When her sponsor recommends she interview for a nanny position with the Maxwell family in affluent Spring Brook, New Jersey, she believes she is ready to make it on her own. After meeting their sweet five year old son, Teddy, she instantly believes this is the perfect job. Promising to take frequent drug tests, the Maxwells welcome her to their guest house. The transphobia comes out near the end, as the "twist" of this thriller. Turns out the child our MC is caring for was kidnapped by her Evil Atheist ParentsTM and forced to live as a boy to hide their identity and also, it seems, because they just wanted a son rather than a daughter. Now, there is so much that isn't ok here.

But mostly it comes down to the final few chapters going completely off the rails. Somewhere between "Here's Johnny" and a slasher movie. This was when I started rolling my eyes and couldn't stop (I probably looked like I was possessed by my own demon). The story begins as a bit of a slow burn, as Mallory and Teddy bond over imaginative games, and the drawings he sketches with the pencils he is never without. The Maxwells are thrilled, as Teddy’s only “playmate” before Mallory was his imaginary friend, Anya. But, as his pictures take on a more sinister tone, and start to become too detailed and complex for a 5 year old to draw, Mallory begins to worry. Mallory if you don't buss your ass like the Koolaid man into Teddy's bedroom... LMAO like ain't no way you're just standing there letting him have mysterieux convos with ghost Picasso and you're like HMMMMM I WONDER WAGWAN... OH WELL GOTTA FOLD THIS LAUNDRY!!!

Required Cookies & Technologies

Perfect for ages zero to three, this is a playful, oversized seek and find board book. From the bedroom to the bathroom to outside on a busy street and gas station, your littles will get to look for one or more items such as 3 trash cans, 7 green bugs, and 1 potted plant. The updated Richard Scarry picture books are wonderful choices to share with the little readers on your lap. ZAHI HAWASS Signed “Hidden Treasures of Ancient Egypt” Book! Autographed by the legendary Egyptologist! With photo PROOF! En cualquier caso, el principal punto a favor (aparte de los dibujos) es que me ha mantenido muy interesado a lo largo de sus alrededor de 400 páginas. Siempre a la expectativa. No siempre he visto venir lo que iba a pasar, cosa que agradezco enormemente en este tipo de novelas. Por lo tanto, cuatro estrellas muy merecidas, porque ha tenido capítulos de cinco, pero también algunos de tres. De hecho, esperaba menos de lo que ofrece. Por lo que os la puedo recomendar. For a splash of color, there is a Mexican family, and naturally, they're landscapers. The odd occasional textbook Spanish they use, let's you know the author may not know any Mexicans in real life. I don’t know if I would have stayed with Mallory had I been Adrian. The lies were just too much and made Mallory a distrustful character to many she interacted with in the book, whom it was crucial to her success to win over.

Using their visual discrimination skills, kids search for the hidden pictures in illustrated books filled with both adventures and learning concepts. The first part of this book is largely figuring out what genre you're reading-- is it a horror with ghosts? or is this a regular mystery trying to spook you? --best to go into it with an open mind and make peace with both possibilities. Then we have the fatphobia. Constant little quips about characters' body size tied to their worth as a person. Most blatantly obvious when it comes to the MCs mother, who was unable to help her daughter with her drug addiction because she was fat (????)... which, literally makes no sense and is just fatphobic for the sake of being fatphobic. She loses weight later, though, so we know she and MC will heal their relationship. Great. At around 75-80% it turned into a dumpster fire. The parents apparently have a personality transplant - or maybe they are inhabited by aliens? Because at this point literally NOTHING they do makes any sense whatsoever. The first big reveal is head scratching. I’m telling you there is zero chance of Mallory not knowing the truth within hours of starting her job. To think this could have been kept a secret is eye-rolling ridiculous. Teddy is a gentle, sweet, boy. He doesn't want to play with other boys and instead loves to play alone and draw pictures. But as the days progress, Teddy's pictures become dark and the work of someone much older than five years old. Where has he seen the violent things he is drawing? Is this little boy okay? Mallory tries to discuss Teddy's emotional state with his parents but they just brush her off and tell her to mind her own business. Mallory is caught between needing this job and wanting to do what is right for Teddy and she can't help Teddy if she doesn't have the job.This could’ve been a solid ghost story mystery! Mallory was an easy character to root for and I enjoyed how the pieces of the mysterious Anya came together.