Scrimshaw

By Ethan M. Aldridge

5/5 ducklings 🐣🐣🐣🐣🐣

tl;dr Nev finds a skull with mysterious carvings on it in the Deephaven basement. Then bad things start happening: fires, allergic reactions, bloodshed. Is Nev cursed? Is the skull predicting the future? Or is there something darker lurking in the shadows?

***

After Nev’s tumultuous first term at Deephaven, they’re on thin ice with the Headmistress and they plan to tread carefully from now on. But their curiosity gets the better of them and they go snooping in Deephaven’s basement, despite Danny’s plea not to and prefect Patience’s watchful eye.

In an abandoned chest, Nev finds a skull with strange markings etched into its teeth. Unsettling, sure, but gibberish until the first accident lines up with one of the carvings. And now Nev can’t get rid of the skull, no matter how many times they put it back where they found it.

As terrible events pile up, Nev is forced to wonder if its their fault, if they’re cursed and making these things happen to fulfill a dark prophecy.

Danny, worried about Nev’s increasingly strange behavior, must help them solve this puzzle before it consumes them both.

Once again, Ethan Aldridge nails spooky gothic horror. Scrimshaw took a pleasantly dark turn, with real threats to the characters in a way that middle grade books usually shy away from. It’s another shining example of trusting the reader and not talking down to them just because they’re kids.

I love the emphasis on Nev’s mental health in this book, Aldridge portrays it in a way that is serious, with serious consequences, but it never felt bleak or unfixable. Nev comes to understand that they need their friends and their friends want to help. It also shows Nev coming to understand that their friends need support too and that they can give it, even when they’re having a hard time, too.

#readqueerbooks #bookstagram #middlegrade #horror #fencingisstillarealsport