Lindsay Currie has done it again! IT FOUND US drew me in from the beginning. Hazel's desire to be a detective (I mean, who doesn't want to solve mysteries?!) has her family stressed out. But when her brother sneaks out of the house one night, Hazel knows she needs to follow him and discover what he's up to. When he ends up in a creepy cemetery, what could possibly go wrong? How about EVERYTHING!

Currie's skill at intertwining story with history is one of the aspects of her writing I love the most. Students not only enjoy a spooky ghost story, they learn unusual (and often forgotten) parts of American history. A circus train tragedy? Say what?! Your students will eat this book up so I recommend having more than a couple copies on hand!

I really enjoyed this YA mystery. It follows friends Hazel and Den as they search for their friend Everett. If you have read Scritch Scratch from the same author, you will really enjoy this book. I really enjoyed the characters but the setting is where this shines brightest.

I had so much fun as the characters discovered clues along the way. They even did a cool bullet point system as Hazel found new clues. This would make an excellent series but honestly as it ended I was very satisfied and happy with where the story went.

Definitely recommended to YA readers or anyone who enjoys a good creepy mystery.

Lindsay Currie has done it again. IT FOUND US is another delightfully spooky MG mystery, complete with all the hallmarks of excellent kidlit horror: graveyards, a kidnapping, secret-keeping neighbors, burgeoning friendships, and of course, a freaky freaky ghost.

Hazel is a whip-smart sleuthing protagonist, and I loved seeing her relationship with her brother, Den, and her best friend, Maggie, evolve. The mystery is cleverly plotted and the pace is breathless - it totally lives up to that incredibly evocative cover!! A spine-tingling read that will appeal to many readers of middle grade horror, supported by a wonderful dose of playful fun.

This was a very well written and entertaining book! I enjoyed the characters and the storyline. I don’t often read middle grade horror, but this book was so good I may have to start!

I was gifted a copy of this book from Net Galley and sourcebooks Kods in exchange for an honest review. This book is available September, 2023. ⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️ This was my first Lindsay Currie book and I enjoyed it. I like how Ms. Currie weaves real life events from history to make a creepy middle grade horror story. This book had a personal connection to me as my husband worked at Woodlwan Cemetery, the setting of this story.

This is the 4th book I've read by Lindsay Currie, and it might be my favorite of hers. Lindsay is great at writing "heartwarming horror" stories that are steeped in history. There are terrifying moments, but there are always moments that make you want to say the story was also sweet. If that sounds up your alley, then I'd say give this one a shot.

I loved that our main character, Hazel, was like a little Nancy Drew or Harriet the Spy. I also enjoyed Den & Maggie's characters. They made a great team of sleuths. This was a very atmospheric story with a spooky graveyard, storms, and a sinister game of hide and seek. Definitely a lot to enjoy here!

Trigger Warning for possession if that kind of things bothers you. It was in this story twice towards the end.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a physical copy and for NetGalley providing an e-arc as well!

Hazel loves to solve puzzles and mysteries. And she pays attention.
She keeps her notebook of observations, and some people think she is snooping, but Hazel really just wants to solve the mysteries around her. One of the big mysteries in her town centers on the cemetery, Woodlawn, which is supposed to be haunted. When Hazel "overhears" that her totally grounded older brother is going to sneak out to play hide and seek with friends in the cemetery, she decides to follow him. Nothing better than some covert sibling surveillance and an opportunity to see if the cemetery is really haunted.
When things gets complicated and her brother's friend Everett vanishes during the game, the siblings decide to find Everett (because the adults who are searching are not having any success) - but something has left the cemetery and has followed them. Something is messing with them. Something scary.
What I love about Lindsay Currie's books is (of course) the genuinely scary/creepy elements,but I really love the relationships that she creates. The siblings have both real affection and total irritation with each other. They have good friends who behave like good friends. Hazel's parents are not absent nor are they super strict - they have real reactions to the disappearance of Everett, and they treat their children with care and respect for who they are.
I'll be buying this for my classroom this fall. Can't wait to book talk this one!
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

The fantastic cover, the iconic hide-and-seek storyline, the friendships, the history, the scares — there is so much for kids (and adults) to love. I certainly loved It Found Us!

I love that the book started in a light-hearted funny situation -- then quickly turned spooky. I think it'll really draw kids in. The atmosphere of the book really helps with this. Paranormal activity is known to be associated with storms. This book brings us the storms. All the thunder, lightning, and rain. It's perfect.

