As one of the few half-Japanese students in East Portersville High School, Caleb has accepted that he will never fit in. He’s not popular, can’t play football and the girl he likes doesn’t even know he exists. On one fateful day, Caleb and his sister Emily stumble upon a Shinto shrine deep in the Great Smoky Mountains: a shrine Caleb knows wasn’t there the day before. Faced with his unfamiliar heritage, Caleb quickly learns that fitting in was the least of his problems. Something is lurking in the caves of the mountains and it wants to get out...

A.J. Hartley is the author of young adult novels Cold Bath Street, Written Stone Lane and Impervious. He is also the author of the Monsters in the Mirror middle grade series. A.J. was born in northern England, but has lived in many places including Japan, and was the Robinson Professor of Shakespeare studies at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte.

The activity pack includes stickers, book club-style questions to ponder and a welcome note from A.J. Hartley. There’s also a word puzzle to solve and a recipe for onigiri, alongside jokes and further reading recommendations.

Activity packs are a handy A5 size and printed on uncoated paper which is fully recyclable.

We dispatch orders Monday - Friday.

• Standard UK Royal Mail delivery £2.99 (free on bookshop orders over £25)
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• International shipping available to select destinations (calculated at checkout according to weight)

Our packs are wrapped in a simple paper sleeve and sent out in a cardboard book wrap – we would be so grateful if you could recycle both.

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We don't include any paperwork in our parcels so you can send our book gifts directly to the recipient with confidence.

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Our gift set collection

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We are a monthly book subscription by post for children aged 5 to 14, focused on helping families discover new and different chapter books.

This title was sent to subscribers in the Macaw reading group, aged roughly 12 to 14, who need books that feel grown-up but aren’t quite ready for all young adult books.