Category: Horror

Facing Your Fears

4/20/2022

The Girl in the Lake by India Hill Brown read by Bahni Turpin

Celeste has never overcome her fear of swimming. This twelve-year-old tried lessons but failed miserably. Now her phobia takes on mammoth proportions when she and her brother spend a week at her grandparents’ house. Their home features access to a lake!

In addition to Celeste's fear of the water, she soon discovers that her grandparents’ home is haunted. There is a flickering light in an empty room, an unseen hand touching her shoulder, a relative’s face appearing in the mirror, and unexplained shattering glass.
When Celeste sees a photograph of her great aunt, she is shocked to discover she looks just like her Great Aunt Ellie. She suspects that her aunt may be the ghost. When she asks her grandparents about her aunt, they say little to alleviate Celeste’s worries. Instead, they reassure their granddaughter that Ellie never did and never would never hurt anyone.

Listen to a sample of the audiobook.

Celeste is terrified. Her fear of swimming is now compounded by paranormal phenomena . This family vacation is becoming a nightmare. What does the spirit want? Why do her grandparents seem oblivious to is this other-worldly apparition? Celeste searches for answers and tries to protect herself and her family from this ghost.

With each eerie manifestation, Brown ratchets up the tension. Readers will emphasize with Celeste when she makes a panic-stricken call to her parents stating I want to go home. Now!

Caring adults come to the rescue, identifying individual fears and teaching youngsters lessons from history.

Eventually the children learn a reason for the fear of swimming. This dates to segregation practices in the United States when Blacks were not permitted to swim in "white's only" public swimming facilities. These policies prevented youngsters from learning to swim and exacerbated fear of swimming pools.

Turpin's narration, with individual voicing for each character brings the tale to life. She skillful reveals the progression of Celeste's mindset from uncertainty and puzzlement to a full-on panic attack in this audio performance.

The Girl in the Lake, a spine-tingling tale of facing fear and learning lessons from the past.

Beastly Feast

1/12/2021

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The Beast and the Bethany
by Jack Meggitt-Phillips ill by Isabelle Follath

Ebenezer Tweezer, a young man with golden hair and a mansion filled with everything he desires, has a secret. In reality he is almost 512 years old. He owes his youth, stunning art collection, and grand piano to a hideous monster who lives in the top floor of a mansion. In this reimagining of the classic Faustian bargain, Ebenezer must regularly feed the monster in exchange for a potion that grants him eternal youth.

The beast's appetite has increased over time. Where once a tasty morsel satisfied, sacrificial offerings are currently demanded. First it was small animals but now the beast wants a child. Tweezer realizes that he is crossing into territory that strains his sense of morality. He rationalizes that if he can find a truly despicable youngster the world will be rid of one nasty human. That's not so bad, is it?

His search for a suitable child eventually leads him to an orphanage run by the loathsome Miss Fizzlewick. There he meets Bethany, an obstinate and obnoxious girl who alienates everyone she comes in contact with. She will be the perfect meal.

Back at the mansion there are complications. The beast decides that Bethany is too thin and needs fattening up. Ebenezer complies with her request for mountains of chocolate cake and ice cream with treacle toffee sauce. He reasons that this is a good thing. She will quickly become a large and tasty meal. Bethany is bewildered. Instead of annoying an adult, her atrocious menu pleases him.

But this is a redemptive tale and as Ebenezer waits for his prospective meal to get fatter, he begins to enjoy spending time with his charge. Bethany, a girl that is determined to antagonize everyone, starts to care about others in small meaningful ways. Eventually Tweezer divulges the Beast's ultimate objective. The two devise a plan to save Bethany from becoming a beast feast.

Like Roald Dahl books, The Beast and the Bethany features a revolting child (think Veruca Salt), an authority figure who delights in making children miserable (think Miss Trunchbull), and outrageous quantities of chocolate cake.

The narrative steadily leads the reader from one horrific scene to the next and will keep readers turning pages. Isabelle Follath's black and white drawings liberally sprinkled throughout the short chapters are spot-on.

