Fantasy can transport readers to new lands and unfamiliar worlds. When written for middle grade readers, these adventures are often imbued with a certain lightness—and the sense that magic is a positive energy in the world. Even while characters battle forces of ancient evil or nefarious foes, there is almost always the assurance that good trumps evil, and that magic (good magic) will save the day. Which is why encountering stories that leave readers feeling vaguely unsettled—where the answers aren’t always clear-cut, magic isn’t used in the service of good, and at the stories’ end, a sense of dread lingers on—can be delightful. This year, three new fantasy books walk the line between light and dark and comfy and creepy with great aplomb. In Robert Beatty’s Serafina and the Black Cloak (Disney-Hyperion, 2015; Gr 5-7), readers meet the protagonist as she goes about her nightly rat-hunting duties. Small for her age (12) and possessing large amber eyes (and only eight toes), Serafina is an expert ratter. Once she would lay her game at her father’s bedside, but she now prefers to free the rodents at the edge of the forest that surrounds the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC, where she lives. Unknown to the estate owners, Serafina resides in the basement of the great Vanderbilt home and has remained hidden from the world for most of her life. When she witnesses someone–a man or a demon–in a black cloak swallow a child whole one evening, the girl is drawn into a mystery. As more children go missing from the grand estate and the furtive figure appears to be targeting her one friend, young master Braeden Vanderbilt, Serafina finds herself poised between ancient evil and an innocent victim. The creepiness comes quickly and permeates all of the characters and settings, from disintegrating flesh of the Man in the Black Cloak to the abandoned cemetery deep in the forest, home to empty graves, disquieting tombstones, and an angel that carries a 100-year-old sword sharp enough to shred flesh to the bone. And the 250-room mansion is filled with secret corridors, hidden doors, and more potential suspects than Serafina can possibly rule out. The girl is a reservoir of complications and conflicting desires, and her drive to save Braeden—and to figure out just what sort of creature she is herself—make for a compelling, spine-tingling read. Changeling babies are given a menacing update in Kenneth Oppel’s haunting The Nest (S. & S., Oct., 2015: Gr 4-7), illustrated by Jon Klassen. Infant Theo was born with several congenital conditions, which may mean a shortened lifetime in and out of hospitals. When his older brother, Steven, begins dreaming of an otherworldly creature who promises to “fix” baby Theo and reverse the sadness the child’s illness has brought to his home, Steven is eager to comply with the demands of the creature, who he believes is an angel. At around the same time that his dreams begin, disturbing changes enter Steven’s physical world. A mysterious knife-sharpener seems insistent on interacting with the boy’s family, his younger sister takes phone calls on a toy phone from a man named Mr. Nobody, and a strangely colored colony of wasps begins building a nest directly outside of Theo’s bedroom window. As Steven’s dreams turn into nightmares and the “angels” are revealed to be something far more sinister, the boy realizes that through the power of the word yes he may have endangered his Theo's life. Steven’s obsessive tendencies and his sensitivity to the pain his existing psychological issues cause his parents make for a heartbreaking read, while the growing menace posed by the Queen (wasp) and her bustling workers will fill readers with impending dread. In spare, beautiful prose, the author addresses big topics including the seductive, but elusive, power of perfection and the ability of our loved ones to hurt, heal, and protect us. This is a book to savor, and the shudders it leaves readers with won't  be easily forgotten. The mean girl and her victims are usually the stuff of realistic middle grade fiction but in Barrie Summy’s mysterious, twisty The Disappearance of Emily H. (Delacorte, May 2015: Gr. 5 -8), they are given a fantastical touch. Raine, 13, is about to start her fifth school and eighth grade. Frequent moves with her mother make it hard for Raine to put down roots, but the telepathic ability she inherited from her grandmother is the real reason she keeps her distance from most people. Raine can see the sparkles of reminiscences on objects, and picking up one of those items, allows her to identify a memory someone has left behind. Her ability comes in handy when she realizes that the missing Emily Huvar, another local 13-year-old, was being bullied by popular Jennifer and her mean-girl posse. Raine is quickly drawn into an escalating mystery involving Emily, arson, and the bullies. The denouement, when it comes, is a perfect blend of gripping action, paranormal activity, and realistic (i.e., minimal) consequences for Emily’s tormentors. The whole school must also attend an assembly on bullying, which readers understand is not likely to change anything. The hurt that lingers between mother and daughter caused by years of “fresh starts” and the mother’s bad boyfriends is not tidily wrapped up, and readers are aware that there will be many more challenges in Raine’s future. The blend of realism and fantasy leads to a happy-ish ending that will stick with readers.

Elisabeth Gattullo Marrocolla (@liswithanS) is the Assistant Head of Children’s Services and Collection Development Coordinator at Darien Library in Darien, CT. An avid sci-fi and fantasy fan, she can usually be found with her nose buried in a book. Her Spring 2015 fantasy picks for School Library Journal,  "Bold New Worlds," were published in the May issue of Curriculum Connections.