William Sleator’s Singularity was quite possibly my very first Sci-Fi book. I read it sometime in fifth grade or sixth grade and it has stuck with me since. So much so that a good many years later I went on a hunt for it. I googled, called libraries, and talked to every reader I knew about it. I was directed to many other books but didn’t find it until joining a Facebook group for book lovers, one day giving all the details I could remember, and begging for help.

Singularity has all the perfect middle school mystery elements. The family of sixteen-year-old twins, Harry and Barry inherit their cracked and crazed Uncle’s home after his death. The two are tasked with keeping it from being vandalized by neighborhood hooligans. The home is mysterious and creepy and filled with peculiar taxidermied animals. But the twins soon realize that their uncle may not have been crazy after all when they find the keys to a time-altering cabin in the backyard.

Lots of creepy, mind-bending incidents ensue and Harry goes through physical and psychological changes after spending time inside the shed. Using these changes in mind and physicality, Sleator perfectly blends both Sci-Fi and horror.

I was lucky enough to find this book again in my adulthood among hundreds of books that were designated for recycling from a local middle school. On the drive up I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be cool if that book was in there? My heart did a little nostalgic book-loving dance, finding it on top of the first tote I checked.

Despite the fact that this is a middle-grade book, Sleator, at least from my pre-teen mind, had written it with near perfection, giving the two boys a realistic sibling relationship and adding enough science fiction to put the two in turmoil. Given its blend of Sci-Fi and horror and its ability to stick with the reader, I couldn’t imagine it being any less captivating reading it as an adult.

Barry and Harry Krasner are identical twins, but that’s where the resemblance stops. Barry’s more athletic, more aggressive – and he’s the one who suggests that they house-sit their great-uncle’s farm. Harry hopes that it will bring the two of them closer. And it does – because there’s something chilling about the farmhouse, something that makes the locals stay far away. The twins are sure that the locked shed on the property is the reason why – but what they find inside is far more horrible than their worst nightmare.