Margins
Something's Up with Arlo book cover
Something's Up with Arlo
2025
First Published
4.45
Average Rating
304
Number of Pages

A spooky-sweet middle-grade novel about remembering the past in order to brave the future, for fans of Anne Ursu Twelve-year-old Emily Nero’s best friend is a ghost. For as long as Nero can remember, she’s been “haunted” by Arlo. He’s always had her back, especially as Nero navigates her never-impressed parents, and being the "weird girl" at school. When Nero earns the chance to start Grade 7 at a prestigious private school, she's hopeful that things will change for the better. But on Nero’s first day at her new school, something’s up with Arlo, something very wrong: her best friend has suddenly turned on her. Glitching electronics, flickering lights, bad smells, and cold drafts are only the beginning. Arlo is changing into something scary. It's up to Nero to find out why, and how to help him, even as the answers bring her hauntingly close to home. Spooky and sweet in turns, this debut middle grade combines Italian witchcraft, fraught families, and friendships old and new to explore the stories we tell ourselves, and the courage it takes to make our truths heard.

Avg Rating
4.45
Number of Ratings
38
5 STARS
61%
4 STARS
24%
3 STARS
16%
2 STARS
0%
1 STARS
0%
goodreads

Author

Matteo L. Cerilli
Matteo L. Cerilli
Author · 4 books
Matteo L. Cerilli (he/him) is a trans masc author specializing in speculative fiction for all ages. His writing aims to erase the barrier between liberation movements and the people they’re for, by opening doorways to Big Ideas like queer justice, neurodivergent liberation, youth equity, and community care. His activism work includes setting up gender care for trans students at York University, helping to found the Students for Queer Liberation—Toronto, and organizing with the No Pride in Policing Coalition. He currently lives in Toronto, within walking distance of so many people and places that he loves.
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