I absolutely love the history in this book. Of course, we don't know the identity of who is doing the haunting until the book's conclusion, but there are so many bread crumbs along the way. We learn of past people/kids who experienced the ghost too. This isn't the first time this haunting has happened. That makes it extra spooky for me.

In the end, I simply loved the ending. In fact, I'd love to see Hazel continue as the protagonist of another novel. I feel like she's just getting started with her sleuthing and podcast!

I got off to a bad start with this book over the author's choice of a dog poop mystery as a way to illustrate the main character's sleuthing skills. Honestly, dog poop just doesn't set me in the right frame of mind to settle in for a good scare.

Hazel loves a good mystery. Her idea of a great future would be solving cases and then podcasting about it. She's always snooping, then gearing up. When she overhears her brother planning a visit to the local cemetery with friends, she's one step ahead of them. But the supernatural event that happens is nothing any of them could have expected. While playing hide-and-seek, one of the kids goes missing. The only evidence is a loud, drawn out howling sound and subtle message Hazel manages to record on her phone.

Hazel, her brother, Den and her best friend, Maggie decide they are smarter than all the adults, cops included, and take matters into their own hands. They successfully sneak out, again and again, to gather evidence and interview cemetery workers. The biggest piece of evidence is a ghost sighting, a kid with no eyes and a stitched mouth. Eventually, they outsmart the adults (kind of a given when ghosts only avail themselves to kids) and get the missing kid back.

Problems:
1. Weak parents. They treat Hazel as if her "gift" of solving mysteries is some rare, impressive talent that could do major damage if not reigned in. Please. She's a kid. Then, they prove kids can confuse their parent's logic fairly easily. In 10 seconds, Den is able to convince his parents that mandating they stay indoors (while a potential kidnapper is on the loose) is the wrong decision.
2. Inconsistencies. For example, Den doesn't smell smoke the first time Hazel smells it. That's odd. Especially since he not only is able to smell the smoke later, but he becomes possessed by the ghost.
3. Hokey scary story cliches. Currie must be convinced that a spooky story can't happen without thunder, lightning and rain. If that isn't the most outdated, overused ghost story cliche, I don't know what is.
4. No story building. The train accident happened in 1918. That's a long time ago. Where's all the kidnapped kids? So this child ghost has been unsettled for over 100 years, continuing to play hide-and-seek, tormented by the misguided notion that it caused the deaths of a lot of people, so it finally kidnaps a kid and haunts his friends? The plot needs more fleshing is all I'm saying.
5. Rushed ending. Too chaotic, while at the same time all too neat and tidy.

Kids will overlook all of this. But that doesn't justify a sloppy story. I honestly didn't feel scared at all which means the details just weren't there.

This was a first for me to read by this author, and this is a book I will put into the library for middle schoolers to read. It wasn't graphic; it was the right kind of scary and mysterious that will pull you in.
Ghosts, a kid missing, time is against them all. When our main character Hazel decides to follow her brother Den into the graveyard, it is more than she ever thought of. She is her own little Nancy Drew and with the help of her best friend and brother, they will find out what is truly going on in the cemetery. She has a real case to solve, and it is down to the wire. As we get to the end, you realize that the author weaved in a real tragedy, which I thought was neat. I had never heard of it before, so when authors write things like that into the stories, I love it because it makes me dive into the rabbit hole and dig into it deeper. The characters were great, the plot was just the right pace, and the mystery was amazing good.

Hazel Woods starts out just spying on her brother and his friends but feels compelled to use her developing detective skills to find one of her brother’s friends who goes missing. Excellent middle school ghost story mystery with a historical fiction tie-in. I think Hazel has the staying power to kick off a series that my students would tear through! I can’t wait to add this to my middle school library!

Review: This was another wonderfully spooky Middle Grade book from Lindsay Currie! Hazel was a great main character, and I thought it was so fun that she loved solving mysteries, and being a sleuth. (It had young Nancy Drew vibes!) There were lots of genuinely creepy moments throughout the book. The reason behind the hauntings was so well written, and made me cry, but I won't share anything else about that, because I don't want to spoil anything. Overall, I loved this book, and I highly recommend it!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

Another book which proves that Lindsay Currie is the queen of middle grade horror.

