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By: Marissa Wasseluk,
on 10/25/2016
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First Book’s book experts picked their favorite spooky stories that will frighten and delight young readers. Don’t be afraid to pick up any of our recommended titles!
Pre-K –K (Ages 3-6):
Ghosts in the House! written and illustrated by Kazuno Kohara
At the edge of town lives a clever girl with a spooky problem: Her house is haunted! Luckily, she happens to be a witch and knows a little something about taking care of ghosts.
We love this book because: it’s got just the right amount of sweet and scary for the youngest trick-or-treaters. Fresh and charming illustrations in dynamic orange, black and white bring this resourceful heroine and these spooky ghosts to life.
For 1st and 2nd Grade (Ages 6-8):
Los Gatos Black on Halloween written by Marisa Montes and illustrated by Yuyi Morales
Follow los monstruos and los esqueletos to a Halloween party in a fun and frightful bilingual poem. Accompanied by illustrations that are as gorgeous as they are creepy, this is a great Halloween-themed read-aloud book that kids will want to read and re-read all year long.
We love this book because: this book introduces young readers to a spooky array of Spanish words that will open their ojos to the chilling delights of the season.
For 3rd & 4th grade (Ages 8-10):
Attack of the Shark-Headed Zombie by Bill Doyle
After Keats and Henry lose their bikes, they need money – fast. So the help-wanted ad at the supermarket seems ideal for them. All they have to do is weed Hallway House’s garden, find some light bulbs in the attic, sweep the garage…and battle a shark-headed zombie.
We love this book because: With an imaginative youngster as its main character, this book weaves the tale of an exciting and fun adventure that will keep kids turning pages and entertain even reluctant readers.
For 5th & 6th grade (Ages 10-12):
Ghost Fever / Mal de fantasma (Bilingual, English/Spanish) by Joe Hayes
Elena Padilla’s father didn’t believe in ghosts, and that’s a shame, because his disbelief ends up making Elena a very sick girl. The story starts in an old rundown house in a dusty little town in Arizona. Nobody will rent that house because … well, a ghost haunts it. The landlord can’t even rent it out for free! That is, not until foolish old Frank Padilla comes along thinking he can save some money.
Lucky for Elena that her grandmother knows all about the mysterious ways of ghosts. With her grandmother’s help and advice, Elena solves the mystery of the ghost girl, recuperates from her ghost fever and, in the process, learns a valuable lesson about life.
We love this book because: It’s really scary! The incredible details of this story – with English and Spanish on opposite pages – will stay with readers after the story ends. Children who enjoy a good fright will really love this book.
Grades 7 & up (Ages 13+):
Lockwood & Co. #1: The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud
A sinister Problem has occurred in London: all nature of ghosts, haunts, spirits, and specters are appearing throughout the city, and they aren’t exactly friendly. Only young people have the psychic abilities required to see—and eradicate—these supernatural foes.
We love this book because: Complex and endearing characters navigate an alternate reality wherein the dead don’t die – what’s not to love? The book’s fantastic world is sure to hook readers – even we can’t wait to pick up the next title in the series!
The post Monthly Book List: Our Five Favorites for October appeared first on First Book Blog.
I have to say RUN, as fast as you can to your nearest bookstore and get this book. My word, what an incredible read! This book is a masterfully told thriller with loads of mystery, intrigue, setting, spookiness. It is storytelling at it’s finest.
We are celebrating Halloween this year by jumping into the fine pages of Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty of Asheville North Carolina. Please read this book at anytime of year, we have chosen it as the Halloween Special but it’s a fine read the other 364 days of the year as well.
An exciting new mystery-thriller about an unusual girl who lives secretly in the basement of the grand Biltmore Estate and must solve a dark and dangerous mystery. This Disney Hyperion novel became a New York Times Bestseller in the first week of its release, and has been a smash hit ever since.-Amazon
“Never go into the forest, for there are many dangers there, and they will ensnare your soul.”
