Review: THE WHISPERING SKULL (Lockwood & Company #2) by Jonathan Stroud

4.33 STARS from 1,224 GoodReaders

"Don't look now," Lockwood said. "There's two of them."

I snatched a glance behind me and saw that he was right. Not far off, on the other side of the glade, a second ghost had risen from the earth. Like the first, it was a pale, manshaped curtain of mist that hovered above the dark, wet grass.  Its head, too, seemed oddly skewed, as if broken at the neck.

I glared at it, not so much terrified as annoyed. For twelve months I'd been working for Lockwood & Co. as a Junior Field Operative, tackling spectral Visitors of every horrific shape and size. Broken necks didn't bother me the way they used to. "What?" I said. "Where did he come from?"

There was a rasp of Velcro as Lockwood pulled his rapier clear of his belt. "Doesn't matter. I'll keep an eye on him. You keep watching yours."

I turned back to my position. The original apparition still floated about ten feet or so from the edge of the iron chain. It had been with us for almost five minutes now, and was growing in clarity all the time. I could see the bones on the arms and legs, and the connecting knots of gristle. The wispy edges of the shape had solidified into flecks of rotted clothing: a loose white shirt, dark tattered breeches ending at the knee.

Waves of cold radiated from the ghost. Despite the warm summer night, the dew below the dangling toe bones had frozen into glittering shards of frost.

THE WHISPERING SKULL is the second installment in Stroud's Lockwood & Company series. And if you loved the first book you'll be pleased as punch with this one too.

If you remember, in THE SCREAMING STAIRCASE we were left with a hint that George's Skull in a Jar wasn't done talking with Lucy. And indeed, in this book he does play a fuller role. And in fact we find out who the skull belongs to. Not that he dominates the story in any sense, but the skull becomes an active player, as does a very peculiar Flo Bones.

Flo --who Lucy describes as a grubby, shambling figure -- is a relic-woman who works the shores of the Thames looking for bits of haunted material that she can sell. She is one of Lockwood's informants.  She joins the cast of familiars which include Quill Kipp and the rest of the Fittes crew. 

I swung the rapier up.

The mouth gaped, the sockets flared with greenish fire. With terrible speed, it flung itself forward. I screamed, jumped back. The ghost collided with the barrier a few inches from my face. A bang, a splash of ectoplasm.  Burning flecks rained down on the muddy grass outside the circle.

Now the pale figure was ten feet further back, quivering and steaming.

"Watch it, Lucy," George said. "You just stepped on my head."

Lockwood's voice was hard and anxious. "What happened? What just happened back there?"

I'm fine," I said. "He attacked, but the iron drove him off. If he does it again, I'll use a flare."

The whispering skull might whisper but the item that is the center of a massive hunt is a mysterious black glass mirror housed in a casing of bone. Haunted bone, of course. And this mirror has been missing since the night Bickerstaff was forced to look into it. He died that night and the be-robed parties that waited expectantly to find out what he saw, fled. Some went home or abroad, while some merely went mad.  

And when the mirror once again comes to light, DEPRAC sends Kipps and his Fittes team, and Lockwood and Company searching for it.

I didn't find THE WHISPERING SKULL quite as tension fraught as the first book. I suppose this might be due to the fact that I'm more convinced of the team's abilities. The writing, of course, is excellent and the world totally convincing and believable.

Highly recommend this series.

Pam~


The Whispering Skull
(Lockwood and Company #2)
(Disney/Hyperion)
by Jonathan Stroud

Reading Information:
Word Count: 105,585
Page Count:  400
Accelerated Reader: 5.2 / points: 16.0
AR quiz: 168794
Lexile: 670L
--sample pages and reviews available

See the Review and Reading info for THE SCREAMING STAIRCASE

updated December 2014

Review: WELCOME TO THE DARK HOUSE (Laurie Faria Stolarz)

3.71 STARS from 1,031 GoodReaders

Beware of directors bearing gifts.

ENTER FOR A CHANCE TO MEET LEGENDARY FILM DIRECTOR JUSTIN BLAKE AND GET A BEHIND-THE-SCENES LOOK AT HIS CONFIDENTIAL NEW PROJECT

Dear Dark House Dreamers,

Greetings from the Nightmare Elf. I'm sending this note to say, if you tell me your worst nightmare, I can make it go away.

When director Justin Blake runs a contest it's like none other.  The horror movie maker wants teens to tell him about their real nightmares and if they are interesting and creepy enough he'll choose them to be the winner of an all expense paid trip to a preview screening of his new movie.

I have to tell you the 7 Winners get more than they bargained for. 
 

WELCOME TO THE DARK HOUSE is fast paced creepy novel from horror princess, Laurie Faria Stolarz.  (She grew up in Salem, Mass. Really.)

The story ought to appeal to fans of the Goosebumps series who have grown up and want something more mature.  There is cursing and making out... and clowns.  I hate clowns.

WELCOME TO THE DARK HOUSE begins with Ivy, a girl whose parents were murdered one night while she lay awake hearing strange noises.  She is not a particular fan of the horror genre but she is desperate for a get-away from her family for awhile, and so she enters the contest.  The other contestants are different in that each one is a huge fan of movie-maker Blake and his nightmarish characters. And they all are enjoying themselves as they fly into the remote location, are whisked off to a duplicate of Blake's horror hotel in a hearse.

The fun pretty much continues until the gang get to the amusement park. Then it gets so weird that the kids figure that they must be contestants in a new Reality Show.  But it's not a Reality Show at all, but their nightmares come to life.