Things don't go as planned. There are several heart-pounding moments when it appears that Bethany and Tweezer are doomed. Then Meggitt-Phillips, that fiendish devil, adds a final plot twist that leaves readers with a frightful chill. The author's note at the conclusion is a must read!

Deliciously dark and delightfully devious. If you like your fiction with a macabre twist, Meggitt-Phillips has just the story you are looking for.

Uncorrected copy provided by publisher.

Pub date: December 8, 2020 Publisher: Aladdin ISBN: 978-1534478893

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Stronger Than Death

8/25/2020

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Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger ill by Rovina Cai

Boundaries between the dead and the undead, dreams and reality, animals and humans are all fluid.

Ellie has the extraordinary ability to bring back the dead. Her truest companion is her dog Kirby who died five years ago. After his death, she reached into the underworld for her beloved canine and returned him to her world. Now he usually manifests himself as a shimmering transparency which Ellie and some others can see.

Seventeen-year-old Ellie, an Apache Lipan, has inherited her Six-Great-Grandmother’s capacity to travel to the land Below where ghosts and monsters dwell.
Named Elatsoe in honor of her legendary ancestor Six-Great, Ellie continues the matriarchal task of protecting her family and close friends.

But there are rules. Do not speak the deceased’s name or view an image of a departed individual. While she may return animals to the world of the living, she is not to bring people back from the land Below.

Ellie is devastated when her cousin Trevor dies, leaving his grieving widow and seven-month-old son. Authorities report his death is the result of a tragic auto accident. But Ellie has reason to believe otherwise. In a dream, Trevor's ghost informs his cousin that he was brutally murdered. He identifies his killer and asks Ellie to avenge his death. She enlists the help of her best friend to locate the killer and bring him to justice. In addition to traditional sleuthing methods, Ellie relies on the assistance of a tribal Elder and other spiritualists.

The climax is a thriller which crackles with nonstop action. Look for a ghost dog, a mother-daughter team, vampires, an agile cheerleader, and basketball bridesmaids wearing rhinestone-embellished trench coats to join forces in an epic battle to defeat evil.

Little Badger lightens the tension with wry tongue-in-cheek humor. There is a discussion of veggie burgers that taste like beef because they are made with "plant-synthesized hemoglobin." When the fighting escalates there is a request to “Keep things PG” because kids are present. Ellie fires back “We’re at least PG-13...At least. But I appreciate your consideration.”

The satisfying conclusion holds the possibility of new directions for Ellie that will honor her heritage, prepare her for the future, and bring peace to the family. The final tender scenes may cause the book’s pages to be wet with readers’ tears.

Australian artist Cai's soft ink wash illustrations set off the book's mystical ethereal quality.

Set in south Texas, near the Rio Grande River known to the Lipan as Kunétai, the land is more than setting, it’s an integral part of the story. The way of the Apache Lipan is woven throughout the tale with inclusion of Apache mythology, culture and traditions.

Speculative fiction that explores timeless relationships, family loyalty, the bond between animals and people. Ties which death cannot sever. Elatsoe holds readers under its spell long after the final page.

Uncorrected copy provided by publisher.

Pub date: August 25, 2020 Publisher: Levine Querido ISBN: 978-1646140053

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A Tale Retold

4/17/2020

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Bluebeard: A Feminist Fairy Tale by Metaphrog

The dynamic duo Metaphrog have created a creeptastic reimagining of Bluebeard. Award-winning co-creators John Chalmers and Sandra Marrs have cast this traditional French folktale as a fantasy feminist story. Readers meet a girl who doesn’t wait to be rescued. She rescues herself.
Here’s how it happens:

Eve and her family live near an enchanted forest. Beyond the forest atop a high mountain is the castle of Count Bluebeard.

Eve's idyllic life with her family and her best friend Tom is disrupted when strange things begin to happen near the forest. Animals disappear. People can be trapped in the masses of dense vegetation. No one dares to enter this sinister wood.