This spooky tale is about Seraphina, an odd girl who lives in the basement of the Biltmore Estate, in 1899. Serafina and her pa, the estate’s maintenance man, live in the basement of the great estate. No one knows they live there. Serafina’s pa has forbidden her to do a couple of things. First she must never be seen by anyone. Second she must never ever venture beyond the grounds of the Biltmore Estate and into the forest. There are very dangerous and spooky things that live there. Third she must never venture upstairs where all the rich folk live. Along with not being seen, no one even knows Serafina exists. But not being seen or heard doesn’t mean Serafina doesn’t venture out. She has learned to prowl through the darkened corridors at night, to sneak and hide, using the mansion’s hidden doors and secret passageways.
One night Serafina hears noises she’s never heard at night before. She discovers mysterious foul play at hand. Children at the estate start disappearing but only Serafina knows the clues and passageways to follow. There’s a terrifying man in a black cloak stalking about the corridors at night at the Biltmore Estate. Risking everything, Serafina joins forces with Braeden Vanderbilt, young orphaned nephew of Vanderbilt’s owner. Serafina and Braeden must uncover who the man in the black cloak is before all of the children on the estate disappear. The hunt takes them to the forest which Serafina has been taught to fear. There, she discovers a legacy of magic not known before. To save the children Serafina must face her fiercest and darkest enemy. To do so she must first discover the strange mystery around her own identity.
I have to confess that we have a great connection to the Biltmore Estate the setting for this story. We live just a couple of hours away in the Knoxville TN area and have a family membership. The woods Robert Beatty talks about we’ve walked through and had our own conversations of how anyone could be hiding there. Add to that the mystery of the Blue Ridge mountains where it is very well-known by the folklore in that region that non human beings and spirits live in the forests there. You always have to enter the forest with protection. Knowing that, can you imagine how exciting this book is for us? It’s like myth and legend have sprung to life.
photo credit by Robert Beatty
Rarely do I make predictions where books are concerned but I feel safe to say that this book will become a classic in children’s literature. I haven’t seen a book of this finesse come around for a while. We loved it’s spookiness. It’s a very manageable level of spookiness. It keeps those pages turning. The very good news is that the publisher Hyperion Disney Books is going to make this into a book series. Oh how happy are we. We can hardly wait but wait we shall !!!
Something To Do
There are so many things to do as book extensions for this fabulous book!
Chapter One Excerpt
First why not have a read of the first chapter yourself. You’ll be hooked, and then please take my advice and get this book pronto.
Get to Know The Vanderbilt Estate
The Biltmore Estate is a gorgeous turn of the century mansion built in 1895 by George Vanderbilt.It is officially the largest home in America. This very large home hosts more than 250 rooms and around 175,00 square feet.
Set in the Blue Ridge mountains in Asheville, North Carolina it is a wonderful place to visit. I’m not sure how many rooms are open to the public but there are a lot of them. You’ll get to tour the two upstairs floors that Serafina isn’t suppose to go on. You’ll also get to go in the two basements but the slimy sub basement wasn’t on the tour the last time we went. That might be changing now with Serafina and the Black Cloak. Also something to consider are the grounds. The terraces and gardens are exquisite and are themed to bloom throughout the year. Each season is a blooming treasure to behold. Also on the estate are several places to hike and enjoy the forest which if you stay on the path isn’t scary at all BUT if you go off the path I can’t guarantee anything. You might meet a man in a black cloak and other non human type creatures. So stay on the path. We love to rent bikes and ride the bike trails. One of our favorite things to do. There are also many great places to eat through the entire estate.
Interior lobby of the Providence Biltmore Hotel.
Biltmore is truly a family home in opulent style. The nice thing is they let us experience it as. Be sure to check out their events especially the various musical concerts going on throughout the year, the gardens and special exhibits at the house.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed that maybe one day the Biltmore Estate will have a Serafina Tour. How cool would that be ?
