Mothman’s Curse by Christine Hayes is a fun, little, middle grades read and I would definitely recommend it for MG readers (maybe even late elementary school) who like mysteries and spooky stuff. It is somewhere in the neighborhood of Scooby Doo but with tween and younger protagonists, but when reading that level of creepy in novel form, it could be a little too scary for some kids. I don’t want to overdo it: though there are supernatural things and death, it is pretty lighthearted and age-appropriate; It’s no Flowers in the Attic. I had a fun time reading it, which means that the writing itself is acceptable and I kept turning the pages to see what happened with Josie and her siblings.

Josie and her little brothers—the precocious Fox and inventive Mason—live on property with their dad’s auction house in Ohio. When they encounter a haunted camera that prints pictures of a dead man, they are thrown into a mystery that weaves back to the ol’ Mothman stories they heard about growing up. Still dealing with her mother’s death and with feeling like the un-notable sibling, Josie would do anything to protect her family. And with a curse and a mystery hanging around, that might mean any number of things.

I found this book while looking for Mothman literature. I am editing the first book in a YA trilogy that I am writing, which has a moth-man character in it. While I don’t actually want my moth-man to be the Mothman, I decided I should familiarize myself with the legend and where that legend has gone. This is the first Mothman book I bought and read, partly because it was the most affordable and readily available. Actually, there aren’t that many out there, to begin with.

One of the things reviewers say a lot about this book is that they like the family dynamics. Yeah, mom is dead (isn’t she always?!), but dad is around (until he has to be removed enough to allow the kids room to make an actual story here), as well as an aunt and uncle, as well as familiar neighbors. And the relationship between the three siblings is also strong and loving, though not uncomplicated. I do appreciate functional families in literature, especially in children’s lit and especially because they are rare. Josie, etc. have enough issues; family can be a strong point. Plus, the characters are cute, and engaging enough for this reading level.

As I mentioned above, though there is a Scooby-Doo thing going on here, we are not going to find out in the end that Old Man Winters is under the Mothman mask. This isn’t giving anything away. This is a story that involves actual (fictional) supernatural monsters and events. Think Casper, but a little creepier. And it’s not set in some fantastical world or anything. Hayes was inspired by the legend of Mothman, which is featured in this book (and added to tremendously—Mothman is kind of a thin tale, actually, compared with, say, Bigfoot). It’s Ohio. It’s modern times.

And, yeah, it’s not really for middle-aged women, but it’s written well enough that an MG-reading grown-up could read it and like it and recommend it at the library or in the classroom or whatever. In other words, it’s not going to be an unpleasant experience for anyone, unless you scare really easily. Or if you don’t approve of stories about the darker side of the supernatural. Mothman’s Curse scares you. Makes you think about family. Tells a fast-paced, adventure story to tweens.