The Wandering Hour (Doomsday Archives, book 1) by Zach Loran Clark and Nick Eliopulos (Zando Young Readers, 224 pages, grades 4-7). Even though Emrys is relatively new to the town of New Rotterdam, he’s gotten pretty obsessed with the town’s spooky history. He and his new friend Hazel enjoy reading and updating the Doomsday Archives page of the New Rotterdam Wiki Project, which documents various urban legends and unexplained disappearances.

One stormy night, the two friends, plus Hazel’s friend Serena, make an unsettling discovery and receive an invitation to join the Order of the Azure Eye–an invitation accepted by Emrys and Hazel, but rejected by Serena, who is more creeped out than fascinated by the supernatural. Membership in the Order leads Emrys and Hazel, and eventually, a reluctant Serena, to discoveries that explain many of the town’s mysterious disappearances. A showdown with an evil force helps the kids set things right in New Rotterdam…at least for the time being.

Not only does this book provide a good spooky story, but the wiki pages and illustrations add lots of scary tales and urban legends that horror fans will love. Given the number of children disappearing on a regular basis, I think any parent moving to this town should trigger some sort of investigation, but readers will be glad Emrys and his family made the move. I wished that Hazel’s character had been more fleshed out, but maybe that will happen in book 2.

My original plan was to review two horror books in this post, but when I started to read Dread Detention by Jennifer Killick (Delacorte Press, 208 pages, grades 4-7) it kind of felt like…well, a dread detention. Described on Amazon as “The Breakfast Club meets Stranger Things, this is the story of four seventh graders whose Saturday detention goes very wrong when gigantic spiders drag away the teacher left in charge. It sounds like it’s both scary and funny, it’s gotten good reviews, and I’ve never worked in a school library where the kids weren’t clamoring for scary stories, so check it out.

So what did I read instead? Swimming Into Trouble (Julia on the Go! book 1) by Angela Ahn, illustrated by Julie Kim (Tundra Books, 176 pages, grades 2-5), which is about as far from horror as one can get–unless you are horrified by a treatable ear infection. That’s the diagnosis for Julia, whose passion for swimming has earned her a spot on the local team, the youngest member at nine years old. Everyone’s excited for Personal Best Day, but no one more than Julia, who knows she’s made big improvements this season. But the ear infection means no swimming for ten days, one of which is PBD. Julia comes up with all sorts of schemes to get around the rule, but in the end, she accepts her fate and finds a way to support her team from the sidelines.

For such a slight plot, I found this book to be a compelling read, and I’m always a fan of “real” middle grade books that feature nine-year-olds, unfortunately few and far between. Julia’s immigrant parents, despite working hard to make their sushi restaurant profitable, are supportive and have a good sense of humor. I look forward to more stories about Julia and her family.