It Watches in the Dark (Eek! #1)

When their father is injured during a rafting trip meant to celebrate their 12th birthday, twins Oliver and Trisha happen upon a remote village with a disturbing ethos in this menacing thriller by Strand (How You Ruined My Life). After the vulnerable family arrives at the edge of Escrow, a disquieting if initially welcoming community home to a 50-foot-tall scarecrow that citizens believe will protect them from “whatever might cause us harm,” unconscious Dad is immediately whisked away to a suspiciously bare infirmary. An innocent transgression and incessant questioning about their father’s condition land the kids in hot water with the mayor, who orders them to sit still and “bask in the protection of the scarecrow.” Here, the folk-horror-inflected tale takes on a supernatural bent as the hulking protector begins speaking to Oliver and Trisha, taunting the petrified tweens with gruesome threats and forcing the duo to consider what it will take for them and their father to escape the clutches of the scarecrow and its severe and dedicated constituents in this darkly comic, Goosebumps-esque tale that wields enough grisly chase scenes to lend substance to a lean plot. Characters default to white. Ages 10–14. (Apr.)