After Eve reaches her eighteenth year, Bluebeard decides to select a bride from among the townsfolk. With a roll of the dice, Eve is selected to become his wife and live with him on the mountaintop. Following the marriage ceremony he takes her to his imposing, opulently furnished castle. Eve notices a long corridor leading to countless rooms. At the end of an extended hallway is a door opened only with a special golden key.

When Bluebeard leaves on urgent business he presents Eve with a ring of keys giving her access to all rooms in the castle. She is explicitly warned to never enter the door unlocked with the golden key. Alone and anxious, Eve roams throughout the castle, going from room to room.

Eventually she opens the forbidden door. To her horror she finds the bodies of all the Count's former wives, hanging from the ceiling, their blood staining the room a violent red. The horrific truth dawns on Eve: He has killed all his wives. She is trapped inside the home of a murderer and she will be his next victim.

Meanwhile in the village Eve's older sister Anne has disappeared. Tom worries about Eve as there has been no communication from her. Tom suspects foul play and decides to take action. He recruits Eve's brothers to help him storm the castle, locate Anne, and rescue the two sisters.

Bluebeard returns to his home and finds that Eve has discovered the bodies of his murdered wives. In an intense climactic scene, Eve struggles to save her sister. Not waiting for Tom and her brothers, she courageously takes matters into her own hands, finishing off the count and setting both girls free.

Tension escalates with a series of panels that depict Eve gazing up a dizzying spiral staircase while Bluebeard stealthily inches nearer. Close-ups of razor-sharp teeth and talon-like extended fingers bring the terror into sharp focus.

Art is breathtaking. Intricately detailed dark silhouettes contrast against the soft jewel tone tints. The gorgeous backgrounds are enchanting.
Color plays an important part in the story. Some of the opening settings and coloring are reminiscent of the classic Disney fairy tales, such as Cinderella. Eve's world is a sparkling pink, while the appearance of Bluebeard is signaled with predominantly blue hues.

Creeptastic!

12/26/2019

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Out to Get You: 13 Tales of Weirdness and Woe
by Josh Allen ill by Sarah J Coleman

Librarians who work with children know that kids love scary stories: chilling tales reread until the spines break and pages fall out. They constantly ask for more fright-filled short stories. More. More. More.
Maintaining a selection of hair-raising tales is a never-ending task. Finding middle grade narratives with just the right amount of fright factor, but not veering into gristly gore can be a challenge.
J osh Allen has this covered with Out to Get You: 13 Tales of Weirdness and Woe. Stories are quick reads: tightly structured tales told briefly in a few pages and concluding with a macabre twist.

Each begins with an everyday encounter. Then the ordinary takes an unexpected turn and young readers wonder what will happen next. Warning: "what happens next" is not a "happily ever after." Example: There's a stain on the school cafeteria floor. When a stray dime lands on the spot, the coin instantly vanishes. What happens when something or someone much larger accidentally lands on the stain?

A teacher has perfected her use of "The Voice" to dominate and control her students. One small girl with mousy brown hair is not intimidated by this overbearing teacher. Instead, a tiny black box appears on the teacher's desk with the note "For all you've done, you deserve this."

Meet the boy who has been waiting all year for the frog dissection in biology. He can't wait to become a mad scientist, don a pair of gloves, and take a scalpel to the dead frog. When he begins to work on his specimen, something frightening happens.

Pay attention to the female characters. The girls are rarely helpless victims. They are often the perpetrators of some horrifying stuff. They can deliver their own forms of justice. Lesson: Don't mess with a smart girl!

Sarah J. Coleman's full-page eerie black ink drawings and a glow-in-the-dark cover complete the package.

Librarians would do well to order several copies of these middle-grade tales of terror. Satisfy young appetites for horror-lite with these creeptastic tales.

Copy provided by publisher.

Pub date: September 3, 2019 Publisher: Holiday House ISBN: 978-0823443666

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If You Dare

9/10/2018

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The Darkdeep by Ally Condie & Brendan Reichs

The Darkdeep feeds off fear. Fear. Inside us.

