My Throat an Open Grave

Gr 9 Up–With this novel, Bovalino has created a welcome addition to the paranormal genre that concentrates on just what it means to be good. Leah Jones has been taught by her community, and most especially by her mother, that her value is intrinsically meshed with her goodness as a human being. In order to be good in Leah’s world of Winston, PA, she has to remain pure of body and thought or she runs the risk of attracting the Lord of the Wood, who has a cruel reputation for stealing generations of young women and children from town. When Leah’s baby brother Owen is taken from his crib while under her care, her mother immediately demands that Leah sacrifice herself to the Lord of the Woods in an attempt to get Owen back, even though no one sacrificed has ever returned to Winston. Leah, harboring guilty thoughts of how nice her life had been before the arrival of baby Owen, agrees to be sent to the forest. The dichotomy between Leah’s perception of the Lord of the Wood and his followers and the reality stuns Leah into reevaluating all aspects of her life, including her belief system and what it means to be good. Bovalino has created two very believable worlds that engage readers from the first page. Leah is white, but secondary characters are diverse, and one character is nonbinary. The book contains two mature scenes that makes this more appropriate for teens.