CLACKITY
Grades 5 and Up
Lora Senf
Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-66590-267-0
288 pp.
Summary
Coraline meets Alice in Wonderland in this spooky tale. Evie Von Rathe and her aunt, Desdemona, live in Blight Harbor – the seventh-most-haunted town in America. When Desdemona disappears in the town’s creepy abandoned slaughterhouse, it’s up to Evie to face her fears (and breathe through her anxiety), confront a murderous ghost, and rescue her aunt from the supernatural Clackity.
Curriculum Connections
Language Arts/Creative Writing
Evie’s Aunt Desdemona writes an advice column for people with supernatural problems. Try inventing some problems and answers for a supernatural advice column of your own. (“I think my next-door neighbor might be a vampire. How can I tell? What should I do?”)
The Story Thief wasn’t happy with Evie’s story because he thought it didn’t have an ending. How do you feel about stories with unresolved endings? Can you write a short story that ends with a question or on a cliff-hanger?
Psychology
Evie struggles with anxiety and panic attacks. Learn more about these. For online resources see:
National Institute of Mental Health: Panic Disorder
What's the Difference Between a Panic Attack and an Anxiety Attack?
How to Help a Child Struggling with Anxiety
A flock of sparrows helps Evie in her quest to save her aunt. What does the saying “Birds of a feather flock together” mean? Can it apply to people? Can you think of examples?
Science
Desdemona tells Evie that sparrows are an old symbol of protection, and that a flock of sparrows can fight off something much larger when they all work together. Research sparrows and flocking behavior. See these online resources:
Lily’s Lessons teach Evie many facts about nature, covering everything from gooseberries to deer droppings. Come up with your own Lily-type list of interesting and quirky nature facts.
Art
To rescue her aunt, Evie has to tackle seven different houses - ranging from a farmhouse to a blue-glass house to a gingerbread cottage. Invent and illustrate seven very different mystery houses of your own.
Evie says that the third house reminded her of an M.C. Escher picture. Research artist M.C. Escher and his works.
Discussion Questions
If you had a house ghost, what do you think he/she/they/it would be like? How would you feel about having a house ghost? Excited? Nervous?
Evie said that the old slaughterhouse looked “defiant. Sometimes places are like people and have their own personalities. They can be warm or cold. Friendly or mean.” Can you think of some buildings or places that have a personality? What kind?
Evie’s new haircut and look make her feel tough and brave. What makes you feel brave?
Were Grey, Pink, and Gold good witches or bad witches?
The Story Thief tells Evie that “All stories are keys, you know.” What do you think that means?
Why do you think readers like (or don’t like) spooky stories? What other books remind you of The Clackity?
Author Online
Lora Senf, mother of twins, is inspired by her children’s dreams, roads trips through Montana, and most recently an abandoned abattoir. She loves a rainy day and a scary book and spends much too much time on Twitter (now X) at @Lora013. See talks with Lora at Publisher’s Weekly’s Q&A with Lora Senf and this guest post on the School Library Journal website, Sometimes a Monster is Just a Monster, Sometimes It's More
Companion Books
Coraline
Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins, 2012)
Coraline finds a strange door in her family’s new flat that leads to another house and an eerie family that wants to keep her as their own.
Small Spaces
Katherine Arden (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2019)
When the school bus breaks down in the middle of nowhere, the strange driver warns tells Ollie and friends to get away before nightfall. His one piece of advice: “Avoid large places. Keep to the small.”
The Night Gardener
Jonathan Auxier (Harry N. Abrams, 2015)
Molly and Kip, two young Irish siblings, come to work as servants in a crumbling English manor house where they encounter the evil Night Gardener and a mysterious curse.
Whispering Pines
Heidi Lang and Kati Bartkowski. (Margaret K. McElderry, 2021)
Stranger Things meets The X-Files in the town of Whispering Pines, where kids go missing and then reappear as eyeless zombies – but Ree and Caden join forces to put things right.
Nightbooks
J.A. White (Katherine Tegen, 2018)
Alex, who loves to tell scary stories, finds himself trapped by a witch who demands a new story each night. A twisty take on Scheherazade.
The Midnight Children
Dan Gemeinhart (Macmillan, 2022)
When seven mysterious kids arrive in the dead of night and move into the abandoned house across the street, Ravani befriends them and tries to protect them from the villainous Hunter.
The Stars Did Wander Darkling
Colin Meloy (Balzer + Bray, 2022)
When a construction company opens up the cliff beneath the old Langdon place, it unleashes a long-buried evil – and it’s up to Archie and friends to stop it.