Serafina Riddle Contest
Maybe you don’t have to wait for the Serafina Tour, maybe you could win one right now. The choice of prizes are a computer system or an all expense paid trip to Asheville and the Biltmore Estate plus you get to meet Robert Beatty and take a Serafina Tour with him. As you can tell I’m prone to take the travel and tour as to the computer. But it’s a free world and if you win choose what makes you happy.
First you have to answer about 12 riddles. You can find out all the details and such about the contest here.
Pumpkin Carving
It is Halloween after all, io designs have created two templates to go along with Serafina and the Black Cloak for all your jack-o-lantern needs.
Template 1
Template 2
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This holiday season, give your children the gift that will nurture a lifetime of positive habits; give the gift of a book.
As parents, we want/need quality books with extension activities to help our young ones unplug and create memories. Pulling books from shelves, and stories from pages, is also an important act that will aid in them being life-long readers. Quality books with companion book extension activities are not only work to create special family time, it allows kids to solve the world’s problems without major consequences.
A Year in the Secret Garden is just such a book. This delightful children’s book from authors Valarie Budayr and Marilyn Scott-Waters offers unique and original month-by-month activities that allow readers to delve deeper into the classic children’s tale, The Secret Garden! With over 120 pages, with 150 original color illustrations and 48 activities for your family and friends to enjoy, learn, discover and play with together.
This book will make a great gift and be the catalyst of many hours of family growth, learning and FUN! Grab your copy ASAP and “meet me in the garden!” More details HERE!
The post Serafina and the Black Cloak Book Review and Extension Activities appeared first on Jump Into A Book.
In the mood for some frightfully fun and spooky reads?
Donna Davies, the Halloween Queen, channels her love of this haunting holiday into her charming, comical children’s books. She has released six books, including a coloring book, that all center around the legends of All Hallow’s Eve.
Ms. Davies is a staunch supporter of local libraries and historical societies, she serves as President of the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery Historic Fund and curates the Hudson Valley Halloween Magazine as an “en-spook-lopedia” of all things grim and ghoulish in the area.
Night of the Candy Creepers:
It’s Halloween and you’re out for the night,
Not quite realizing you’re in for a fright.
The candy creepers have come to town,
And they will gobble your candy down.
The candy creepers are masters of disguise, but boy are they in for a big surprise.
A fun Halloween book sure to bring back fond childhood memories with a surprise ending!
Delightfully illustrated by Rob Peters.
Other Books By Donna Davies
Bye Bye Boogie Man
Does your child fear the creatures of night? Well, here’s a little girl who is up for a boogeyman fight! This rip-roaring fun story will transform any child who is spooked by monsters in the closet or under the bed into rulers of their rooms. After taking a few lessons from little LeAnne, they will never fear that nasty boogeyman again.
Sleepy Hollow and the Road You’d Better Not Follow
Have you heard about the road you’d better not follow?
Let’s take a walk through the deep, dark hollow! Legend says a headless horseman wants your head.
I don’t think he’s aware that he’s actually dead!
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow comes to life and turns into a chilling nightmare. This fun and frightening adventure is a night like no other for two curious friends who go in search of the legendary Headless Horseman.
Halloween Night at the Mad Monster Museum
A fantasy come true from two monster-crazed kids who find themselves locked in a monster museum on Halloween night. Truly a monstrous celebration for all. An amusing introduction in the famous Universal Monsters of our time with an appearance by a special guest.
The Halloween Queen who Lost her Scream: An Evil Blue Fairy Tale
Halloween author, Donna Davies has created an exciting Halloween mystery that will have your kids sitting on the edge of theirs seats. An action-packed tale of a Halloween Queen named Calliope who lost her scream right before Halloween. Meet an amazing cast of Halloween monsters from witches to zombies as they go on an adventure to help their Queen and save Halloween. Filled will stunning colorful Halloween illustrations by the talented Rob Peters. This delightfully fun book has become a family tradition.
