A Hairy Situation, by Matthew Dewar, is an adorable story about a girl trying to deal with real-world challenges...until it horrifically deters into supernatural--but oh-so-fun--disasters.
If monsters don't exist, why is everyone in this town obsessed with yowies?
All Jacinta wants is to go back home to Sydney, but her mum must solve a case first: a missing person with no clues, unless you count eyewitnesses who saw him get eaten by a yowie. But monsters aren't real, so what's really going on?
When the police struggle to find new leads, Jacinta launches her own investigation and quickly learns giant hairy monsters might actually exist. She befriends Cory, a local yowie expert, and the two hunt for their monster. When Cory's desperate search for the yowie becomes dangerous, will Jacinta find her yowie or be its next victim?
First, I am new to middle-grade horror (not counting my own childhood), this only being the second I read to my son. As soon as I saw a yowie, I had to grab it since he loves creatures, myths, and tales. He's a man of few words, so his review was "out of 5 stars, 100," the best part being the idea of "a hairless yowie looking like a naked mole-rat." He also loved the "hairy situation" and ending but both would be spoilers. He is demanding--as always--a sequel. So, Matthew Dewar, he's challenged you to write "A Hairy Situation, Part 2: Yowie Versus Nessie--Who Would Win?" I have told him to write it himself, so we shall see if fan fiction is in his future.
From a parental point-of-view, this story has it all: a girl who had to move, seeking friends, standing up to bullies, trying to help her mother (even if she truly just wants to get home too). It has great learning aspects of adolescence that led to good conversations between us, being imperative for my neurodiverse son to see these social nuances he struggles to understand. On top of your typical middle-grade themes, Dewar tosses in the suspense, intrigue, and cringe-worthy bits that make it a creepy mystery tale of horror. It was adorable to watch my son piece together the clues, ask questions, and listen to his theories, to see him touch his tongue, his imagination running wild (don't want to spoil why), and ask what I would do if he was in the same situation. Overall, it was a book that truly enthralled him.
From a writer's standpoint, what I liked most was the point-of-view, and that is saying something since I am super critical about POVs. Jacinta is a kid, but it isn't overly dumbed down as many US authors tend to do with kid protagonists' abilities. She is clever but naive; strong and resilient yet vulnerable. It felt perfectly aged for your average child. Another bonus about it being from an Australian author was my son picked up on every cultural nuance in the wording. To be honest, I had to ask the Welsh husband about a couple, but most were common enough. It added another cultural layer and fun with Dad impersonating the accent while he explained them.
For once, Graves and son do not have any criticisms, no cons, so that is truly telling of how happy we were to read this book.
If your looking for a learning experience for your pre-teen who adores the weird, wild, and thrilling chills of "creaturific" horror, then Dewar's A Hairy Situation is one for them.