WELCOME TO THE DARK HOUSE is told from multiple points of view as each character fills you in on their background and why they entered. I thought the plot was interesting but derivative, so probably better for middle-graders and young adults than older readers like myself.  First book in a series.

NOW WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? PACK YOUR BAGS... AND PREPARE FOR THE SCARE OF YOUR LIFE.

Pam~


WELCOME TO THE DARK HOUSE
by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Reading Information:
Word Count: 62,601
Page Count:
Accelerated Reader:  5.1 / points: 9.0
AR quiz: 168103
--sample pages and reviews available
--all links to amazon.com

updated by Pam
August 2015

Review: THE SCREAMING STAIRCASE (Lockwood & Company) by Jonathan Stroud

~ADULT WORTHY!

4.24 STARS from 3,321 GoodReaders

Sherlock Holmes. That's what I thought of when I read this book. THE SCREAMING STAIRCASE gave me the same pleasure as the Arthur Conan Doyle books did. 

Granted the storyline is vastly different.  Doyle might have suggested the mysterious and the macabre but his feet were solidly set in reality.  Stroud's book is not.  It's a fantasy, but it's not treated as one.  There's no loopy magic or dragons.  Instead Stroud defines his universe and it seems very proper and reasonable.

BACKSTORY:

Fifty years before this story takes place the world changed. Ghostly phenomena, which had previously been the subject of television and movies, moved into 'real life'.  And not only did ghosts erupt onto the scene, they were much more numerous than anyone expected, and they were perversely powerful.

Society was at a loss. And a large part of the problem was that adults couldn't sense the ghosts. Not until it was too late. Children though... children could see them and/or hear them, and thus it was that society reevaluated child exploitation, and youngsters began to be hired for their abilities to sense and defeat the ghosts with the aid of adult managers and the Fitts Manual. That latter is a book that categorizes the apparitions by type and power, and which also outlines and describes the skills and tools needed to put an end to the ghosts.

SKIP OVER AND START READING

THE SCREAMING STAIRCASE begins with the introduction of our narrator, Lucy.  We're given the short curriculum vitae and then we follow her as she goes to London seeking employment with Lockwood and Company. 

Lockwood is Anthony Lockwood. He's roughly Lucy's age, but unlike all of the other child agents, he runs his own firm and doesn't work under the guidance of an adult. 

And 'Company' really means George. George is the academic of the bunch. A library geek and not without features of interest.  But it is Lucy's relationship with the two that grabbed my attention.  Lucy's a fabulous character. She's smart and brave and what most of us want in a female character --she's strong.  And when it comes to the cast, Lockwood is 'Holmes' to Lucy's 'Watson'.  There's no sappy romance. They are peers. 

I could gush on but it comes down to this. THE SCREAMING STAIRCASE is a fabulously Good story with Good characters and Solid world-building.  I adore this book and HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT.

Pam~

[YA. Not for children. It's not all that gory, but it is scary with events that might be too intense for younger readers.]


LOCKWOOD & CO. -- THE SCREAMING STAIRCASE
by Jonathan Stroud

Reading Information:
Word Count: 92,073
Page Count: 400
Accelerated Reader: 5.1 / points: 14.0
AR quiz: 160996
Lexile: 720L
--sample pages available
--audio version available (it's under the bookcover on amazon. Do listen to it.)
--see introductory pages on this blog

Review: MARY: THE SUMMONING (Hillary Monahan)

3.70 STARS from 619 GoodReaders

"Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary. BLOODY MARY," Jess shouted.

The candle on the vanity cast eerie shadows, our forms tall and distorted against the walls. Our hands were clenched together so tightly our fingers trembled.

Jess, Shauna, Kitty, and Anna are a tight group. Best friends forever-- which is how Jess coaxes them into a tiny bathroom in her basement to play at calling Bloody Mary. The only problem is Bloody Mary is real and the girls are totally successful in calling the ghoul.

 [Jess] understood people. If she wanted the four of us to do something, she'd appeal to us in whatever way would get her results.

and famous last words...

"I won't take any risks. I told you I was being safe."

Hillary Monahan tells this creepy tale in two narratives. The first unfolds through Mary's letters to her sister, Constance. They begin playfully in September of 1864, with Mary teasing her sister, saying that she's an 'abysmal sister' to have married the best man in the area and then run off to the big city.

Unfortunately the letters don't stay cheerful for long. A dark presence seems to have moved into their small town and the correspondence begins to foreshadow terrible events that lead to Mary's becoming an evil, restless spirit.

Shauna tells the present day story. We follow her as she and her friends call the murdering ghoul. And it's horrifying how Mary escapes the mirror and nearly drags Shauna into the world beyond. Worse, Mary gets a taste of Shauna's blood and begins to haunt her wherever there is a shiny surface.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Review: IN THE SHADOWS
Review: MISTWALKER 
Review: THE GHOST BOX 
Review: LIV, FOREVER
------------------------------------------------------------------

THE SUMMONING is a fun read. The scary-suspenseful parts are well written. Definitely Adult Worthy. Unfortunately for adults the sections of the story that portray the girls at high school or at home are not as well written, and it's likely that adults will end up skimming some of these parts because they seem so immature.  Middle-graders and other teens will no doubt find them more tolerable.

There are definitely things to like about THE SUMMONING. The story is intriguing. The suspenseful parts are well done for a middle-grade/YA book. And I liked how the author portrayed Shauna as a rational person. When there was a problem Shauna didn't let it boil but rather said what needed to be said that so issues didn't get worse.  I also like the mystery about poor Mary. What exactly did happen to her?  (We won't know until book #2)

Some profanity. One sexual reference.

