I.R.L. by Jenny Goebel

I.R.L. by Jenny Goebel

Not every kid would be thrilled to move to rural Alaska, but sixth grader Lucy is eager to leave her bullies behind and start over. However, it turns out that Lucy's new school does remote learning from October to April, when the roads become too icy to navigate safely.

Being the new kid is hard enough -- how is she going to make friends when she can't meet anyone in person?!Luckily, the sixth grade class at White Pine Secondary School is tiny (just thirteen students) and they're all super nice and really welcoming. While chatting on zoom, they ask Lucy lots of questions about living in the big city, some of which strike Lucy as a little odd but she just chalks it up to the fact that her new classmates have spent their whole lives in a VERY small town.

As the ice starts to thaw, Lucy grows increasingly excited about meeting her new friends in person! But when she enters the school's address on her phone's GPS, it leads her to a crumbling, clearly abandoned building with a rotted wood sign in front -- a sign that reads White Pine Secondary School. There's nothing else in sight... except a tiny cemetery with snow-dusted headstones poking out of the frozen ground. Headstones with some very familiar names on them . . .

Lucy doesn't know what to believe. Are her new "friends" pulling an elaborate prank? Or is truth far, far more horrifying?

Jenny Goebel is a mother of three who writes everything from picture books to middle-grade novels in her spare time.