The Pricker Boy by Reade Scott Whinnem Grades 7-9 288 pages Random House September 2009 Hardcover     Fourteen-year-old Stucks and his best friend, Pete, are year-round residents in a sleepy lakeside community. Each year they are joined by the “summer kids,” and together they enjoy all the area has to offer, including ghost stories around a campfire. But there is one local legend that haunts these kids year after year: the story of the Pricker Boy. It is said that he was lured into the woods under the pretense of a cruel joke where he fell prey to an animal trap. Although his body was never found, blood and bits of his clothing were discovered. Believed to have been consumed by thorny underbrush, the Pricker Boy now roams the area hellbent on revenge. This year, the kids are too old for such silly nonsense. But for some reason, the Pricker Boy seems more real than ever. What is in the woods beyond the Widow’s Stone, and will it finally claim one of them as its victim? At times, this story gets a bit confusing, as though the author were telling a private joke that you aren’t privy to, and the “ghost story” and antidotes to ward it off tend to be a bit immature for the book’s adolescent audience. However, once you begin, there is no putting it down - even if just to make sense of it. The Pricker Boy will keep you engrossed right up till the final twist, where author Reade Scott Whinnem blindsides you with a revelation you never saw coming. This supernatural tale is based on a dream the author had as a child and which he has developed into a story with a coming-of-age mentality. Sometimes it is easier to believe in ghosts than the things real life can dish out.     web reviews   Niki Masse Schoenfeldt/2010 for curled up with a good kid's book   For grown-up fiction, nonfiction and speculative fiction book reviews, visit our sister site Curled Up With a Good Book (www.curledup.com)