Paperback, 224 pages
Release Date: December 2, 2025
Published by: Scholastic Paperbacks
Read from: October 30- November 8, 2025
Stand-alone
Source: Bought (I was able to buy this hella early because my kid had a book fair. I went in there to shop for just him and struck gold for both of us lol)
Content Warning: Arachnids
For Readers Interested In: Action, My Auto-Buy Authors, Holidaze (Halloween), Horror, Sparkly Covers, Middle Grade, Own, Personal Issues (I’m scared of things with too many legs), Sci-Fi (Science Experiment Gone Wrong)Arachnophobia meets Five Nights at Freddy’s in this middle grade horror novel perfect for fans of K.R. Alexander and Mary Downing Hahn.
Can you outrun eight legs?
Twelve-year-old Andi loves everything about spiders — they’re endlessly fascinating creatures. So when she finds a species she’s never seen before at a classmate’s Halloween party, she’s over the moon. Until the spiders start to behave in unusual and threatening ways, that is. They can camouflage themselves incredibly well, they can jump higher than she’s ever seen, and their webs are strong. Maybe even strong enough to trap a person . . .
Andi and her friends Carly and Devon try to find an adult to help, but make a terrifying the parent chaperones have been immobilized by the spiders. As the only ones who know what’s going on, Andi, Carly, and Devon will have to take on the spiders themselves — before it’s too late!
*MY THOUGHTS*
Me finishing this book is a real life miracle lmao I have no idea why I wanted to read this so bad as someone who is scared of things with too many legs. (Too many meaning 8 or more lol) And this cover also freaked me out lol But my girl Ally wrote it so I had to give it a shot. And now, I get to send her my therapy bills lol
Ok so the actual story was good. I actually enjoyed it. The plot sucked me in completely and I was reading with my shoulders near my ears. I am one of those that has a movie playing out in her brain while she reads, so I saw every single gross creepy crawly every time I opened this book. So it’s amazing that I didn’t DNF at the first mention of one that was as big as a basketball lol Because ABSOLUTELY TF NOT. But I still kept reading because I had to know how they fixed everything.
The characters, even though they were kids, were actually really relatable to me. Me and Andi both would have been more at home going trick or treating and then watching scary movies after lol She lost me when she was swayed by them going to look at the spiders tho. Cuz ain’t no way lol But I will also say I was mad af at them. Because why go in there without an adult to begin with? Blech My skin is crawling just thinking about it lol And that girl’s parent? You know which one I’m talking about. Of all the damn science experiments in the world and you choose THAT?! I’m not gon lie, I spent most of this book scolding that person more than the children. Because they are children. That person was not lol
As for the scare factor, I’m not sure I can judge accurately? I’m scared of these things, so this book was terrifying to me. But I’m not sure if it would scare someone who wasn’t? I do think a kid would be a bit scared tho. There’s some jump scares there at the end too. I would say read with caution. The vibe is ominous and it gets a bit scarier as it progresses because you really have no idea how everything could get resolved.
So basically, read this lol I learned a lot (that I didn’t want to know lmao) and I scared myself along the way, while having a good time being immersed in the book. And if I can read this and be terrified and still enjoy it lol It’s acutally good!
Overall, I give this