Pam~


THE SUMMONING
(Bloody Mary #1)
by Hillary Monahan

Reading Information:
Page Count: 256
no reading information currently available
--sample pages and reviews available

Mary lingered. She'd shifted positions so she was clear now, her palms against the glass, the pads of her fingers smushed like she'd pressed too hard. She watched us with her sunken eyes, a small stream of yellow pus oozing from her tear ducts.

updated August 2015

Review: LIV, FOREVER by Amy Talkington

3.77 STARS — 368 GoodReaders

It sucks to be dead.

I collapsed onto the ground. I swung my arms and felt stinging pain as they whipped right through the dead leaves. Through them. Not possible. I paused --calmed--tried to pick up a leaf. I focused intensely. I had to pick up that leaf. It would mean everything was normal. I managed to manipulate it between my fingers, but touching it caused a burning sensation on my fingertips as if it's orange-red color was actual fire. I moved it barely--almost imperceptibly. Then I dropped it and slumped over, my whole being exhausted ad weakened as if I'd just carried a heavy piece of furniture up a flight of stairs.

BACKSTORY

Liv Bloom has the opportunity of a lifetime. She's gotten a scholarship to the elite Wickham Hall school. When she arrives she finds that she doesn't fit in, but she doesn't care. They've given her a gorgeous studio with tons of supplies. And even better, before she dies she finds the boy that has all the makings to be her one great love.

YES, I said die. Poor Liv doesn't get to make much art or spend much time with her new boyfriend before she is murdered. The question is why? Why was she murdered and why does she see all these other ghosts?

The story centers around 3 characters: Liv, her love Malcolm, and a remarkable boy she meets by happenstance, Gabe.  Gabe's claim to fame, besides the fact that he is also an outlier in their world of super rich children, is that he can see ghosts. And it's the three of them that set out to discover who has been murdering girls over the centuries.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Review: IN THE SHADOWS
Review: MISTWALKER 
Review: THE GHOST BOX
------------------------------------------------------------------

Remarkably, LIV, FOREVER, with all of the ghosts and deaths, is a sweet story. It's also a very quick read.  A little slow in the beginning but that's more or less necessary to create the background and to invest the reader in the characters.  I enjoyed how the three worked out the mystery. Liv can talk to Gabe and Gabe to Malcolm so it made for a fun communication triangle.

For those that don't like high-stress/suspense stories, don't worry. LIV, FOREVER is not like that. It's a highly enjoyable twinkie read that would be suitable for Middle-graders and Young Adults. I enjoyed it.  

Pam~


LIV, FOREVER
by Amy Talkington

Reading Information:
Word Count:  66,148
Page Count:  278
Accelerated Reading level: 4.7 / points: 10.0
AR quiz: 164732
--sample pages and other reviews available
--audio version available
--sample e-chapters available

Review: IN THE SHADOWS by Kirsten White

4.1 STARS from 68 GoodReaders

Really liked IN THE SHADOWS.  It's a well written "gothic" novel with good characters placed in a creepy and mysterious seaside setting.

[Suitable for Middle-graders, YA, and Adults]

IN THE SHADOWS also happens to be a hybrid novel. By which I mean that there are many graphic pages. And if I'm understanding these pages correctly, they are telling a slightly parallel story set partially in the future.

 
BACKSTORY #1

Cora and Minnie are sisters.  They live with their family in a small New England town at the turn of the last century.  After the death of their father, their mother opens their home to boarders, which is how they meet Thomas and Charles, and the mysterious, Arthur.

BACKSTORY #2

Thomas and Charles are brothers. Thom is older and interested in girls and the new music, Jazz. Charles is younger and dying.  We aren't told specifically what his ailment is, but I suspect it's tuberculosis. He is weak and has coughing spells.

Thomas dotes on Charles and loves him fiercely, which makes his slow death hard to live with. So he escapes sometime to the clubs to get some relief. It's coming back from a midnight escapade that Thom happens upon his father talking to a mysterious woman. For the only time he can recall, Thom notes that his father sounds afraid.  The subject of the conversation isn't clear, but there is talk about a debt that must be paid, and that the sacrifice must be a large one.  Shortly afterwards, Thomas and Charles are packed up and sent to Maine, where the meaning of the threat slowly becomes clearer.

BACKSTORY #3

Arthur is perhaps the most mysterious character of the five young people.  We know little about him except that he is older than both Cora and Minnie and orphaned.  He arrives at the boarding house with a suitcase that he frets over. In fact, as he settles in to be part of the family, Arthur buries the case in the back yard.  He is a boy that lives in the shadows.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Review: MISTWALKER 
Review: THE GHOST BOX 
Review: LIV, FOREVER
------------------------------------------------------------------

THE ARTWORK
Here's an example of Jim Di Bartolo's striking artwork. 

IN THE SHADOWS is full of action and suspense. It's a tale of love and friendship, good and evil, and I'd recommend it to readers looking for a good classically spooky story.

Pam~


In the Shadows
(Scholastic)
by Kirsten White

Reading Information:
Page Count:  384
no reading information currently available
--sample pages and reviews available

Review: MISTWALKER by Saundra Mitchell

3.49 STARS from 194 GoodReaders

The Grey Man is here, my thoughts sang. 

