Into the Candle-Lit Room

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Five first-person supernatural tales by a professional storyteller make up this uneven, occasionally chilling collection. The title story is a classic Faustian set-up: 15-year-old Vlad longs to leave his Polish immigrant family behind and join the Park Avenue jet set. A handsome devil named Bub can make it all happen... in exchange for Vlad's soul. Vlad thwarts the villain through a clever plot twist. The heroine of the next story, however, is not so lucky, nor so virtuous. Her "college essay" is one extended joke in which she sells herself as a prospective matriculant, but consistently betrays her evil nature. The three tales that follow, somewhat disorientingly, abandon the Faustian theme. One is a pleasingly romantic ghost story; the next a predictable fortune-teller thriller; the last an evocative and scarily ambiguous narrative about a baby too small to see. The stories do not present a coherent supernatural universe, and many of the narrators are unlikable--selfish, shallow, even cruel. Says Vlad after a day out with the devil, "I was so happy tonight when I came home and hid my money and tried on my new clothing that I barely thought about how bad Grand[mother] must feel not to have me take her to church two Sundays in a row." Good for campfire read-alouds, the best of these tales will spook the bravest of horror veterans, and the rest will still provide a shiver or two. Ages 10-14. (Aug.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

Gr 6-9-A collection of five supernatural and strange stories that vary in length from 15 to 85 pages. In the title story, Vladimir almost sells his soul to a devil. Ultimately, good wins out over evil, but how the boy succeeds comes as a surprise. In "Caring: The College Admissions Essay of Becky Sue Anderson," readers are convinced that Becky Sue is killing anyone who gets in her way. The essay ends with a hint of a threat as the teen knows the addresses of the admissions board members. This story is a little wordy and repetitive. "Letters from Leah" are written to her best friend telling her about the ghost she sees while she is on summer holiday. "Lily" deals with a little sister so small that she can't be seen. It's an interesting read, but the point isn't very clear. The stories are conveyed through diaries, letters, or essays written by the young protagonists, and, in spite of some flaws, they have a "gotcha" ending that will appeal to readers and take them by surprise.-Kendra Nan Skellen, Gwinnett County Public Library, Lawrenceville, GA Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Five interlocking stories sometimes shock, and sometimes shiver, in this uneven collection. The first and longest is a diary by young Vlad Mikula. His immigrant father is a superintendent in an upscale building in New York City, and Vlad hates their poverty. When Mr. Belliel moves into the building, Vlad is charmed by his manners and the money he dispenses so freely for small tasks. Vlad's grandmother senses something else emanating from Belliel's candlelit apartment, but all Vlad can see is the money and the manners. A surprising twist allows readers to see that Vlad is not as callow as he appears. Becky Sue's college essay reveals a monstrous and murderous mind; Sharon's empty-headed diary ends in a telegraphed tragedy. Both girls figure peripherally in the sweet ghost story told in Leah's summer letters from Cape Cod, where a nasty older sister gets her comeuppance and a very old lady gets a last gift. The final story, which keeps strands from all the earlier ones, is shimmeringly creepy. Young readers finished with Goosebumps may take to this one before they head into Stephen King territory. (Fiction. 10-14)