Finch House, by Ciera Burch, with thoughts on the subgenre of "house fantasy"

"House fantasy" is one of my favorite subgenres (perhaps because I spend every day living the fantasy that someday my historic house will be perfectly restored), and it comes in lots of different flavors--houses of many magical rooms and portals, etc, houses with ghosts and secrets through no fault of their own, and sentient houses, which are often trying to kill/trap the protagonist. (None of these are my house.  Although a windshield repair guy said he recognized my house from a haunted RI website, the "ghost"--a disheveled woman tearing her hair out in the upstairs sunroom-- is easily explained away, and though one window screen has "Kathy's room" written on it, Heathcliffe hasn't shown up (thank God).  And although I have literally bled for/on my house, the unfortunate meeting of my forehead and the back end of a prybar was not its fault.  Likewise, although I once drempt I found a secret room in my house full of books I haven't read, in reality all I do is walk into almost every un-secret room and find books I haven't read.  Living the dream, that's what I am).  

But in any event, when I made my list of debut MG sci fi/fantasy for 2023 way back in January and naturally wanted to read all the books, one that really stood out for me was Finch House, by Ciera Burch (September 5, 2023 by Margaret K. McElderry Books), in which a girl gets trapped inside a haunted house linked to past tragedy in her family and has to convince it to let her go.

Eleven-year-old Micah has been told by her grandfather to stay far away from the dilapidated fancy old Finch House, but, snarled up with soreness about having to move with her mother away from him to a new house of her own a ways away, she ignores that warning.  A family has moved into Finch House, and the boy is friendly, and Micah goes inside.  And can't go home again.

It's not the boy's fault, but rather that the house itself has twisted to trap Micah in a shadow reality.  There she meets another trapped girl, Jenn, who befriends her, glad to have Micah stuck along with her.  Jenn has a special connection to the house, and a tragic connection to Micah's grandfather, and in order to get home again, Micah has to unravel both mysteries, and confront the heart of the house itself. 

It is a very gripping spooky house story with an usual twist!  The author requires some attention from the reader to figure everything out, but I did not mind pausing in my brisk page turning to ponder, and ask what really happened (in both the past and the present), and this I think makes it a good book for discussion.  Adding to the potential for great discussion is that Micah is black.  As a black girl, and even more so for her grandfather back when he was a boy, some neighborhoods are/were unwelcoming/dangerous, and although it's never stated flat out, I wonder if this played into the past tragedy at the heart of the book.

But although I paused for thought, the page turning was indeed brisk--this was just the right length for a single sitting at 193 pages of generously sized font, and  so a great one for those of its intended audience of 10-12 year olds who don't feel like reading long tomes. I'd give it to a slightly younger kid too--it's scary but not in your face nightmare scary.  Compare, for instance, This Appearing House, by Ally Malinenko, another recent trap house story, in which the house has teeth (metaphoric and literal) and isn't afraid to use them....I (and everyone else) would pick Finch House to visit any day.  

It ends at a good ending point, but I hope I'm not mistaken in thinking that there's more of the story to come! And though I am tempted to make a long long list of my favorite fantasy houses in all the different house subgenres, I should go and perhaps do (carefully--safety first!) some light plastering.....

Before I go, though, here's a picture of the first family to live in my house--I like the looks of Clara, the daughter, and think she could be a friend (the others, not so much).