Gr 4–7—Melony Yoshimura feels stifled by her overprotective parents. When an evil Amanjaku promises to make
Melony's wishes come true, she's thrilled, until the Amanjaku wants more and more. A fresh take on a Japanese
folktale that's just the right amount of creepy

This was cute! It's solidly middle grade, and will be a great introduction to the horror genre for kids. To borrow a phrase from Lord Ravenscroft, it's a softball horror story. He was using the term to describe R L Stine, which is his and my generation. This...might even be a folkloric suspense novel. That could be a better description now that I'm thinking about it. I enjoyed learning a little bit about Japanese mythology! There were times where I was legit super worried and a little scared. The world-building is great, the foreshadowing's good, and every character is interesting and adds to the story in some way. If Brown writes more horror or thrillers, I'll eagerly check them out!. ( )