Halloween Book Coloring Pages
Something To Do
Paper Plate String Spider Web:
Save Green by Being Green has a wonderful tutorial and activity on creating your own String Spider Web
Love this hand-print vampire craft from Crafty Morning. Even adults can have fun with this one!
Get the rest of this great craft instruction HERE.
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This holiday season, give your children the gift that will nurture a lifetime of positive habits; give the gift of a book.
As parents, we want/need quality books with extension activities to help our young ones unplug and create memories. Pulling books from shelves, and stories from pages, is also an important act that will aid in them being life-long readers. Quality books with companion book extension activities are not only work to create special family time, it allows kids to solve the world’s problems without major consequences.
A Year in the Secret Garden is just such a book. This delightful children’s book from authors Valarie Budayr and Marilyn Scott-Waters offers unique and original month-by-month activities that allow readers to delve deeper into the classic children’s tale, The Secret Garden! With over 120 pages, with 150 original color illustrations and 48 activities for your family and friends to enjoy, learn, discover and play with together.
This book will make a great gift and be the catalyst of many hours of family growth, learning and FUN! Grab your copy ASAP and “meet me in the garden!” More details HERE!
The post All Hallow’s Eve Press Review by Donna Davis appeared first on Jump Into A Book.
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By: Jenny Miller,
on 10/21/2011
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Written and illustrated by Eric Rohmann
$16.99, ages 4-8, 32 pages
As a dog comes to the end of her life, she promises her boy she'll always watch over him, then stays true to her word, pattering down from the sky on Halloween to scare away graveyard goons.
In this uplifting, sweet picture book, Caldecott Medalist Rohmann shows a boy confronting the pain of losing a pet, but finding comfort in the thought of his dog's spirit following along above him.
Gus has loved Ella for as long as he can remember; he's loved riding on her back as she charged across the field with a pack of dog friends at her side. But now, Ella's coming to the end of her life and it's time for her to say goodbye.
As a harvest moon slides up over the hillside, Gus sits in the grass with his arm around Ella as she tells him she'll soon go away, but that she'll always look over him. "A promise made under a full moon cannot be broken," she says.
By the next spread, Ella has passed away and Gus is weighted with grief. Losing his dog has taken the fun out of everything, even dressing up and going out trick-or-treating. But it's Halloween and no one misses wandering door-to-door.
Dressed as a skeleton, Gus heads off alone into the night, his body slouched, reflecting how his heart feels. The dogs from the neighborhood tilt their heads in his direction, tuned into the loneliness he feels.
After Gus fills up his bag, he wanders back toward home and as he crosses the graveyard, he comes upon a fantastical sight all aglow in the full moon.
Skeletons are crawling out from behind tombstones and rattling about. They run to him because they think he's a skeleton too. But when the boy pulls off his mask to reveal he's really just a boy, the skeletons grow mischievous and try to chase him.
Suddenly up in the dark sky, a wagging bone dog comes running down to the boy; it's the spirit of his beloved Ella, watc
By: Jenny Miller,
on 10/21/2011
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By Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen
Illustrated by Howard Fine
$16.99, ages 4-8, 32 pages
A hungry duck makes a late-night dash for a snack, as a fanged beast prowls the farm yard for his next delicious victim, in this hilarious story of misunderstandings.
Until now, no farm animal dared to step a talon or hoof out of its pen when the moon was bright for fear of becoming prey for a great cloaked hog known as Hampire.
They'd seen enough grisly remains from Hampire's feedings, the sticky red fluid dripping off the grass and the red stains on his canines as he returned to his pen.
But on this night Duck is too hungry to be sensible. The rumbling in his tummy is keeping him awake and all he can think about is snacking on the jelly rolls and ice-cream bowls in farmer's kitchen.
So Duck slips out of the barn and into the farmhouse to pile goodies onto a tray to take back to the barn. But as he steps back into the night air, a haunting, ruddy presence rises up behind him: It's Hampire, "grim and dire."
Frantic, Duck flaps off to the chicken coop as Hampire lumbers in pursuit with fangs bared. Duck quickly rouses Red the chicken and yells for him to hide, then both fly the coop as Hampire snuffles his nose inside.
