Macabre.  Creepy.  Chilling.  Sinister.  Delightfully devilish.  Just a few words that could be used to describe Alex Bell’s Frozen Charlotte.  If you are in the mood for a good scare (and maybe a few sleepless nights) then this is the book for you.

It took me a bit to get into this book.  The first couple of chapters lost me and seemed a little over-done, but once Sophie goes to visit her family, the story heats up and doesn’t stop until the very end.  This is a bit of a grizzly tale, so younger audiences may want to shy away, but middle teen readers will likely have a great time trying to puzzle out exactly how the events will unfold.

The plot line is imaginative.  Up until the very last chapters I thought I had it figured out as to who the “bad guy” really was–and boy was I wrong.  But I don’t want to give the surprise away.

If you’re up for a good snuggle up on a winter’s night tale, this one is for you!

This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Scholastic

Content Analysis:

Language:  17 religious exclamations; 6 mild obscenities.

Violence/Gore:  Young girl draws picture of murdered family; teen threatens to “bash” another’s head; reports of death from suicide by jumping from window, death by drowning, death by fall from cliff, death by exposure to elements; girl hits younger girl in face with flashlight out of fear; animal scratches boy and draws blood; girl scratches boy as he tries to awaken her from nightmare; character falls and breaks leg; teen boy whips another with riding crop; girl slaps boy’s face; teen boy pins teen girl against wall; report of girl poking out cat’s eye and throwing another cat into a fire; two page creepy scene of Ouija board activity and ghost sighting; creepy nightmare of tiny hands grabbing girl; piano is vandalized and destroyed; girl sets fire to house; teen boy has needles poked into eyes with blood depictions; piano keys are covered in blood; restaurant worker injured in fryer accident with bloody burns; blood drips and spills from figurine music box; doll bites inside of girl’s mouth causing her to spit blood over table; girl kicks sister in face off a cliff; girl kicks another in face down flight of stairs; teen girl stabs her brother with copious amounts of blood depicted; things bite and strangle girl with blood depictions

Sex/Nudity:  Teens kiss; teens hold hands.

Mature Subject Matter:

Death, suicide, mental illness, paranormal activity.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

Teens smoke cigarettes.