Curse of the Boggin (The Library, Book 1) by D.J. MacHale

Random House Books for Young Readers, 2016

ISBN-13: 978-1101932537

Available: Hardcover, audiobook, audio CD

Marcus O’Mara was an ordinary troublemaking kid headed to detention until a ghost in pajamas started haunting him, and the words “surrender the key” appeared in shattered glass in the school hallway. Suspended from school for accidentally blowing out all the computers in the computer lab while in unsupervised detention, he researches the term on the Internet and finds the obituary of the man who has been haunting him, and decides to sneak out of the house to find the man’s family. When Marcus arrives at the man’s household,  his wife recognizes Marcus, and tells him that both her husband and his birth parents were paranormal investigators who died under mysterious circumstances. Her husband had been holding onto something left for Marcus by his parents: a key that can open any door into a library of unfinished stories. The librarian tells Marcus it is up to him to finish the chain of events that will lead to the end of the ghost’s story, which means capturing the spirit who led to his death: the boggin. The boggin is a spirit with the power of illusion whose chief purpose is to cause fear and dread, and it is the one demanding that Marcus “surrender the key”. With the help of his friends Lu and Theo, Marcus must find a way to defeat and imprison the boggin and prevent it from getting the key to the library.

This is the first book in a series, and provides the setup for further volumes that the author says can be read in any order as stand-alone adventures. And they are adventures: from the prologue on, the action rarely stops. MacHale’s economy of words means the story moves along, but there’s enough description to create appropriately frightening atmosphere (much of which is related to weather, such as lightning strikes and thick fog). A spirit who can create completely effective illusions gives the author a lot of latitude to work with in terms of creating some pretty nasty experiences for Marcus and his friends.  As in many suspense and mystery novels for middle-graders, there are a lot of unlikely coincidences and character tropes (MacHale plays with these, but the physically adventurous risk-taker and the cautious, nerdy skeptic are pretty standard) and the ending is predictable, but I love the concept of the Library! Kids looking for a mildly scary, suspenseful ride, with plenty of ghosts and spirits (and spiders), will enjoy this.

Editor’s note:  Curse of the Boggin is a nominee for the 2019-2020 Young Hoosier Book Award in the grades 4-6 category.