The List of Unspeakable Fears, mglit realistic fiction with an aurora

Capturing age-appropriate dread is challenging. If the product is too dark it won’t be attractive and if it’s too bright then it loses its street-cred amongst middle school audiences. Sometimes campy creeps aren’t what that age wants. J. Kasper Kramer’s other book that we read, The Story That Cannot Be Told lived like a parallel, fairy-free version of Pan’s Labyrinth. About the only thing, those two held in common was a narrative where the background played second fiddle to an incredibly compelling personal story. The List of Unspeakable Fears hits some of the same targets but sets its focused sights on the Typhoid outbreak. Raise your hand if you want to read about Typhoid Mary and North Brother Island.

I didn’t want to either and that’s the brilliance of the way that Kramer weaves the story.

It’s realistic fiction, but it feels so real that you’ll be doing some online searches after you read it just to confirm that fact. Add in the manner in which the fictional elements reside on top of the already creepy, and largely unknown back story of that outbreak and you’ve got a book that lives under your skin while you’re reading it.

The List of Unspeakable Fears is not filled with gore or stereotypical acts that would be associated with a remote medical facility that’s located on a mysterious island. Readers don’t even need to know about Typhoid, Typhoid Mary, North Brother Island, the state of New York, or any of that. The book sets up one of those elements and places the story of a widow and her tween daughter firmly as the driver for the story.

Essie is a young girl whose mom has just remarried the doctor who runs a quarantine hospital. This is the same hospital that’s located on an island where General Slocum crashed ashore after it had caught fire. I hadn’t heard about this maritime disaster, but it’s real and adds to the realistic fiction vibe that will have you researching things during and afterward. In the fictional realm of the book, Essie saw the fire and subsequent death of more than 1,000 people, and now she’s going to be living on that tiny spec of land.

Toss in the fact that she has to leave her best friend, there’s a creepy red door that leads to the attic and she’s seeing ghosts and not to mention that Essie is cripplingly scared of dozens upon dozens of things. This is a book that will hook middle-grade readers if they give it a chance.

While you’re reading The List of Unspeakable Fears you’ll find yourself questioning if Essie is experiencing these things or if she’s imagining them. At the same time these things are going on, there’s a valid reason that’s been explained for each camp to believe the things that they do. The book is great for middle school readers and up. The cover alludes to dark and dour, and while the threads to the story aren’t made up of kittens, the end message of the book is not sullen. This is well constructed realistic fiction that grades six and up will read with the lights dimmed. It’ll also introduce them to some non-fiction events and a time period that mglit may not cover enough.

The List of Unspeakable Fears is by J. Kasper Kramer and available on Anthem Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

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