Barney just wants to keep the janitorial job his best friend Norma Khan helped him get at the Pollywood amusement park—but the haunted house attraction where she works turns out to be an inter-dimensional portal for demons. Together with Barney’s dog Pugsley, who gained the ability to speak after an encounter with a demon, they set off on time-travelling adventures to battle the demons.
Barney is also trans, and left home to get away from his unaccepting parents, but his transness does not form a core part of the plot; it’s just part of who he is. As the story unfolds, we also learn that he has a crush on one of the park’s ride operators, Logan Nguyen. Barney and Norma’s relationships and crushes (not on each other) form a sub-plot of the book, which is silly, fun, and just weird enough to be totally engaging.
This is rated as a YA book; I am making an exception and including it here because many middle-grade readers (and their adults) may learn of it via the Netflix show based on the series and/or wonder if its graphic format skews it younger than YA. I don’t think there’s anything wildly inappropriate for middle grade readers here, though some of the scarier parts mean it is likely best for the older end of that age range and up.
Barney is White and cued as Jewish (he wears a Hanukkah sweater at one point). Norma is South Asian (and autistic); another character is Muslim and wears a hijab. Logan is Asian.