Hazel is an excellent detective to the chagrin of her parents. With hopes of one day starting a podcast she decides to follow her older brother, Den, to the creepy cemetery to hopefully get some content for her first episode. Shortly after her brother and his friends start their late night game of hide and seek something mysterious happens that sends everyone running except one - who ends up missing. With Den’s best friend Everett missing, Hazel knows she must put her sleuthing skills to use to find him. Between Hazel, Den, and Hazel’s best friend they’re sure that there’s something paranormal to Everett’s disappearance and they must follow the clues to save him.

Lindsay’s books are always filled with great characters that share a comraterie that will take you back to your middle school days (if you’re so lucky). I think that’s why kids and adults love her books - not only because they’re filled with adventure and intense creepyness but because of how lovable every character is.

The journey to figure out the mystery is filled with some quick thinking on Hazel’s part with the help of her brother and best friend. And the revelation of what is really happening in the graveyard is so heartbreaking but Currie does a great job of adding heart to it that it’s also beautiful.

I highly recommend ALL of Lindsay’s books and this one is no exception!

As a reader of horror from way back, i enjoy all kinds, from basic ghost stories to the goriest of tales. So when the opportunity to read this YA horror novel came up, I asked for it. I was looking for a good book for my own Young Adults in my home, but they wouldn't read it, so I did.

And what a story it was! I'll be honest, this book was creepy. Definitely written for a younger audience, but not so much that it kept the creeps away! From the initial scene describing the disappearance of Everett, to the atmospheric climax, you're kept guessing and wondering exactly what's going on.

Very impressed with this author's style, prose and overall talent. Would definitely read a sequel!

Thank you to Netgalley, Sourcebooks Young Readers and of course, Lindsay Currie for the opportunity to read this great book! All opinions are my own.

This is not my first book by this author, so I've come to expect the historical fiction angle of these ghost stories. This book is spooky with some definite scary parts - along with great sleuthy characters. I loved how the hide-and-seek thread wove through the story. Another excellent ghost story I can't wait to share with readers.

“It Found Us” by Lindsay Currie is a wonderful, new scary story for those middle grade readers that like to be spooked. Hazel Woods is a bright 12-year-old that has a knack for finding mysteries and sleuthing. One night she decides to sneak out and follow her older brother Den to the local cemetery. There, a group of kids are playing hide and sneak, and Den’s best friend Everett suddenly goes missing. Hazel who enlists the help of Den and her best friends to find Everett before it’s too late. Currie weaves together a fun, spine-tingling tale that also gives the reader a fun brother-sister relationship. Highly recommend to all kids who love both mysteries and ghosts.

This is the second book by Lindsay Currie that I have read and it did not disappoint. It Found Us is about a girl detective that must figure out the clues to a century old tragedy to help find a missing teen before it is too late.

What a delight and a fright! As a child who used to play the game ghost in the graveyard, I am very happy that we never played it in an actual graveyard. Hazel deems herself a worthy sleuth who is ready to solve a mystery happening with her neighbor, however she finds a new mystery while following her brother Den and his friends to a cemetery one night. The older kids play hide and seek but Den's best friend Everett cannot be found. This is a whodunit story that makes you wonder what happened with each new clue found along the way.

I really enjoyed the writing. It was smooth and easy to follow along. Each new clue we learn along the way, Hazel writes it down her notes which was perfect to keep up with the story. I could not predict what would happen next which is definitely a plus for me! I enjoyed every character in this book and the sibling dynamic between Hazel and Den. Some parts were legitimately freaky and I hope to read more books from this author!

I just know for a fact that if I were the intended age group, I would be all over this book and I would want it to be at least a ten-book series. It manages to maintain just the right balance between shenanigans, creepiness and emotions - while upholding its age-range boundaries.

The relationship between Hazel and her brother Den actually SUPER reminded me of the sibling relationship in Christmas Chronicles - you can see they're so similar it often pulls them apart, unless they have a common goal they need to cooperate to achieve. The sidekicks are fun and different, the characters are well-established in their world, there's natural plot progression, there are lessons to be learned, and the real events are sprinkled in with a lot of elegance.

The only thing I'd list as a "negative" is that I wish there was more character development, maybe through higher stakes existing in the inner circle, not just outside of it. Overall though I had a really good time and reading this on my phone after everyone's asleep really brought me back to my own tween years of reading spooky middle grade books. I loved it a lot.

It Found Us was my first book by Lindsay Currie and I really enjoyed it! I liked the mystery being set around a graveyard, The atmosphere was wonderful!. I also liked the reveal and learning a bit of history, as this was based on a true event. I recommend this one for fans of spooky middle grade!