The haze sharpened—it gathered. Like milk swirling into coffee, curves formed. Shades and shapes and angles, they became: black eyes, silver hair. A thin mouth, a sharp chin. A hand reached out to take mine. “I thought you would never come,” he said.

BACKSTORY

Willa Dixon's family are fishing folk. They live in a quaint little village where lobsters provide their livelihood. The family struggles to get along but are content until Willa's brother, Levi, is shot and killed.  Then her family slowly falls apart as the tragedy overwhelms them.

With the help of her best friend Willa might have been able to move past Levi's death if it weren't for the criminal trial. She and Levi were on the boat alone when a man came up and shot him. Willa is the only witness, although she isn't the only one who knows why the murder took place. The whole village knows. And the whole village is adamant about keeping the reason a secret.

In her grief and with the pressure of the trial mounting, Willa seeks out the Grey Man, a local ghost who is supposed to be able to grant your wishes. And he will grant her desire but only at a terrible cost.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Review: IN THE SHADOWS
Review: THE GHOST BOX 
Review: LIV, FOREVER
------------------------------------------------------------------

MISTWALKER is a ghost story for middle-graders and young adults.  It is told from the point of view of the Grey Man and Willa, and while it has some very good elements, it is not a book I can whole-heartedly recommend. 

Now part of this book was brilliant. Saundra Mitchell's descriptions were delicious. I could feel/smell/taste the small fishing village, the lobstering, the worming.  And the way that Willa and her boy friend and best friend interacted was so believable. I truly wish that the author had just written about these peoples' efforts to work their ways through and out of this tragedy, rather than pursuing the ghost angle.

Also, the choice to tell the story from both points of view didn't work for me.  It diminished the sense of creepiness, but this wasn't as big a problem as the pacing, which was very slow at times. 

So this is a try-it and see book.  And one of those times where I have to admit that a younger person might enjoy this novel more than I.

Pam~


Mistwalker
by Saundra Mitchell

Reading Information:
Page Count: 320
no reading information currently available
--sample pages and reviews available

Review: THE RIVERMAN by Aaron Starmer

Adult Worthy~

3.92 STARS from 107 GoodReaders

**Starred Review** Kirkus
**Starred Review** GoodBooksforKids

THE RIVERMAN was amazing. I received it as a review copy and I have to say that it's one of the best books I read this year. And if I get a chance again in my schedule, I'd love to read it again.  It was that good!

BACKSTORY

It all sounds rather sweet at first. There's a small town where children bike in the summer and throw rocks and do the things that are reminiscent of gentler times. But it all goes scary and scarier when a girl named Fiona Loomis asks 12 year old Alistair Cleary to write her biography.

It's such a curious request that Alistair agrees. And that is how he discovers that there's a land called Aquavania and that Fiona and other children have been escaping there on-and-off for months. It's a wonderful place on the surface of it. A place to get away, where every imagining can come true. ONLY there's a problem. The Riverman.  As Fiona spins the tale she tells of how the Riverman is stalking her -- threatening to suck her soul out with a straw.


The wonderful, wonderful part of this story is that like Alistair it's difficult to tell how 'disturbed' Fiona is. And thus we follow Alistair as he waits and watches and tries to find Fiona's real world threat.  He's down to studying the relatives that Fiona lives with, when his own life becomes jeopardized.

So I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THE RIVERMAN.  It's a layered story that is very well written. The author captures the feel of growing up in a small town, and he draws the characters --good, bad, first- and second-string-- perfectly.  Alistair and Fiona's relationship is realistic and charming. And perhaps most importantly, it's not clear what's real and what's fantasy --who or what the danger is.

Creepy enough for adults and young adults. It might be too intense for some middle-graders.

DEFINITELY RECOMMEND.

Pam~

THE RIVERMAN 
by Aaron Starmer

Reading Information:
Page Count: 320
no Accelerated Reading information currently available
 Lexile: 730L
--sample pages and reviews available

BEFORE

Every town has a lost child. Search the archives, ask the clergy. You’ll find stories of runaways slipping out of windows in the dark, never to be seen again. You’ll be told of custody battles gone ugly and parents taking extreme measures. Occasionally you’ll read about kids snatched from parking lots or on their walks home from school. Here today, gone tomorrow. The pain is passed out and shared until the only ones who remember are the only ones who ever really gave a damn.

Our town lost Luke Drake. By all accounts he was a normal twelve-year-old kid who rode his bike and got into just enough trouble. On a balmy autumn afternoon in 1979, he and his brother, Milo, were patrolling the banks of the Oriskanny with their BB rifles when a grouse fumbled out from some bushes. Milo shot the bird in the neck, and it tried to fly but crashed into a riot of brambles near the water.

“I shot, you fetch,” Milo told Luke, and those words will probably always kindle insomnia for Milo. Because in the act of fetching, Luke slipped on a rock covered with wet leaves and fell into the river.

It had been a rainy autumn, and the river was swollen and unpredictable. Even in drier times, it was a rough patch of water that only fools dared navigate. Branch in hand, Milo chased the current along the banks as far as he could, but soon his brother’s head bobbed out of view, and no amount of shouting “Swim!” or “Fight!” could bring him back.

Experts combed the river for at least fifteen miles downstream. No luck. Luke Drake was declared missing on November 20, and after a few weeks of extensive but fruitless searches, almost everyone assumed he was dead, his body trapped and hidden beneath a log or taken by coyotes. Perhaps his family still holds out hope that he will show up at their doorstep one day, a healthy man with broad shoulders and an astounding tale of amnesia.