"As Duck raced Red to Pony's stall, / They heard the Hampire screaming. / 'I'm starved, of course -- / I'd eat a horse!' / His pointy fangs were gleaming."
Hampire's rant feeds their fears and they climb onto Pony's back and gallop off to an abandoned shed, as the tray of goodies teeters on Duck's wing. Inside they hear Hampire bellow out that he's hungry and plead with them to let him in.
But none of them trust the beast, so they slam the door in his face and run to the farthest wall to cower in a corner. As Hampire pounds on the walls, Duck d
By: Jenny Miller,
on 10/21/2011
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Written by Kelly DiPucchio
Illustrated by Scott Campbell
$12.99, ages 4-8, 32 pages
A zombie goes online to find the girl of his dreams, an undead gal with chipped up teeth, in this hilarious love story that's as cute for Halloween as it was for Valentine's Day.
Mortimer, a bulgy-eyed fellow with sallow skin and shredded clothes, longs for love but as Valentine's day approaches, he seems to be looking for love in all the wrong places.
At the bus stop, he offers a box of chocolate-covered worms to a girl on a bench but she scooches away. And when the mail carrier rings his door bell, he thrusts a beating heart in her face, but she cringes.
Even the waitress at the dinner gives him the cold shoulder. "But why?" he wonders to himself. After all he did offer her a diamond ring -- all nicely presented in a hinged box, on a severed ring finger.
Poor Mortimer, he just doesn't have the touch. Perhaps what he needs are a few primers on dating. So, he buries himself in a pile of books about dead dates and graveyard love, then takes their advice and tries to look available.
He walks his dog, an interesting fellow with a dangling eye and a skeletal maw; he goes to lift weights, though he has to reattach his severed arm. He even takes ballroom classes with a skeleton. But none of it makes any difference.
Then Mortimer is struck with genius. He'll take out a personal ad for a date to Cupid's Ball! It's perfect: he'll list all his great qualities, like the fact he's "tall, dead and handsome." And he'll suggest some romantic things they could do.
Like walking in graveyards and falling down in the rain. "If you're not into cooking," he writes in his ad. "if you have half a brain. / If you like waking up a midnight, / horror films, and voodoo, / then I'm the guy who you've looked for / and I'm dying to meet you!"
By: Jenny Miller,
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Written by Pamela Jane
Illustrated by Jane Manning
Playful monsters lurch and moan with all their might in this adorable twist on the nursery rhyme "Over in the Meadow."
Counting down from one to ten are a delightful assortment of little ghouls, each anxiously awaiting their parent's cue for them to haunt about.
Instead of "over in the meadow in the sand and the sun" where animals live, the picture book takes place in a forest "where the trees hide the sun" and dark beasts play.
The rhyme, as much for Halloween as for learning to count, begins with one adorable little monster with a green horn on the top of his head and orange spotted ears that flop down from his hair like a rabbit's.
He's standing in front of his big mommy monster and he's at the ready: his legs are planted apart and his eyes are searching hers, waiting for her to tell him what he can do.
As readers turn the page to the next spread, Mommy Monster's one-tooth grin broadens, she arcs her arms over her head and she lumbers forward, making like she's going to get her little monster.
"'Scare!' said the mommy; / 'I scare,' said the one. / So he scared and he scampered / Where the trees hide the sun."
With each spread comes another refrain in the countdown and another family of cuddlesome monsters doing what they do best.
Next, two little ghosts peek over at Daddy Ghost with a mischievous sparkle in their eyes, and excitedly wait for him to cry out for them to start haunting.
Then it's off to the gnarled oak tree where old mother zombie shuffles forward with her tongue hanging out and bony purple arms stretched out in front of her
By: Jenny Miller,
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Written by Leslie Muir
Illustrated by Jen Corace
$15.99, ages 4-8, 40 pages
When a little vampire wiggles out his baby fangs and sees the tips of big ones coming in, he flaps his wings in glee. Now, at last, he can bite something.