If I had a dollar for every time a student asked for a scary book, I could own a pair of Jimmy Choos. Let's face it: kids love creepy, spine tingling stories. Over time, this genre has consistently retained its appeal. R.L. Stein never goes out of style. Gaiman's Coraline, Black's Doll Bones, Baptist's The Jumbies, and Oppel's The Nest deliver contemporary horror to legions of young audiences.
Now, a dynamic writing duo has tapped into middle grade fascination with horror. Ally Condie and Brendan Reichs invite kids to explore The Darkdeep.

What if your worst nightmare came to life? What if the object of your childhood fears attacked you? What if a group of friends discovered that the terrifying figments of their collective imaginations took form?

Twelve -year-old explorers Nico, Taylor, Emma, and Opal discover a mysterious island hidden beneath massive cliffs. A strange-looking houseboat is moored on the island’s pond. Filled with a collection of the bizarre, this floating oddity feels like a “psychopath’s attic.” But even more intriguing is a swirling pool of black liquid at the bottom of the houseboat.

When Emma gets too close to the whirlpool, the opaque waters drag her into its chilly blackness. She senses a mysterious power which can “spy inside my head.” Soon each member of the group discovers that plunging into the deepness causes personal imaginary creatures to materialize. Everything from unicorns to dinosaurs begins to take shape and briefly inhabit the island. Gradually the embodiment of their imaginings become more sinister and more permanent. These monsters become horrific, bent on attacking and killing. The kids’ worst nightmares have become their community’s worst nightmare.

Tension is counterbalanced with the most ridiculous community festival yet to appear in kid lit. A radish festival. I kid you not. There are to be radish costumes, a parade and a pageant with the winner declared Citizen Radish. Note: I would like to have been a fly on the wall when the authors came up with this story element.

The narrative comes to a satisfying conclusion but Condie and Reichs drop tantalizing hints suggesting that the horror isn’t over. There is something else on that houseboat. As it did with the young protagonists in the story, The Darkdeep will entice readers with more mysterious secrets. They will breathlessly await the continuation of the story. Let’s hope they don’t have too long to wait.

Bonus

Coming to a city near you.... The Darkdeep launches a ten city tour, beginning October 1, 2018.

One lucky person's will appear in next The Darkdeep book. Check out this offer to have a character named after you in the sequel.

Uncorrected copy provided by publisher.

Pub date: October 2, 2018 Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's Books ISBN: 978-1547600465

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Monstrous Tale

2/26/2018

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The Boggart Fights Back by Susan Cooper

"Most of the time we choose what we believe in, but sometimes it just comes to you and it says, 'Here I am.'"

Susan Cooper has worked her magic again. Yes, the Boggart is back and this time he's bringing reinforcements, including Cousin Nessie of the Loch Ness. Boggarts are "Very ancient creatures, of the Wild Magic...They are shape-shifters, they can become anything they chose." The two, along with siblings Allie and Jay, find themselves at odds with William Trout, a real estate developer who plans to turn Castle Keep, the family's ancestral home, into a resort complex. He has already purchased much of the property. Bulldozers have commenced tearing down existing forests surrounding the castle.
To thwart his plan, the kids and monsters begin scheming. When ordinary pranks such as dumping a bulldozer into the Loch fail to stop Trout, it is time to call upon Scotland's mythological creatures to save Castle Keep. Note: The premise of a real estate magnate, declaring that the project will "be a huge success, huge...bringing hundreds of jobs...I'm a very smart businessman..." may sound familiar to today's readers.

With help from Scottish creatures and support from the local citizenry, the children manage to thwart Trout's enterprise. His dignity is temporarily destroyed and he slinks off, taking the secret of his humiliation with him. Cooper's tale, while poking gentle fun at the developer, never stoops into the realm of nasty or vicious. Brimming with snippets of Gaelic phrases, ballads, and mythological monsters, The Boggart Fights Back is a magical tale that will charm young readers.

