For once, everything in twelve-year-old Josephine's life is going according to plan. She's finally proved that girls belong on the cricket team and earned a spot as a starting player! And she's confident that she and her best friend, Ahkai, will both be accepted to their dream secondary school. Nothing can stop Jo now -- not even the memory of the vengeful sea spirit she vanquished last year.
But then a series of disasters strike. Ahkai suddenly seems to have a new best friend -- the annoyingly perfect Lynne. Then Jo isn't accepted to the same school as Ahkai! Even worse, Jo keeps having eerie encounters with a mysterious figure lurking in the shadows -- a figure who bears an unsettling resemblance to the fearsome Heartman rumored to steal children's hearts...
Jo doesn't know where to turn. With Daddy away, the only person who'll believe her is Ahkai, but Jo is too proud to ask for help after being replaced. By the time she musters the courage to approach him, it's too late.
Ahkai has disappeared without a trace.
He's been taken by the Heartman.
None of the adults believe Jo. The Heartman is just a legend, after all. But Jo knows that the fearsome creature is real and that if she doesn't find his lair soon, Ahkai will be lost forever.
From rising star Shakirah Bourne, author of Josephine Against the Sea, comes a mysterious adventure that explores one of the most chilling tales in Caribbean mythology: the faceless douen children.
Twelve year-old Serenity Noah has never told anyone about her recurring nightmares -- the haunting images of silver butterflies whose flapping wings drive away all sound, leaving only suffocating silence in their wake. Her parents already favor her perfect younger brother, Peace, and she doesn't want to be seen as the problem child.
Instead, Serenity's found a productive way to channel her fears: creating a horror movie as scary as her nightmares.
When Peace suddenly becomes afraid of the dark and refuses to sleep alone, their parents take him away for treatment on Duppy Island. Serenity has a very bad feeling about the mysterious island and the facility's creepy leader, Dr. Whisper. And when she sees a silver butterfly from her nightmares in the forbidden forest she realizes that something is seriously, dangerously awry.
But nothing could've prepared Serenity for the truth: the island is home to douens -- faceless children with backward feet who are trapped in limbo between the world of the living and the land of the dead. And unless Serenity acts soon, her brother is going to join their ranks...
A heart-wrenching adventure with big laughs and well-earned surprises. --Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
Eleven-year-old Josephine knows that no one is good enough for her daddy. That's why she makes a habit of scaring his new girlfriends away. She's desperate to make it onto her school's cricket team because she'll get to play her favorite sport AND use the cricket matches to distract Daddy from dating.
But when Coach Broomes announces that girls can't try out for the team, the frustrated Josephine cuts into a powerful silk cotton tree and accidentally summons a bigger problem into her life . . .
The next day, Daddy brings home a new catch, a beautiful woman named Mariss. And unlike the other girlfriends, this one doesn't scare easily. Josephine knows there's something fishy about Mariss but she never expected her to be a vengeful sea creature eager to take her place as her father's first love! Can Josephine convince her friends to help her and use her cricket skills to save Daddy from Mariss's clutches before it's too late?
A heart-wrenching adventure with big laughs and well-earned surprises. --Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
Eleven-year-old Josephine knows that no one is good enough for her daddy. That's why she makes a habit of scaring his new girlfriends away. She's desperate to make it onto her school's cricket team because she'll get to play her favorite sport AND use the cricket matches to distract Daddy from dating.
But when Coach Broomes announces that girls can't try out for the team, the frustrated Josephine cuts into a powerful silk cotton tree and accidentally summons a bigger problem into her life . . .
The next day, Daddy brings home a new catch, a beautiful woman named Mariss. And unlike the other girlfriends, this one doesn't scare easily. Josephine knows there's something fishy about Mariss but she never expected her to be a vengeful sea creature eager to take her place as her father's first love! Can Josephine convince her friends to help her and use her cricket skills to save Daddy from Mariss's clutches before it's too late?