I saw Luke’s body on November 22, 1979. Thanksgiving morning. I was almost three years old, and we were visiting my uncle’s cabin near a calm but deep bend in the Oriskanny, about seventeen miles downstream from where Luke fell. I don’t remember why or how, but I snuck out of the house alone before dawn and ended up sitting on a rock near the water. All I remember is looking down and seeing a boy at the bottom of the river. He was on his back, most of his body covered in red and brown leaves. His eyes were open, looking up at me. One of his arms stuck out from the murk. As the current moved, it guided his hand back and forth, back and forth. It was like he was waving at me. It almost seemed as though he was happy to see me.

My next memory is of rain and my dad picking me up and putting me over his shoulder and carrying me back through the woods as I whispered to him, “The boy is saying hello, the boy is saying hello.”

It takes a while to process memories like that, to know if they’re even true. I never told anyone about what I saw because for so long it meant something different. For so long it was just a boy saying hello, like an acquaintance smiling at you in the grocery store. You don’t tell people about that.

I was eleven when I finally put the pieces in their right places. I read about Luke’s disappearance at the library while researching our town’s bicentennial for a school paper. With a sheet of film loaded into one of the microfiche readers, I was scanning through old newspapers, all splotchy and purple on the display screen. I stopped dead on the yearbook picture of Luke that had been featured on Missing posters. It all came rushing back, like a long-forgotten yet instantly recognizable scent.

My uncle had sold the cabin by then, but it was within biking distance of my house, and I went out there the following Saturday and flipped over stones and poked sticks in the water. I found nothing. I considered telling someone, but my guilt prevented it. Besides, nine years had passed. A lot of river had tumbled through those years.

The memory of Luke may very well be my first memory. Still, it’s not like those soft and malleable recollections we all have from our early years. It’s solid. I believe in it, as much as I believe in my memory of a few minutes ago. Luke was our town’s lost child. I found him, if only for a brief moment.

yes... it's as good as this.

Review: THE GHOST BOX by Catherine Fisher

THE GHOST BOX is a Hi-Lo book from Catherine Fisher and Stoke Books.  It's an exciting story about a girl and a ghost-boy from the past, whose soul was snatched up and placed in silver box.

Backstory:

Sarah's mom is a sculptor.  Her step-father, Gareth, is a bit uptight, but Sarah likes him.  Who she doesn't like is Gareth's son, Matt.  Matt's a rather obnoxious 'goth' teen and as the story begins the two aren't seeing eye to eye.  

It's not long before the mystery begins.  At a swank party Sarah sees a painting of her home as it was a century before. The picture draws her attention and before she knows it, there are eyes peering out at her from the leaves of the tree that once stood outside her window. This is the first sign that she's been drawn into the curse that keeps the boy's ghost from being free to leave this world.  And that night the boy appears and begs her for help to find the key that will unlock the silver box with it's strange lettering.

A shadow fell across the painting and Gareth came up behind her.

"So here you are!"

He put his glasses on and stared at the old barn with interest. "Oh look! Our house. Pretty good, isn't it?"

Sarah couldn't answer. She stared at the tree but there was nothing in its leaves now, no birds, no face, no sly eye that closed.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Review: IN THE SHADOWS
Review: MISTWALKER
Review: LIV, FOREVER
------------------------------------------------------------------

The end of each chapter is perfect.  A mini-cliff hanger that compels the reader forward. The end comes a bit abruptly, but with a satisfactory manner with the nature of the curse being revealed, and familial relationships being repaired.  And I found myself wishing there was a 'next story' to be shared by Sarah and Matt.

She grabbed the door handle and took a deep breath. Then she flung the door open and stormed in.

No one was there.

The curtains moved in the stillness.  The belt of her bathrobe swung softly to and fro.

She let out her breath.

There was a smell.

A wet, cloying smell, like something rotten.

Personally, I liked this story and I think it should appeal to Tweens, Middle-graders and some young adults/adults who like spooky goodness.  The book is a very quick read and should be thought of as a short story for more accomplished readers.

Pam~
 

THE GHOST BOX
by Catherine Fisher

Reading Information:
Page Count: 67 (although it seemed much shorter to me. I read it as an ebook from the publisher. It took about an hour.)

no Accelerated Reader information currently available
Lexile HL520L reading level

You might be interested in...

• Hi-Lo Books At the 1st Grade Level
• Hi-Lo Books At the 2nd Grade Level 
• R. L. Stine / HORRORLAND series
• Goosebumps

Review: MALICE by Chris Wooding

4.06 Stars from 1,504 GoodReaders

MALICE is part novel, part graphic-novel... and so much fun. 

If your children liked the GOOSEBUMPS series and are ready for a longer tale that's a bit scarier, then they might want to take a look at Chris Wooding's MALICE series.

The premise of the story is that there is a mysterious comic book series titled "Malice", and that if you have it in your possession, and then say the right words and burn the right set of ingredients, that you can be 'transported' into the comic book-world ruled by the villainous guy that you see here on the cover, Tall Jake. The catch is that the world is just awful -- filled with monstrous creatures and machines that will hunt you down and kill you.

Now you might be wondering who on earth would want to take part in such an experiment, but the truth is that it's mostly done because the children don't really believe that it can happen. They are just fooling around and challenging each other. Too bad it works.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Review:  THE MONSTRUMOLOGIST (YA)
Review: THE WITCH'S KITCHEN (MG/YA)
Reading List: RL STINE'S HORRORLAND series (MG)
------------------------------------------------------------------

The writing in MALICE was very good and the story was well plotted; and it wouldn't surprise me at all if kids stay up late trying to finish it.