Mythological Creatures

Cooper weaves some of the most terrifying monsters from Scottish mythology into her story. Meet them here. Warning: best to cover the eyes of those who are prone to nightmares. This is the stuff that after-dark fears are made of.

Caointeach

A highland banshee. In this tale she is a small old woman in a green gown, found at the base of a waterfall.

Each Uisge

A shape-shifting water horse who kills and then devours humans.

Blue Men of the Minch

Denizens of the Western Isles, possessing blue hair and long blue beards. They prey on passing ships and are responsible for fierce storms.

Hold on. I have saved the most horrifying, most terrifying monster for last: The Nuckelavee. With the body of horse and a head with one glowing red eye, a man's torso arises from the back with a head that lolls "to and fro." Most frightening is that this monster has no skin. Flesh covers the monstrous body and black blood runs through its veins. If you're reading this at bedtime, be sure to leave the light on.

Review and quotations from an uncorrected text.

Pub date: February 27, 2018 Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books ISBN: 978-1534406292

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Discovered in the Dryer

6/27/2017

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Lint Boy by Aileen Leijten

Aileen Leijten has created something so original and fresh that I can't stop marveling over the wonder of Lint Boy. How in the world did she ever come up with the idea?
A collection of lint located in the clothes dryer is fashioned by heat and motion into a tiny boy doll. Like Pinocchio, this inanimate object becomes real. Soon a companion emerges, another mass of lint, shaped into a friendly bear, aptly named Lint Bear.
Up to this point, everything seems rosy and charming. I was expecting some simple little story about friendship and being true to oneself.
Not so. There is evil lurking within the pages of this graphic novel. Mrs. PinchnSqueeze is a deranged old hag who has an obsessive compulsion to perform Frankenstein-esque measures on dolls. She keeps the captured dolls in cages and practices her own form of bizarre surgery and mutilation on the once cuddly toys. This woman is so vile that "even moths shrivel up when she looked at them."

She manages to locate Lint Bear within the tumbling clothes. PinchnSqueeze becomes convinced that he is alive and she commences a series of torture-like operations, certain that she can bring the doll to life.
Lint Boy is determined to rescue his friend from the clutches of this evil woman. He sets out on his noble task with assistance from the captive dolls and battalion of lost socks. Armed with courage and a very sharp needle Lint Boy succeeds.
The book's design and page layout have a unique style that is a visual treat. There is a art nouveau feel to the text and image arrangement as well as to the individual panel shapes and ornamentation. Soft pastels fit nicely with the sweet fabric characters.
There are just enough chilling details to make the villain truly evil. But the fanciful setting and the charming characters keep the story well within the realm of fantasy. Lint Boy is destined to enjoy a prosperous life on bookshelves everywhere. Thank you Aileen Leijten for this delightful graphic novel gem.

Creating with Lint

Okay, I couldn't resist. Creating with lint is an entirely new craft concept for me. I consider lint as merely a fluffy amalgam of fiber that needs to be removed from the dryer. Can this really be the basis for a craft? Not one to shrink from taking on a new creative challenge, I reasoned that lint has been through a wash cycle and the heat of the dryer. It must be clean enough to work with. Let's do this!

Here is the lint from a load of heavy white bath mats. I think I can see Lint Boy potential here.

Time to raid my button box. Every time I open this tin of assorted buttons, I find treasure.

Now to rummage through my bag of felt scraps. I like to make my own felt and this texture seemed to fit for Lint Boy.

Viola! Meet my version of Lint Boy (thank you white bathroom mats lint) and Lint Bear (thank you casual clothes lint). They were so fun and easy to make. However, for a group project I would suggest forgoing lint and using old mismatched socks. They work well with the story. Cut the clean discarded socks up and assemble your own Lint Buddies using buttons, scraps of felt, thread and a glue gun.