And not just anything. Gibbus Moony wants to sink his teeth into a nice juicy neck. The problem is, necks aren't what Moonys bite -- unless they're those of pears.
"We're fruit suckers, my boy," corrects Grandpa Waxing Mooney, a Wilfred Brimley-like fellow in an argyle-print sweater. "and proud of it."
That means, according to his prim-dressed Dad, Moonys are nectarians. "Not to be confused with those other vampire relatives," he adds, referring to portraits of caped bloodletters on the wall.
But as Gibbus flaps around in his cape, he hears only what he wants to hear, and adds a "k" to "nec" in nectarian. "I'm a necktarian!" he cries, dashing off to find his first victim.
Mom, all dolled up with an up-do and red lipstick, suggests Gibbus swing from the rafters like a good little vampire. But Gibbus is a big boy now and he's got his eye on his stuffed gargoyle Werner.
Jumping into his toy box, Gibbus pounces on Werner and begins to gnaw away at his stitched neck. "Stop chewing on your toys," Mom interrupts in a frantic tone, just as Werner has grown soggy.
Like a puppy with an insatiable need to chew, Gibbus bites into the first things he sees. He chomps into the family album, even goes after the family's Stradivarius, as strings pop off and curl.
However, none of those things satisfy Gibbus's longing. What he really wants is to tip-toe up on something that's alive and attack it. Then he sees Grandpa snoozing on the lounger.
By: Jenny Miller,
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Written by Libby Hamilton
Illustrated by Jonny Duddle
and Aleksei Bitskoff
$17.99, ages 5-8, 20 pages
As the scariest night of all nights approaches, here's a book to confirm your children's worst fears: the existence of monsters all around them.
Dr. Thomas Jelly, the book's fictional narrator, warns readers, "Don't be fooled," things do go bump in the night and all those sensible people who claim they don't, had better wise up fast…or else.
Just look at the bite taken out of the cover of Jelly's book -- and what about that big jiggling eye at the top? If that's not enough, Jelly offers plenty of flaps and fold-outs to get skin tingling (or should we say, get readers giggling?).
But first, read Jelly's intro, a taped note on the title page. The important phrase to hone in on: "Bravery is overrated." Jelly's advice: The moment readers sense a monster, high-tail it out of wherever they are. Hindsight, after all, is useless if they've been eaten.
Jelly's first spread shows that monsters are especially rampant in the home. Sorry Mom and Dad, they really do live under the bed, not to mention in your refrigerator, under sofa cushions, in toilet bowls, behind wall portraits, in the oven, in bubble baths and of course, in your children's closet.
So what can readers do to avoid getting drooled on or forbid, being eaten? Well, first they need to know how to spot monsters and Jelly's sagest advice: Listen to your gut and it will guide you.
If readers are feeling queasy, Jelly says, that's probably monster breath they're smelling. And if they're having a bad day, they should consider that a monster has caused it, even if they don't want to believe it. After all, denial is the first step to becoming a monster's lunch.
Jelly then offers a few examples of annoying monsters. Among them: the bare-branched Thievintree, which likes to snatch scarves and stick them out of reach, and the Mail O'Masshy that lives i
Written by Michelle Lovric
$17.99, ages 9-12, 464 pages
When a magical book falls onto Teo's head, the 11-year-old orphan is thrust on a quest to save Venice from a vengeful ghost and his band of mutilated spirits, in this imaginative, brilliant debut.
Teo, who has lived in Naples as long as she can remember, has always yearned to go to Venice and now her adoptive parents have finally invited her to go as they research a troubling presence in the city of canals.
One day, while exploring the city, Teo wanders into an old bookstore and is knocked to the floor when a tome called, "The Key to the Secret City," tumbles off a shelf.
Just before Teo is taken to the hospital, the bookseller slips her the book. When she awakens in her hospital room, she discovers the book is still with her, and there's a menacing wooden statue near her bed.
