Lily and the Night Creatures
by Nick Lake ; illus. by Emily Gravett
Intermediate     Simon    240 pp.         g
8/22     978-1-5344-9461-9     $17.99
e-book ed.  978-1-5344-9463-3    $10.99

Part animal fantasy, part family drama, part horror story, this novel set in an English village opens outside a house at sunset with an anxious conversation among Mole, Crow, Mouse, and Snake: will the girl come? Will she win? The girl, Lily, is already having a tough day. After enduring dialysis and an iron injection, she must spend the night at her grandmother’s while her parents are at the hospital having a new baby, a sibling Lily does not want. She also has left Willo, her favorite stuffed animal, behind. She sneaks out of her grandmother’s house to go back home (it’s nearby) and retrieve Willo; when she arrives, however, she finds not only the motley crew of talking animals but also her house possessed, Coraline -style, by two evil coal-eyed parent replicas. Told in third person from Lily’s perspective, the story captures the frustration of struggling with a chronic illness as well as the character’s inner determination. While she attempts to save her family, the animals never coddle her and need as many assists from her as she does from them—and they also provide helpful comic relief during the scarier parts. Gravett’s eerie illustrations capture the mood of the text and use visual cues, such as black backgrounds with white text when Lily is in the dark, to build tension. Full of twists, the story divulges key interpersonal details and magical elements with smart pacing, frequently allowing readers to reconsider everything from new perspectives.

From the November/December 2022 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.