As far as appearance, I have to say that the cover is really eye-catching. It features Tall Jake, and he and the MALICE lettering are raised and touchable and just the sort of thing that ought to have this book whizzing off the shelves.

Inside the print is well sized and easy to read. AND there are plenty of grayscale drawings by Dan Chernett. These illustrations are divided into panels just like you would find in a graphic novel.

There is violence in this series, although so far most of it is portrayed in the drawing and not the text.

Overall, this book isn't going to be for everyone. It's scary and fast paced though, and since there's both male and female characters I think MALICE is going to appeal equally to Middle-graders of both genders. At least those who like a scary adventure story.

Beginning of a series.

Pam~


MALICE
(Malice #1)
Scholastic
by Chris Wooding
illustrated by Dan Chernett

Reading Information:
Word Count: 67,634
Page Count:  384
Accelerated Reading level: 4.5 / points: 10.0
AR quiz: 133618
Lexile: 650L
--get sample pages, reviews, and prices
--get the series information here

Review: THE HALLOWED ONES series by Laura Bickle

THE HALLOWED ONES is a creepy and
wonderful YA series.  

The background for these is books is modern... sort of. I say that jokingly because the first book begins in an Amish community where Kate, our heroine, lives with her parents and little sister.  Kate has friends and is generally happy, but also terribly curious about sampling the modern world by going on the Rumspringa.

These plans get dropped though when the end of world erupts. When suddenly a strange 'disease' breaks out that forces the elders to 'close' their community so that none may go out and none may come in.

This declaration sets into motion a series of events which threaten Kate and her family.  For one, Kate's best friend, Elijah, decides that he will take his vows, and everyone in the community, including Kate's parents, want her to join him so that they also be married.  Kate however isn't eager to give up on her Rumspringa dream.  No one knows after all whether this unknown threat will blow over.   

It also creates a crisis of faith and obedience for Kate when an injured young man collapses at the fence at the periphery of their community.  She wants to do the 'right things', but the elders have made their choice and turned away from helping the boy.  As expected, she can't be so hard-hearted, and by helping the college-aged boy, both of them (and an adult friend) end up being exiled from the community.

Amish. Vampire apocalypse.  There's so much that fresh and new about these books. 

I really enjoyed all the interesting information about daily Amish life. And Ms. Bickle wields it in a way that makes Kate's world very, very real. So when we jump off in the creepy vampire aspects of this story, it's from a concrete-solid world.

I also loved that it's not clear where these vampires come from.  Are they truly, biblically Evil?  Or is it an infection?  Or somehow both.

In any case, some good reading.  Enjoy.

Pam~

**all ratings from GoodReads
***mild swearing; some violence; some sexual situations

THE HALLOWED ONES
**Starred Review** Kirkus
4.02 avg rating — 1,176 ratings

Reading Information:
Word Count: 79,375
Page Count: 320
Accelerated Reader: 4.8 / points: 12.0
AR quiz: 156924
--get sample pages and other reviews available


THE OUTSIDE
**Starred Review** Kirkus
3.80 avg rating — 175 ratings

Word Count:  78,335
Page Count: 320
Accelerated Reading level: 4.8 / points: 12.0
AR quiz: 161169
--get sample pages and other reviews available

Spooky Books and Mysteries!

Spooky Books and Mysteries Index

• Spooky Picture Books for Children
  -- Shan's picked spooky books to read: Mild, Medium, and Hot!

• Spooky Books for Middle-Graders-- Shan's list for Tweens and up
  

If you like scary stories, you might also be interested in:

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancy - Young Adult

Malice by Chris Wooding - Middle-Grades on up

Review: THE WITCHES' KITCHEN

3.62 Stars from 84 GoodReaders

THE WITCHES' KITCHEN would be an good choice for a middle-grader who is looking to pick up a spooky read for October. 

The story is set in a dark and shifting landscape, where the principle characters aren't your usual set of pretty faces.

The tale begins with a bewitched toad who wakes to find herself dangling over a boiling, goat-legged cauldron. She manages to escape the seething pot, but soon discovers that while she doesn't feel comfortable in her present green skin, that she can't remember what she was before.

Quickly falling to the company of some of the Kitchen's minions, Toad sets out to solve this riddle, only to find that the two witch sisters, who had captured her in the first place, have not given up the hunt.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Review: MALICE (the series) (MG/YA)
Review:  THE MONSTRUMOLOGIST (YA)  
Reading List: RL STINE'S HORRORLAND series (MG)
------------------------------------------------------------------

THE WITCHES' KITCHEN is likely to please most middle-grade readers who like a spooky story. I would say that it's a step up from the popular Goosebumps series: more sophisticated writing and darker tone.

The Kitchen itself is a wondrous place that defies the rules of physics, and this provides the perfect setting for the evil that's afoot.

With a quick moving plot, young readers aren't going to be bothered by the slight flaws in writing that might give an adult pause.

The artwork, which is only in draft form in this Review Copy, promises to be fantastic and second to none.

Violence: yes. It's relatively mild, though descriptive. Imp biting off the tip of a nose... that sort of thing.
Read-aloud: I am actually reading this book to my children who are 8 and 10. It's a surprisingly good read-aloud.
Language:  yes. There are a few (perhaps 4) instances of the use of 'damn' and one 'pissed'.