The statue, put there by some mysterious force haunting the city, is bleeding from its mouth and seems to be coming to life. Suddenly, Teo loses consciousness and disappears.
She awakens in a graveyard with the tome still in her pinafore, and as she tries to find her way back to her parents' hotel room, she discovers she's become invisible, except it seems, to children.
As she walks, the book speaks to her, writing words of warning across the pages, including a strange poem about an undrowned child, and soon, the book leads her to a Gondola boy named Renzo.
Teo and Renzo are told by the book that they are Venice's protectors and are led to The House of Spirits, a refuge for aging nuns and heartbroken ghosts, then under the sea to a colony of mermaids.
The mermaids are nothing like those in children's books; they speak like pirates and act like revolutionaries, running an underground press to warn the city of an impending evil.
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By: Jenny Miller,
on 10/21/2011
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Written by Chris Moriarty
Illustrated by Mark Edward Geyer
$16.99, ages 9-12, 356 pages
A Jewish boy is plucked from the tenements of New York's Lower East Side to help catch magical criminals, only to find that he has to investigate the very people he loves, in this imaginative story set in the 1880s.
When 13-year-old Sacha blurts out that he sees his neighbor doing magic, the New York Police Department handpicks him to be an apprentice to their top detective, Inquisitor Maximillian Wolf, charged with preventing the misuse of magic.
This New York City is a magical melting pot, where every ethnic group has its own witchcraft and magic gangs. Although it is not illegal to be a wizard or Kabbalist, it is against the law to use magic for ill and the powers-that-be try to curb magic when they see fit, sometimes to their advantage.
J.P. Morgaunt, a manufacturing tycoon, wants to make magic obsolete for the working class so he can sell more machines. Without magic to do get things done, workers would have to rely on mechanical means. But he also thinks wizards like himself are above the law and should be allowed to use magic whenever they see fit.
Right from the start, Sacha finds himself in the thick of a criminal investigation. He and fellow apprentice, Lily Astral, are assisting Wolf in a high-profile case involving the attempted assassination of Thomas Edison, the Wizard of Luna Park. And the alleged culprit? A dybbuk. The demon from Jewish folklore who takes over a human body.
But who has summoned the demon to go after Edison and why? Morgaunt, the Wall Street wizard, is accusing the great magician Harry Houdini. He says Houdini has good cause to thwart Edison's latest invention, an Etheric Emanation Detector or Soul Catcher, which would fingerprint people's souls to see if they contained magic.
Morgaunt, who commissioned the witch detector, contends Edison's invention would expose Houdini for the fake he is. He says Houdini's act is done with magic, not illusion, and that if Edison were able to finalize the detector, it would instantly identify Houdini as a spellmonger and
Written by Kenneth Oppel
$17.99, ages 12 and up, 304 pages
When twin brother Konrad falls ill, 15-year-old Victor scrambles to find an elixir of life to save him and awakens his obsession for alchemy, in this grim and marvelous take on Frankenstein's youth.
Victor, born just minutes after Konrad, has always felt inferior to him, in schoolwork even sword play, but now Konrad is sick and doctors are bleeding him pale with leeches. As Konrad sees it, it's up to him to save Konrad, and to do that he must turn to darker means.
Against his father's wishes, Victor, his cousin Elizabeth and their friend Henry sneak into a forbidden lab deep beneath the Frankenstein castle for answers, and discover a book of ancient spells with a cryptic recipe for eternal life.
When they initially discover the lab, after accidentally dislodging books in Father's study, Konrad is still well, and Father has warned them never to go down there again. But Victor can't shake his fascination with what he sees.
There are oddly-shaped glassware, metal instruments and shelves groaning with ancient books in Latin, Greek and languages they've never seen. Normally books held little interest for Victor, but these have "dark luster," titles about the occult and pictures of gruesome bodies.
