#hungry bones

[vitaganiedae]

Congratulations to the 2026 winners and honorees of the Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature!

[teenageread]

Review: Hungry Bones

This novel is full of middle-grade spooky vibes, following Molly as she’s moved yet again to a new town with her carefree mother, Dot, who proudly calls them Team Tengo. I really loved the mother–daughter relationship; Hung does a great job showing their genuine love and care for one another, while also capturing Molly’s growing frustration with Dot’s constant uprooting of their lives. Since this is a middle-grade novel, Hung doesn’t dive too deeply into those emotions, but it was still nice to see them explored in that early-teen angst kind of way.

The cover alone gives off spooky energy, and when Team Tengo moves into a large, cheap house in the middle of Texas, you know something strange is waiting inside. Enter Jade, the house’s friendly ghost, who has been lingering there for 120 years without knowing why. Like any good ghost story, Jade needs someone to interact with—and Molly fills that role perfectly. Molly can communicate with the dead and see fragments of their lives by touching old objects, getting “zapped” into their memories.

With dual perspectives, it’s interesting to see the initial wariness Jade and Molly feel toward each other and how quickly that evolves into a genuine friendship as they work together to uncover what happened to Jade. As the new “weird kid,” even during summer break, Molly worries about making friends, so watching her bond with Jade is comforting and makes you feel like she’s going to be okay.

Hung keeps the cast intentionally small. Beyond Dot, the Lou sisters, and Bobbie—who appears fairly late in the story—the novel mostly focuses on Molly and Jade acting as supernatural detectives. This works incredibly well. They have great chemistry and build a beautiful friendship, which makes the climax of the novel genuinely tense because you care so much about both of them.One thing I wish Hung had explored more, especially near the ending but also throughout the novel, was the experience of Molly and Dot being Chinese in such a traditionally Southern setting (Texas counts… I think). I would have liked to see Molly as the only Chinese student at school and experience more moments of discomfort or exclusion, beyond the single instance Hung includes. Because this is a middle-grade novel, I wanted the message to be a bit more explicit. Expanding on this theme could have strengthened the moral of the story and given it even more emotional weight for younger readers.

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 3.5/5

Book Blurb:

A chilling middle grade novel about a girl haunted by a hungry ghost.

Molly Teng sees things no one else can.

By touching the belongings of people who have died, she gets brief glimpses into the lives they lived. Sometimes the “zaps” are funny or random, but often they leave her feeling sad, drained, and lonely.

The last thing Jade remembers from life is dying. That was over one hundred years ago. Ever since then she’s been trapped in the same house watching people move in and out. She’s a ‘hungry ghost’ reliant on the livings’ food scraps to survive. To most people she is only a shadow, a ghost story, a superstition.

Molly is not most people. When she moves into Jade’s house, nothing will ever be the same—for either of them. After over a century alone, Jade might finally have someone who can help her uncover the secrets of her past, and maybe even find a way out of the house—before her hunger destroys them both.

Review:

A spooky middle grade novel about a girl who finds herself being haunted by a ghost when she moves into a new home. Molly Teng has moved from one place to the next all her life and she's tired of it. Molly also has a secret gift, by touching the objects belonging to people who have died, she can get a glimpse of the lives they've lived. During her latest move she discover s a comb.... belonging to Jade. Jade died over 100 years ago and now she's trapped inside the same house as Molly. Jade is a ghost... and she is very hungry. Can Molly help Jade discover the secrets of her past or will Jade's hunger destroy them both? This was a fun spooky little read for spooky season. It's one I definitely think that young middle grade readers will have fun reading. The pacing was a bit slow but overall its a slow burn read.

Release Date: October 1,2024

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Scholastic | Scholastic Press for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*