Magic, Mystery, and a Touch of History

Young Serafina is the daughter of the Chief Mechanic at the Vanderbilt's Biltmore Estate in North Carolina. While he works throughout the estate, she is the "Chief Rat Catcher" (a job lovingly given to her by her Pa) and stays out of sight. No one living in the great house knows she exists. Pa and Serafina secretly make their home in the basement.

While working in the basement one day, Serafina witnesses a terrifying scene. Soon, children at the Estate begin visiting one by one. Although Serafina's Pa has forbid her from wandering around the Estate, and especially from going into the forest surrounding the mansion, Serafina believes she is the only one who can find the missing children and put a stop to the terror.

This middle grade book combines many different genres and good character and plot development to interest adult readers. While there are elements of magic and fantasy, this book is much more grounded in reality than something like the Harry Potter series (which may make it more or less appealing, depending on reader preferences). The author is a fan of the Biltmore Estate, and nicely weaves historical detail about its construction, architecture, and the Vanderbilt family into the plot. There's even a touch of North Carolina folklore.

Like many good middle grade books, the main characters grapple with age-relevant issues of friendship, trust, questioning their parents/guardians, acceptance, etc.

A solid 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Disney Hyperion for a galley of this book in exchange for an honest review. ( )

I ended up liking it more than when I started it. It was slow going at first, but got better and picked up and got a little more interesting. ( )

With darker images and historical details, this is a thrilling read, which will have kids hiding under their blankets long after bedtime.

Serafina has spent much of her twelve-years, living in the basement of a manor with her father. She's not allowed to let anyone know she exists or her father would lose his job. But she's found her own usefulness and serves the house as the unknown rat catcher...something she's amazingly talented at. When she hears screams in another section of the basement, she rushes to save whoever is in danger despite what it means to her own existence. But when she sees a creature in a dark cloak absorb a little girl, she barely escapes with her life. Still, she can't let the horror be ignored and tries to figure out a way to stop whatever evil is at large before more children disappear.

The graphics in these pages take on a darker tone, sticking mostly to the drearier atmosphere...and this works very well. Serafina's world is a darker place as she's spent most of it in the basement and out only at night. The scenes are well placed and keep the tension high, while still allowing the time period and characters to come across nicely. There was a time or two, where the frame order threw me for a moment, but the rest is an easy read. It was easy to get lost into the tale and hard to put the book down until the very last page.

To make sure this hangs closely to the original tale, there seems to be an fairly even divide between dialogue (speech bubbles) and explained plot and thoughts (presented in when text in black rectangles). This mix keeps the events clear and allows the reader to dive deeper into Serafina's head. It's well suited for the middle grade level and will pull even slightly older readers in.

It's a grabbing story with surprising twists and turns. Not only does Serafina find herself up against a dangerous creature, but learns more about herself. So, there is quite a bit of character depth going on as well. It also hits upon friendship and learning to step past the comfort zone. More sensitive readers might be bothered by the creepiness of the creature and a couple more aggressive scenes. Those, who enjoy a touch of fear and shadows, will enjoy this one quite a bit. ( )

This is for younger adults. ( )

[b:Serafina and the Black Cloak|23507745|Serafina and the Black Cloak (Serafina, #1)|Robert Beatty|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1420158894s/23507745.jpg|43111795]
Author: [a:Robert Beatty|9886850|Robert Beatty|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1417280905p2/9886850.jpg]
293 pages
Middle Grade Fantasy

This book is set at Biltmore House in Asheville,NC. I live about 40 minutes from Asheville and drive up the mountain to shop and visit often. When I first learned this book was being published, I knew I had to read it! There was no way I was going to miss out on a story set at Biltmore in the 1800s!

The book has a great video trailer. You can find it on youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFZvSzfnm6I

The trailer was filmed on the grounds of the estate. The house is amazing, especially at Christmastime. The entire estate is decorated at holiday time and you can have high tea there. It's a fabulously posh experience.

The house was built by the Vanderbilt family and was the largest single family home in the United States. You can learn more about Biltmore Estate on the website: www.biltmore.com . Asheville is a very ecclectic, artistic town. Many artists and authors live there, including Robert Beatty who wrote this book.

The basic plot: Serafina lives in the basement of Biltmore Estate with her father, who is a maintenance worker. She loves to explore the house, and spends her nights catching rats. Suddenly the peaceful life of the grand estate takes a terrible turn when children start disappearing. One night Serafina sees a strange man in a black cloak attack a little girl. The child disappears, and even after several searches of the Estate, no trace of the girl is found. Can Serafina and the Vanderbilt's nephew solve the mystery before more children disappear? Will the missing children be found alive? Who is the man in the black cloak?

This book is written for middle grade children, but I also enjoyed the story! The kids from my son's school often take field trips to Biltmore, so I'm going to donate my book to the school. My son's teacher wants to read it out loud to the class since they visited the estate in December. The mysterious story is age-appropriate. It achieves tension and an interesting creepy mystery without being too graphic or scary for children. The cover art is beautiful!

My rating: 8/10
Ages 10 ( )