This is a situation where I should have paid closer attention to the age range indicated by the publisher: Though I read a fair amount of young adult novels, I have less success with juvenile fiction. Additionally, I tend not to enjoy books which are marketed for "reluctant readers", as they tend to be so full of flash bang and frenetic pacing that I feel old reading them. My reading is not reluctant. That said, I am often charmed by kiddie horror, because it's such a strange and difficult project, trying to balance being legitimately scary with not scarring kids for life. The janjilons end up being both creepy and tragic, and Petronella is a peach. I liked Petronella and the Janjilons well enough, but I'm not in its real reader demographic.