Pam~

THE WITCHES' KITCHEN
by Allen Williams

Reading Information:
Word Count: 55,191
Page Count: 288
Accelerated Reader:  5.7 / points: 9.0
AR quiz: 140146
Lexile: 820L
--sample pages and other reviews available

More Spooky Books for Middle-Schoolers

Since you can't have enough spooky reads this time of year. Here are some more suggestions for Middle-Graders on up.



If you're looking for spooky reads for younger readers, take a look at Shan's List for Younger Children.

The Graveyard Book
By Neil Gaiman
*Starred Review* from Booklist

It takes a graveyard to raise a child.

Nobody Owens, known as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a graveyard, being raised by ghosts, with a guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor the dead. There are adventures in the graveyard for a boy—an ancient Indigo Man, a gateway to the abandoned city of ghouls, the strange and terrible Sleer. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, he will be in danger from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod's family.

Word Count: 67,380
Accelerated Reading level: 5.1 / points: 10.0
AR quiz: 125535
Lexile: 820L--amazon

In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories
Retold by Alvin Schwartz

Seven spine-tingling stories in this one.

Word Count: 835
Accelerated Reading level: 2.5 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 20232
Lexile: 430L--amazon



Closed for the Season
By Mary Downing Hahn

Winner of the 2010 Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery

Two 13-year-old boys, Arthur and Logan, set out to solve the mystery of a murder that took place some years ago in the old house Logan's family has just moved into. The boys' quest takes them to the highest and lowest levels of society in their small Maryland town, and eventually to a derelict amusement park that is supposedly closed for the season.

Word Count: 43,034
Accelerated Reading level: 4.4 / points: 6.0
AR quiz: 130870
Lexile: 670L
--amazon

Mary Downing Hahn has written
a long line of excellent spookers.

• The Doll in the Garden: A Ghost Story
• Promises to the Dead
• Wait Till Helen Comes: A Ghost Story

...and many more.


The Halloween Tree
By Ray Bradbury

Fiona Webster --Eight boys set out on a Halloween night and are led into the depths of the past by a tall, mysterious character named Moundshroud. They ride on a black wind to autumn scenes in distant lands and times, where they witness other ways of celebrating this holiday about the dark time of year. Bradbury's lyrical prose whooshes along with the pell-mell rhythms of children running at night, screaming and laughing, and the reader is carried along by its sheer exuberance.

Word Count: 24,531
Accelerated Reading level: 4.7 / points: 4.0
AR quiz: 56490
--amazon


The Kneebone Boy

by Ellen Potter

Life in a small town can be pretty boring when everyone avoids you like the plague. But after their father unwittingly sends them to stay with an aunt who’s away on holiday, the Hardscrabble children take off on an adventure that begins in the seedy streets of London and ends in a peculiar sea village where legend has it a monstrous creature lives who is half boy and half animal. . . .

One of Pam's favorite reads for 2010. This story isn't particularly a Halloween story, but it is a great, fun mystery romp. (YA and Adults will like this one too.)

Word Count: 65,977
Accelerated Reading level: 5.5 / points: 10.0
AR quiz: 140523
Lexile: 850L--amazon



The Boneshaker
by Kate Milford, Andrea Offermann (Illus.)*Starred Review* from Booklist

We've all heard about what can happen at the crossroads. It's where a person's path can change, sometimes for the good and sometimes for the bad. And that's where the Devil stands, waiting to tempt. But it's not the devil (or is it?) that comes to the small turn-of-the-century town of Arcane (1913), but Doctor Jake Limberleg's "Nostrum Fair and Technological Medicine Show".

Accelerated Reading level: 6.0/ points: 14.0
AR quiz: 137437
--amazon


Don't miss Librarian Shan's List of Spooky Picture Books in three flavors: Very Mild, Slightly Spookier, Spookier Still!

Spooky Picture Books for Kids chosen by Shan

Every child has their own level of spooky and scary they can handle, so I’ve tried to pick a range of books here for the Halloween and October season.

3 Flavors of Scary:
Very Mild
Slightly Spookier
Spookier Still!

**all ratings from GoodReads


Very Mild:

Go Away Big Green Monster!
By Ed Emberly

4.18 avg rating — 7,415 ratings

A masterful book for toddlers and pre-k kids that allows them to construct, then deconstruct a monster’s face. They get to be in control and assert they’re not afraid!

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams—For the very young, this is a nice repetitive text as the woman encounters various items of clothing along the road that follow her. Never becomes too scary because, well, this little old lady is not afraid of anything. Has a cute ending too. Ages 3-6.

Lexile: AD550L

in Spanish!
Fuera de aqui, horrible monstruo verde!

Leonardo the Terrible Monster
by Mo Willems

**Starred Review** SchoolLibraryJournal
4.24 avg rating — 5,966 ratings

What happens when a monster just can’t scare anyone? This adorable little tale of what it takes to be a monster—and what it takes to be a friend, isn’t likely to scare anyone, but it’s worth a few chuckles. Ages 3-8.

Reading Information:
Word Count: 263
Page Count: 48
Accelerated Reader: 2.3 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 88782
Lexile: AD670L

Boogie Knights
by Lisa Wheeler
pictures by Mark Siegel

**Starred Review** Kirkus
**Starred Review** SchoolLibraryJournal
**Starred Review** ALA BookList

3.74 avg rating — 155 ratings

The knights of the castle are awoken by the sounds of the madcap monster ball going on in the castle. At first a bit alarmed, they finally join in the fun. Ages 3-8.

