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Content snapshot
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Violence
Some
Common Sense Media rates it 'some': two child murders occur but are given little explanation or detail, and there is an attempted abduction in which the child fights back and is rescued
Language
None
None
Sexual Content
None
None — the children are at the age of dismissing the opposite sex entirely
Substance Use
None
Common Sense Media records drinking, drugs and smoking as not present
Emotional Intensity
A lot
The murders and the attempted abduction give this a real undercurrent of menace for a nine-year-old reader, and the wrongful suspicion of an eccentric neighbor is its own uncomfortable thread
What this book is about
April and Melanie build an elaborate secret Egypt behind an antique shop — rituals, a homemade altar, an oracle that starts answering back — while the neighborhood is on edge over the killing of local children. Common Sense Media rates the 215-page Newbery Honor novel 9+ and puts violence at 'some': 'two murders of kids occur in the book with little explanation or detail,' plus an attempted abduction in which a child is grabbed, fights back and is rescued, a child threatening to punch classmates, and a pet killed by another pet. Language is recorded as none — 'there is nothing in this book harsher than a Sheesh!' There is no sexual content and no substance content. The review notes the eventual offender is treated with some compassion as sick, and that a subplot turns on a neighbor wrongly suspected.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Two child murders in the neighborhood, referenced without detail
An attempted abduction of a main character
A neighbor wrongly suspected by the community
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