Wake the Hollow

Gr 7 Up—From the opening pages, this spooky YA immerses readers in an atmosphere reminiscent of the "real" Sleepy Hollow—a dark train station, late at night, a chilly wind, mysterious voices echoing in the air. Micaela Burgos, a prodigal daughter of the town Washington Irving's headless horseman made famous, returns to belatedly make things right with her mother, who died six weeks earlier. Mica has been living the good life with her father in Miami; her mother stayed behind to pursue her obsession with Irving; she claims to be a direct descendant of him (though her parents were both Cuban exiles). She and Mica have barely spoken since, and the teen's grief at the nature of this loss gives the book a strong emotional core to hang some of its more haunting happenings on (a haunted graveyard, Micaela's own encounters with ghosts). The complicated narrative includes lost literary masterpieces and generational grudges. Frankenstein author Mary Shelley even makes an appearance. The work's literary hook may be lost on some teens not as well acquainted with these figures, but the thoroughly modern heroine and prominent love triangle will keep most of them reading. The protagonist's ethnic background serves the plot well, adding nuance to her status as an outsider in the small, mostly homogeneous town.