Until Konrad's illness, Victor has no reason to return. But now with doctors baffled about how to cure Konrad, Victor decides he has no other choice but to defy his father. Spurred by his own impulsive nature, he convinces Elizabeth and Henry to help him search the underground chamber for a cure.
There on a shelf, the three find a book with the elixir, but it's written in a bizarre language, the Alphabet of the Magi, and searching further, they find a charred translation of the alphabet by Paracelsus. Realizing they cannot decipher the recipe, they set off in search of a translator, an alchemist named Julius Polidori.
Polidori, who is bound to a wheelchair and lives with an eerie pet lynx, relucta
The Monstrumologist, Book 3
Written by Rick Yancey
$18.99, ages 14 and up, 560 pages
Torn between the dark world of monster biology and his loathing of it, Will Henry must decide how far he's willing to go to save his mentor, in this third and final book in the riveting series Monstrumologist.
Over the last three years Will has transformed from a naive orphan to the world-weary apprentice to a monstrumologist, and felt his conscience waver and even go numb in the presence of all manner of dissections on the necropsy table.
Now, with the arrival of gruesome package at Dr. Warthrop's house, 13-year-old Will begins to confront his morality once and for all. Inside the package is a nest fashioned from human remains that, if touched, turns man into a monster.
It arrives in the night in the hands of a bedraggled courier, who is mad with panic because he thinks he's been poisoned. Dr. Kearns, a friend of Dr. Wathrop's, has said he's injected him with a toxin and that he must deliver the box safely to Dr. Warthrop if he wants the antidote.
Bursting inside the house, the courier demands a cure, unaware that Kearn's threat was only a trick. But by then he's already made a fateful mistake. In a moment's curiosity along the way, the man has opened the box and touched the specimen inside.
In making contact with the highly toxic specimen, linked to a deadly Nidus ex magnificum, he's poisoned himself and set in motion a gruesome transformation. His body has begun to devour itself and transform into a reeking, soulless beast far stronger than man.
After a near-death struggle with Will, the beast is killed, but it is only the beginning of Warthrop's obsession to find the nidus, the holy grail of monstrumology, a terrifying beast that rips apart human flesh and rains the remains down from the sky.
As days advance, Warthrop gets distracted by his ego and his desire to hunt down the nidus, and al
The Lost Youth of Edgar Allan Poe
$15.99, ages 8-12, 208 pages
Imagine a demon filling a boy's head with dark thoughts and that boy using them to write some of the greatest horror stories ever written, and you have the basis of Scott Gustafson's marvelous biography of young Edgar Allan Poe.
Spinning the truth into a fantastic narrative, Gustafson imagines a young Poe listening to and engaging a real-life Imp of Perverse as he writes his first horror stories and poems. At his side is also a talking Raven who tries to moderate the imp's wily influence.
An Imp of Perverse, as Poe fans will remember from his short story by the same name, is a spirit who causes people to commit morally questionable acts. Here, however, the imp, named McCobber, doesn't corrupt Poe into doing dangerous things, but rather gives him fodder for his imagination.
The tiny goblin-like spirit shows up on Poe's shoulder the night his childhood begins to unravel. Poe's father is drunk, and he's slipped into Poe's bedroom to kiss him goodbye before deserting his family. At that moment, the imp jumps from father to son, a bitter-sweet gift that will change Poe's life forever.
In a brief introduction, Gustafson explains the meaning of the imp much as Poe did in his short story: "If you have ever stood at the window in a tall building, or on the brink of a scenic mountain overlook, you may have heard a small voice whisper, 'Go ahead, jump!' Then, most likely, you also felt that chilling jab in the gut as you, just for a moment, imagined yourself plummeting over the edge."
Of course most people dismiss these feelings of the macabre, Gustafson adds, but Poe was different. He listened to his imp, they "lingered on the edge and peered over. And then they got creative," imagining each of them crashing down to a grisly, horrific end. And it's that devilish sensibility, Poe's desire to poke around in the dark side of his imagination, he continues, that made him extraordinary.
Along with the imp, Gustafson introduces the raven from the poem that ma
