Texas Library Association Bluebonnet Award 2024-25 List - Agatha Award nominee - Anthony Award nominee - Winner of the Colorado Authors League Book Award for Best Juvenile/YA - Battle of the Books favorite From the critically acclaimed author of Midnight at the Barclay Hotel comes a thrilling new middle grade mystery novel inspired by Alcatraz Prison. Tori, Marvin, and Noah would rather be anywhere else than on the seventh grade class field trip to Raven Island prison. Tori would rather be on the soccer field, but her bad grades have benched her until further notice; Marvin would rather be at the first day of a film festival with his best friend, Kevin; and Noah isn't looking forward to having to make small talk with his classmates at this new school. But when the three of them stumble upon a dead body in the woods, miss the last ferry back home, and then have to spend the night on Raven Island, they find that they need each other now more than ever. They must work together to uncover a killer, outrun a motley ghost-hunting crew, and expose the age-old secrets of the island all before daybreak. Gr 4–6—Seventh grade can be trying for any new teenager, but for Tori, who is white; Noah, who is Black; and Marvin, who is Korean American, surviving the year feels unlikely. The protagonists, along with a handful of other students, are on their way to Raven Island Prison—the first class to ever take a field trip there. The prison, reminiscent of Alcatraz, is rumored to be haunted, and ghosts have been sighted many times. Tori, Noah, and Marvin accidentally miss the ferry home and due to currents, they must wait until daybreak for another ferry to return for them. What ensues is a murder mystery that the three spend the night trying to solve. The island has many buildings, tunnels, and woods that are filled with ravens and ghosts galore, which add to the difficulty of deciphering the truth. No one is exempt from their suspect list. The mystery is written in third-person omniscient, and Bradley draws readers deep into questions of Raven Island in this suspenseful and sometimes scary narrative. Kids will keep turning the pages as they root for the three main characters on their quest for the truth. VERDICT A howling and harrowing good read, perfect for fans who like to keep guessing right up to the very end. A recommended purchase for libraries who need more mystery-horror genre-blends.—Tracy Cronce "Horror devices and skillful pacing are used to great effect. An enjoyable paranormal mystery embued with social commentary." - Kirkus Reviews "Smartly employed horror elements. . . contribute to a genuinely frightening feel" --Publishers Weekly "A howling and harrowing good read, perfect for fans who like to keep guessing right up to the very end. A recommended purchase for libraries who need more mystery-horror genre-blends." --School Library Journal "Readers who prefer their frights full-blown but on the mild side will definitely get their money's worth" --Booklist Fleur Bradley has loved mysteries ever since she first picked up an Agatha Christie book at the age of eleven. She's the author of award-winning middle-grade mysteries Daybreak on Raven Island and Midnight at the Barclay Hotel (Viking/PRH), the Double Vision trilogy (HarperCollins), as well as numerous short stories, one of which was recently chosen for the annual Best Mystery Stories of the Year anthology. Fleur's work has been nominated for the Agatha and Anthony Award and has won the Colorado Book Award, among others. A reluctant reader herself, Fleur is also a literacy advocate and speaks at events on how to reach reluctant readers. Originally from the Netherlands, she now lives in a small cottage in the foothills of the Colorado Rockies. Raven Island was a forgotten place. Sure, you could see the massive rock from the Pacific coast. On a clearer day, you may get a glimpse of the prison, or the empty dock that used to welcome boats and ferries. You could even see the lighthouse, once proud and bright but now extinguished. Forgotten. The ravens were perfectly fine with this situation. It was nice and quiet without humans. People could be noisy, and they’d just shoo the ravens away or give them a slightly terrified look. Ravens were dark and scary to people. Here on the island, they got to live in uninterrupted peace. Without the humans around, it was easy to forget that Raven Island was once the site of a supermax prison, the kind of place you sent the toughest, most dangerous criminals. Like Big Mickey, that notorious mobster no prison seemed to be able to tame—he was sent to Raven Island back in the 1930s for multiple murders and racketeering. He got sick and died there. And there were dozens of stories just like his. Raven Island Prison was not a happy place. One Friday morning, the oldest raven sat perched on the bell tower of the prison—her favorite spot. And she’d earned that prime location fair and square: she was the leader. The ow