I learned of The Curse on Spectacle Key just as I was finishing the manuscript of Wonders of Shadow Key. I heard about it the way I hear about a lot of good books—from my wife.

My wife is a media specialist (a.k.a. school librarian, a.k.a. Book Lady, a.k.a. Mrs. Library Teacher) at an elementary school near Tampa. Each year, she organizes the SSYRA Battle of the Books program at her school. Maybe you know of this or have participated in a Battle of the Books event. For Battle of the Books, a team of readers from each class participates in a quiz show, where students have to buzz in and identify books based on quotes from those books. To win, they’ll need to know the books on the SSYRA list almost as well as the authors do! It’s a fun celebration of reading, and the kids get very into it.

SSYRA stands for Sunshine State Young Readers Award, a Florida program for students in grades 3 through 8. Each year, a committee of school librarians selects a variety of excellent books for the program, and in 2023 one of those books was The Curse on Spectacle Key.

“I think this one is right up your alley,” my wife said as she prepared questions for Battle of the Books.

She was right, of course. I mean, The Curse on Spectacle Key takes place at a haunted lighthouse on a Florida key! There are ghosts! There are mysteries! Even a creepy doll!

Heck yeah, people.

Also, I had met Chantel Acevedo back in 2018. At the University of South Florida I founded a magazine called Saw Palm: Florida Literature and Art and serve as its advisor. In Saw Palm’s special “Florida-Cuba Connection” 10th anniversary issue, we published three of Chantel’s poems about a Cuban version of Oz (Dorothy is Dorotéa, and the Tin Man and the Scarecrow make appearances). The poems are filled with the kind of beautiful longing that Cuban-Americans have for their homeland. Later, at the 2018 Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference in Tampa, Saw Palm held an event, and Chantel read some of her work in person.

Anyway, I was predisposed to like The Curse on Spectacle Key, and it absolutely did not disappoint. The main character, Frank, moves with his family into a lighthouse on Spectacle Key. Frank is a big fan of horror stories (he has a dog named Mary Shelley—author of Frankenstein), so at first you might think he’s imagining the supernatural happenings at the lighthouse. But he meets a ghost girl who seems real enough, and she tells him about a curse on the island. With the help of a local medium, Madame Z, Frank investigates the mystery behind the island’s curse and another ghost they call “the Snuffler.” And then, at the thrilling climax…

What, did you think I was going to spoil the plot? No chance. You’ll have to read it yourself. You’ll also learn some fascinating things about Cuban culture along the way.

If you enjoyed Wonders of Shadow Key, you will definitely enjoy The Curse on Spectacle Key. Give it a read! Then pretend you’re in Battle of the Books and buzz in for the win.

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