Lottie and the mirror monsters

Abstract

Lottie is ten years old and still afraid of monsters. Her father, who is a scientist, is always telling her that there's no such thing, but Lottie can't bring herself to believe him--and can't stop seeing things that are not there behind her reflection in mirrors. Then one day in Spring, Lottie's father and stepmother are kidnapped while Lottie is just across the street at the park. Death himself comes to rescue her, and he tells Lottie that the Nimetu--monsters that live in the Mirror World--are the ones who took them. Death says that the Nimetu are planning an invasion of the human world and are stealing the names of the dead in order to pass from their misty world into ours. Furthermore, he says that Lottie is really a magical guardian of humans: a Sentinel. The whole world depends on her mastering abilities that she didn't even know she possessed. Lottie and Death team up with cantankerous Sylvester the Finder and moody Philomena the Seer. Together, they embark on a quest into the dangerous Mirror World. They encounter a spirit bridge that hunts and eats anything that crosses it, young Nimetu who are terrifying, and elder Nimetu who are even more terrifying. Everyone's talents come together to help, but in the end, it is Lottie's ability as a Sentinel combined with her knowledge of science that defeats the Nimetu and rescues her parents. Aimed at ages eight to ten years old, Lottie and the Mirror Monsters is a grand adventure of a tale, by turns frightening, poignant, and funny. It's a story in which there is no comfort in telling yourself that there's nothing to fear, that what scares you isn't real--because it is all real. But it's also a story of fighting what you fear. And winning.