Lexile: AD440L

The Squeaky Door
by Margaret Read MacDonald

3.93 avg rating — 188 ratings

Not so much spooky as hilarious as a squeaking door scares a little boy and the grandmother keeps trying to remedy the situation with more and more sleeping companions (a cat, dog, pig, etc.). Worth a read and great for those who really don’t like books with monsters or other spooky stuff.

Word Count: 862
Page Count: 40
Accelerated Reading level: 1.7 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 105562
Lexile: AD250L

A Dark, Dark Tale
by Ruth Brown

3.83 avg rating — 180 ratings

You’ve probably heard a version or two of this tale before. It gets repetitive and is best read allowed in a slightly eerie voice. The dark, dark, wood leads to a dark, dark, house . . . and so forth. Everyone waits for the surprise at the end, which in Ruth Brown’s tale is very tame and adorable. Ages 3-6.

Lexile: 400L

Cinderella Skeleton
by Robert San Souci

**Starred Review** Kirkus
3.93 avg rating — 624 ratings

A rhyming version of the Cinderella story, but with skeletons! Not really all that spooky, but I thought it deserved a mention here. Ages 5-8.

Word Count: 1,139
Page Count: 32
Accelerated Reader: 5.2 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 51023
Lexile: NP

There’s a Nightmare in My Closet
by Mercer Mayer

4.20 avg rating — 7,913 ratings

A young boy decides to confront the monster in his closet. Adorably illustrated and told in classic Mercer Mayer style! Ages 3-6.

Word Count: 153
Page Count: 32
Accelerated Reading level: 2.3 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 5545
Lexile: AD670L


Slightly Spookier

The Teeny-Tiny Woman
by Paul Galdone

3.84 avg rating — 182 ratings

Another story that’s got plenty of retellings out there. A teeny-tiny woman finds a teeny-tiny bone and winds up with more than a teeny-tiny haunting for her trouble. The last line is a great one for some chuckles. Ages 6-8.

Lexile: NC880L


The Funny Little Woman
retold by Arlene Mosel
Blair Lent (Illustrator)

**1973 Caldecott Winner**
3.92 avg rating — 1,268 ratings

The folk tale of a woman who chases her dumpling that falls into a crack in the floor and winds up facing a family of Oni demons. Now she must escape the Oni and return home! Ages 6-9yrs.

Word Count: 845
Page Count: 40
Accelerated Reading level: 3.6 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 7568
Lexile: 570L

The King of the Cats
by Paul Galdone

4.10 avg rating — 21 ratings

An old irish tale that Galdone retells here of a gravedigger who has a chilling encounter with cats. Spooky and atmospheric without every being truly frightening, it’s a great one for reading aloud and storytelling on a dark evening. Ages 6-12 yrs.

A Big, Spooky House
by Donna Washington

4.25 avg rating — 20 ratings

An old ghost story revisited where progressively larger and larger cats ask the visitor to the house “are you gonna be here when John gets here?” This great retelling leaves the ending a bit open, so your readers can decide who “John” is. Deliciously spooky. Ages 8-12.

  The Dancing Skeleton
by Cynthia C. DeFelice
illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker

3.83 avg rating — 24 ratings

An ornery man who dies refuses to stay in his coffin when a fiddler comes to pay respects to his widow. A fun and creepy tale to tell aloud. 6-12.

Word Count: 837
Page Count: 32
Accelerated Reader: 3.2 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 110866


Spookier Still!

Fergus and the Night Demon
--an Irish ghost story 
AND HERE
by Jim Murphy
illustrated by John Manders—

3.83 avg rating — 35 ratings

Fergus, the laziest boy in town encounters a demon one night who declares his time has come. But our clever lad figures a way out of certain doom—and learns his lesson! Ages 8-12.

Word Count: 1,460
Page Count: 32
Accelerated Reading level: 4.8 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 110644

The Tailypo
by Joanna and Paul Galdone

 4.19 avg rating — 150 ratings

A bit scarier than King of the Cats! In this story a man cuts off the tail of a strange beast and eats it for dinner, only to have the beast come back, looking for it’s tail! Nicely Chilling. Ages 8-12.

Word Count: 922
Page Count: 40
Accelerated Reading level: 3.5 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 6500
Lexile: AD880L

Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep
by Jack Prelutsky

4.21 avg rating — 102 ratings

Master children’s poet Jack Prelutsky penned this creepy poetry collection back at the beginning of his career—and also pennedThe Headless Horseman Rides Tonight. These poems are ghastly, grim and gross—delightful fare for the Halloween season! Ages 8-12

Lexile: NP
Reading Counts!: 6.3 / points:2.0

The Ghost of Sifty-Sifty Sam
by Angela Shelf Medearis
illustrated by Jacqueline Rogers

4.17 avg rating — 29 ratings

A cook desperate for the money reward offered takes up the challenge to stay at a haunted house overnight. Sifty-Sifty Sam comes calling and our hero finds a way to satisfy a hungry ghost. Ages 8-12.

Word Count: 1156
Page Count: 32
Accelerated Reading level: 4.4 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 18676

The Spider and the Fly
based on the poem
AND HERE
by Mary Howitt
illustrations by Tony DiTerlizzi

4.19 avg rating — 4,711 ratings

You might be familiar with this creepy poem, but DiTerlizzi’s illustrations are brilliant in helping convey the mood and providing for an eerie counterpart. Fun to read with older kids! Ages 9-12.

Word Count: 692
Page Count: 40
Accelerated Reading level: 4.8 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 64285
Lexile: NP


See also,
More Spooky Books for Middle-Schoolers




compiled by Shan
updated by Pam - October 2013