Simply Joy by Alicia Danielle Voss-Guillén

If you loved Alicia Voss-Guillén’s Tori series, get ready for more fun in this first spin-off book about Tori’s cousin Joy! Nine-year-old Joy Salinas lives with her family and her three dogs in Santa Luna, California, in the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area. She’s a sweet, shy girl who loves arts and crafts…and who has one major problem: according to her older sister Bella, Joy is the world’s biggest nine-year-old scaredy-cat! With Halloween just around the corner and a family trip to the Haunted Pumpkin Farm coming up, Joy feels that the whole world, including the annoying boys at school, is out to terrify her. In fact, the month of October is making Joy so miserable that it’s hard for her to enjoy all the fun parts of Halloween—such as designing her own genie costume. No matter how her friends and sister tease her, Joy cannot stop worrying about what might happen this spooky time of year—especially after the rumors she’s heard about a real ghost haunting the pumpkin farm! But when worst comes to worst, will Joy be able to put aside her fears for the sake of someone she loves? What she learns this Halloween will teach Joy about real courage, the strength of family loyalty, and the importance of being true to herself.