Companion Books

Dolls That Will Creep You Out: Just the right amount of horror for younger readers

Coraline
by Neil Gaiman

Coraline: Graphic Novel
by Neil Gaiman
adapted by

Doll Bones
by Holly Black

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Playing with Fire

5/2/2017

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Spill Zone by Scott Westerfeld ill by Alex Puvilland

Cue the music. "You are about to enter Rod Serling's Twilight Zone

There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone.

Scott Westerfeld takes readers through the decaying streets of Poughkeepsie, New York and into a frightening post-apocalyptic world. Cue the music. You are about to enter the Spill Zone.

Meet Addison Merritt, resident of the Spill. Three years ago her town became a no man's land for reasons that are not clear: Maybe a nano outbreak at the local nuclear power plant? Possibly some leakage from another world? Who knows? Addie lives with the remnants of that horrific night. Her parents are gone and her little sister Lexa is now mute.
Gruesome meat puppets, rats, mealy worms, and some type of otherworldly monster now inhabit the town. Addison makes her living by slipping past guards to take striking photos of the Spill. Later she discovers that someone is willing to pay her an obscene amount of money to return to the hospital, located in the Spill sector where her parents died. She need only return to the Spill one last time. However her "one time only" unleashes the wrath of a mutant monster of terrifying proportions.

Westerfeld's narrative includes connections to current events, giving the tale an additional chilling brush with the reader's present reality. Consider: the threat of nuclear destruction "don't mess with the zone’s little projects,' construction of a wall "sooner or later they'll put up a real wall." and ties to North Korea "they know things we don't."

This is horror. Alex Puvilland uses the graphic medium to full advantage as the terrors of the Spill Zone are vividly intense. The color pallet is dark and grim, accentuated by putrid shades of pea-soup green and a mustard-tinged yellow. Don't even get me started on Lexa's doll Vespertine. She totally creeps me out.
The book is an introduction to the characters, setting, and storyline. But there is obviously more to come.
Warning: Westerfeld and his publisher had better be hard at work on the follow-up volume. If a continuation of the story is not forthcoming, meat puppets may show up at their offices.

Things are clearly getting weirder than usual.

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Facing Your Fears

The Girl in the Lake by India Hill Brown read by Bahni Turpin

More Ghost Stories

Beastly Feast

The Beast and the Bethany
by Jack Meggitt-Phillips ill by Isabelle Follath

Stronger Than Death

Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger ill by Rovina Cai

A Tale Retold

Bluebeard: A Feminist Fairy Tale by Metaphrog

More Wondrous Stories

Creeptastic!

Out to Get You: 13 Tales of Weirdness and Woe
by Josh Allen ill by Sarah J Coleman

If You Dare

The Darkdeep by Ally Condie & Brendan Reichs

Bonus

Monstrous Tale

The Boggart Fights Back by Susan Cooper

Mythological Creatures

Discovered in the Dryer

Lint Boy by Aileen Leijten

Creating with Lint

Companion Books

Playing with Fire

Spill Zone by Scott Westerfeld ill by Alex Puvilland

Category

Archives

Barbara Moon

The Girl in the Lake by India Hill Brown read by Bahni Turpin

More Ghost Stories

The Beast and the Bethany​by Jack Meggitt-Phillips ill by Isabelle Follath

Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger ill by Rovina Cai

Bluebeard: A Feminist Fairy Tale by Metaphrog

More Wondrous Stories

Out to Get You: 13 Tales of Weirdness and Woe​by Josh Allen ill by Sarah J Coleman

The Darkdeep by Ally Condie & Brendan Reichs

Bonus

The Boggart Fights Back by Susan Cooper

Mythological Creatures

Lint Boy by Aileen Leijten

Creating with Lint

Companion Books

Spill Zone by Scott Westerfeld ill by Alex Puvilland

Category

Archives

Barbara Moon

The Beast and the Bethany
by Jack Meggitt-Phillips ill by Isabelle Follath

Out to Get You: 13 Tales of Weirdness and Woe
by Josh Allen ill by Sarah J Coleman