’s note provides historical origins and fascinating facts, but beware: sometimes real life is stranger than fiction.

Age Range: 9 - 12 years

Grade Level: 4 - 6

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In this spine tingling *but not too scary for kids* tale, 13 year old Al is having a run of bad luck and suffering some spooky consequences after a school trip to the museum where he disrespected a cursed doll. At first he assumes it's mere coincidence, but as things begin to escalate and his friends start to blame the curse, Al can't help but wonder if Robert the doll is out to get him. Is the fear all in his mind or is the curse for real?
The fact that there really is a Robert doll added to the creepiness of the story and it was a plus for me that there is an underlying theme for kids that it never hurts to be polite.

I received an advance copy for review.

Keeping Lucy by T. Greenwood

From the author of Rust & Stardust comes this heartbreaking story, inspired by true events, of how far one mother must go to protect her daughter.

Dover, Massachusetts, 1969. Ginny Richardson's heart was torn open when her baby girl, Lucy, born with Down Syndrome, was taken from her. Under pressure from his powerful family, her husband, Ab, sent Lucy away to Willowridge, a special school for the “feeble-minded." Ab tried to convince Ginny it was for the best. That they should grieve for their daughter as though she were dead. That they should try to move on.

But two years later, when Ginny's best friend, Marsha, shows her a series of articles exposing Willowridge as a hell-on-earth--its squalid hallways filled with neglected children--she knows she can't leave her daughter there. With Ginny's six-year-old son in tow, Ginny and Marsha drive to the school to see Lucy for themselves. What they find sets their course on a heart-racing journey across state lines—turning Ginny into a fugitive.

For the first time, Ginny must test her own strength and face the world head-on as she fights Ab and his domineering father for the right to keep Lucy. Racing from Massachusetts to the beaches of Atlantic City, through the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia to a roadside mermaid show in Florida, Keeping Lucy is a searing portrait of just how far a mother’s love can take her.

 

 

Though a work of fiction, this novel set in 1969 through 1972 reminded me of the real life Willowbrook "school" that many people of my generation will recall seeing Geraldo Rivera breach with a stolen key and a camera in tow, showing the world the horrors inside. If you are too young to know what I'm talking about you really should look it up, and I believe there is also a documentary available streaming on Prime.

When Ginny, a not so happy housewife gives birth to Lucy, a baby girl with Down Syndrome it becomes painfully clear that there are three people in her marriage, herself, her husband and his father. The baby is whisked away on her father-in-law's say so and her husband insists it's all for the best. At first her husband claims they can't visit their daughter for 30 days. Eventually it becomes apparent that they are not to visit at all. He even has the audacity to suggest they have another baby as if Lucy was just a pair of defective shoes they could so easily exchange. When Ginny discovers this so called school is really a dumping ground where the disabled are neglected abused and uncared for, she takes matters into her own hands, defying her husband who is too weak to stand up to his father and learning that she is much stronger than she ever knew.

4 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy for review.

 

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About the author

T. Greenwood is the author of twelve novels. She has received grants from the Sherwood Anderson Foundation, the Christopher Isherwood Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and, most recently, the Maryland State Arts Council. She has won three San Diego Book Awards. Five of her novels have been BookSense76/IndieBound picks. BODIES OF WATER was finalist for a Lambda Foundation award. Her twelfth novel, RUST & STARDUST, will be published in August 2018.

She teaches creative writing for San Diego Writer's Ink and online for The Writer's Center. She and her husband, Patrick, live in San Diego, CA with their two daughters. She is also a photographer.

More information on T. Greenwood can be found at her websites: http://www.tgreenwood.com and
http://www.ephemerafiles.com  



Bethlehem by Karen Kelly

With the writing chops of Ian McEwan and the story-craft of Lisa Wingate, Karen Kelly weaves a shattering debut about two intertwined families and the secrets that they buried during the gilded, glory days of Bethlehem, PA.
“A haunting debut.” ―Georgia Hunter, New York Times bestselling author of We Were the Lucky Ones
“Karen Kelly is the real deal.” ―Mark Sullivan, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Beneath a Scarlet Sky
A young woman arrives at the grand ancestral home of her husband’s family, hoping to fortify her cracking marriage. But what she finds is not what she expected: tragedy haunts the hallways, whispering of heartache and a past she never knew existed.
Inspired by the true titans of the steel-boom era, Bethlehem is a story of temptation and regret, a story of secrets and the cost of keeping them, a story of forgiveness. It is the story of two complex women―thrown together in the name of family―who, in coming to understand each other, come finally to understand themselves.

This family saga of the Colliers and the Parishes is told on two timelines, through the point of view of two main characters Joanna and Susannah. In 1962 Joanna moves with her husband and children into her Mother-In-Law Susannah's home. This is not at all her idea but she goes along with it at her mostly absent husband Frank's insistence.  Susannah is widowed and taking care of her elderly mother on her own. Frank feels this is too much for her and so moves his family into the large sprawling estate. Susannah's point of view takes over from 1918 through the 1920s and covers the story of her family and the family of her husband to be.  Joanna's point of view was more straight forward as she dealt with living in someone else's home and the loneliness caused by her husband's frequent absences. Joanna uncovers a bit of mystery during one of these absences that leads to spilling old family secrets. There were times when it was difficult for me to keep all the characters straight, with so many names (and nicknames) to keep track of that in Susannah's timeline I was not always certain which character was part of which family or who was who. I felt that this over complicated things, while in other instances the mystery was too easily figured out.
I received an advance copy for review.

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Visit the author's website
Karen Kelly lives in Edina, Minnesota.
www.karenkellybooks.com