Kaela Rivera's The Hungry Forest is a tightly edited, cinematic middle-grade treat that pulses with action, horror, and humanity.
Situated across from the middle school in Traveler's Rest, S.C., is "a missing persons black hole"--a dense forest into which countless people have disappeared over the decades. Brothers Ryan, 12, and Teddy, eight, know especially well not to wander into the forest thanks to their search-and-rescuer father. He maintained a trove of research about those lost to the woodland until he died four months ago. Ryan works to be like his perfect, macho dad, while Teddy, who has been embarrassing Ryan by carrying a stuffed bear, has secretly begun looking through his father's notes. One day after school, the brothers hear their father calling to them from the "death-forest." They follow the voice into the trees and must work together to defeat the monsters within, lest they be trapped inside the woods forever.
Rivera, known for her Cece Rios adventure trilogy, deftly constructs a fanciful and genuinely scary (though not gory or overwrought) middle-grade horror tale with themes of grief, acceptance, and identity. Beyond the scares, Rivera centers the story on the tender, beating heart of a family. Teddy asserts himself more directly and begins to shed the shame he felt around his father's death. Ryan confronts hard truths about his Mexican heritage and how his father passed down the generational trauma of assimilation. The author adds to the fantastical frights with her own art, such as individual chapter headers and a map. The Hungry Forest--quickly paced and full of monstrous scares and human heart--is sure to leave readers ravenous for more. --Luis Rendon