The “uncanny valley” describes the effect of the almost-but-not-quite-human-seeming creature or object on certain people. It was first used to describe humans’ reactions to different kinds of robots, but it also suggests why clowns, masks, dolls, puppets, and even scarecrows show up so often in horror film and fiction. Two very different middle grade books that have come my way this summer take advantage of the uneasiness and ever fear caused by the inhabitants of the uncanny valley.

Oddity by Sarah Cannon

Feiwel & Friends, 2017

ISBN-13: 978-1250123282

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition

In Oddity, Sarah Cannon describes a town of the same name in New Mexico,  where the bizarre and out-of-place have become commonplace. School safety drills include attack leopards, pizza explodes, and there are infestations of little aliens and zombie rabbits. Ada and her friend Raymond, have taken the new kid from Chicago, Cayden, under their wing.  They are Nopesers, participants in a secret wiki that shares information about Oddity’s dangers… except that instead of using it to avoid them, Ada uses them to plan expeditions, with a reluctant Raymond and nervous Cayden, to learn Oddity’s secrets.

Oddity is run by the Protection Committee, a literal puppet junta that consists of life-size, living puppets.  150 years ago, they battled the invisible Blurmonster,  and now the puppets protect the town to keep it from entering the city limits. A few people, like Cayden and his family, move in, but nobody leaves. Every year the puppets hold a sweepstakes, which all adults have to participate in, and the chosen winners disappear. Last year Ada’s twin sister Pearl was the first child to win a Sweepstakes, and Ada and her family haven’t seen her since. Only Cayden, who hasn’t grown up surrounded by menacing living puppets as town heroes and protectors, can sense something is off.

Oddity veers between absurdity, adventure, mystery, and terror. On one level, it’s a tale of family, friendship, acceptance, and the ways we deal with grief; on another, it sends a strong message about complicity and alternate world views; and on a third, it’s incredibly creepy. It’s also completely silly and off-the-wall– it’s incredible how much Cannon stuffs between the covers without shortchanging anything!  The puppets, with their awkward movements, sneering expressions, and silent puppeteers are situated right there in the uncanny valley, leaving many readers unsettled and uneasy even before they know things are more than just odd in Oddity, they are sinister, too. Recommended for ages 10+

Small Spaces by Katherine Arden

G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, 2018

ISBN-13: 978-0525515029

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

Small Spaces by Katherine Arden takes a deep dive into the uncanny valley from a different direction. Like Ada, Ollie is dealing with intense grief, in this case after the death of her mother, but instead of having a large family for support, Olivia just has her dad, who is a great dad, but has his own grieving to do. Instead of sustaining friendships, Olivia has become withdrawn, and just wants to spend her time alone. When she goes to her favorite hideout, a nearby swimming hole, she encounters a terrified woman about to throw a book in the water, and, appalled, grabs it away. The woman warns her that since she’s taken the book, she should remember to “keep to small spaces, or see what happens to you”.  Luckily, Olivia is an avid and curious reader, and immediately starts reading what appears to be a diary by one Cathy Webster titled Small Spaces, written 125 years ago for the author’s daughter, as a warning to stay away from her family home in order to avoid being caught in a deal her father made with the “smiling man”.  Intrigued, Ollie takes the book with her on a school field trip to a nearby farm. On the way, she learns that the farm her class will be visiting is the one described in the book she’s reading, that the story really happened, and that since then a schoolhouse on the farm property has burned to the ground, with no evidence of survivors.

When she arrives at the farm, Ollie discovers it is covered in scarecrows on stakes, with garden tools for hands, and that it is owned by the woman she met at the swimming hole. On the way home, the school bus breaks down and the bus driver mutters to the students that “they’ll come for the rest of you at nightfall”. Olivia is able to get the bus driver to tell her that they’ll all be taken by the servants of the “smiling man” to complete his bargain unless they leave the bus, run into the woods, and hide. The smiling man’s servants can only move at night, so during the daytime, she can travel safely. Looking out the window as the sky darkens, it seems to her that there are more scarecrows than there were, and that they are getting nearer.

Ollie decides to leave the bus, and when she tells the other students, only two others choose to go with her, running into the forest and looking for a small space to hide as they see the scarecrows descend on the school bus. Lost in the woods and cornfields in freezing October weather, running from scarecrows and ghosts, Ollie and her classmates Brian and Coco have to find their classmates and break the smiling man’s hold over them before they’re caught themselves. The next day, as the three try to figure out what to do, Coco and Brian conclude that the scarecrows are like robots or puppets, and the smiling man must be the puppet master. Malevolent scarecrows, especially in a bleak October cornfield, are actually more uncanny, in my opinion, than puppets are. The mental image of a crowd of scarecrows spearing the ground with their stakes, with garden forks for hands, grabbing at sixth graders crowded into a small space, or corralling an entire class silently across the forest, is creepy and dread-inducing.

Ollie, Brian, and Coco are not friends when the story begins. Coco is a clumsy city kid with pink hair who is ignored and bullied, Brian is a popular hockey player, and Olivia has no interest in learning more about them. Her only connection with them is that she threw a rock at Brian for picking on Coco the previous day.  For Ollie, both turn out to have unexpected depths: Brian isn’t a dumb jock– he’s an avid reader (namechecking Narnia and Alice in Wonderland) with a strong imagination who feels real anguish over what has happened to his friends. Coco is a klutz on the ground, but graceful and fearless as a climber, and fascinated by chess. I really liked the depiction of these two characters, especially Brian’s, as it’s rare to see a “popular jock” character with any more dimensionality to it, especially a boy. Ollie’s father was also an enjoyable change from father stereotypes that often appear in fiction, and even though Ollie’s mother is no longer alive during the time the book takes place, she is a vivid presence in the book. It’s easy to see how deeply Ollie feels her grief and the effect it has had on her: her confrontation with the smiling man and the choice she has to make at the end of the book, while somewhat predictable, is wrenching. Recommended for ages 10+

Both Small Spaces and Oddity have well-developed settings that are almost characters themselves, stories from the past that have strongly influenced the present, and uncanny creatures that create a sense of unease, dread, or even fear. Ghost stories are popular with middle-grade and middle school readers, and while they are enjoyable, these two books are a refreshing change.