Review: Nowhere House

If a spooky cover and an intriguing title are what draw you to pick up a book, then Adrian Beck’s Nowhere House is for you – but only if you also like tension, mystery and the potential for ghosts and drama.

The opening words of this brilliant story have the main character, Nate, muttering “I’d rather be dead,” as he sits in the car with his family on the way to their new home ‘in the middle of nowhere’.

Be careful what you wish for, Nate!

Nate’s parents have just purchased their new home at a bargain deal and it soon becomes apparent why they managed to get it for such a price. It’s rundown, a 90-minute round trip to the nearest school and it has a history. Not a very nice one either.

Review: Don't Let Them Leave

Sometimes a title alone is enough to draw you to a book. Pair that with a somewhat ominous cover showing a shadowy house in the middle of a stormy sea, an author who can get readers laughing in one book and quivering in the next and a killer logline, and you just can’t help but be hooked.

And that’s before you even read the prologue!

After their parents are killed in a car accident, Charlotte and her younger siblings, Jack and Emily, find themselves on a train to Cornwall – a place they’ve never been – to live with a grandmother they never knew they had.

Right from the start, there's something off about the solicitor, Mr Frankelweiss. And from that point on, nothing seems to add up.

Review: Hagtale: A Macbeth Origin Story

Macbeth would come pretty close to being my favourite of the Bard’s works certainly its very creepiness is totally beguiling. And, of course, it is arguably one of the best-known, right up there with Hamlet and Romeo & Juliet. It also has those associated superstitions e.g. not uttering its name backstage. But this takes the whole deliciously eerie and supernatural vibe to an entirely new level.

It is seriously compelling reading. A small feral child raised by wolves is ‘rescued’ by a trio of witches, who raise her as a human – a species that is very foreign to both child and hags. Their combined knowledge and skills provide Wulva with what she will need to fulfil their own ends. They plan a future role that remains completely unknown to the girl until the realisation comes too late.

Review: Borderland

This is a really fresh perspective on First Nations YA, and was a hugely enjoyable and gripping read.

Jono and Jenny have known each other all their lives and have just graduated as the inaugural First Nations scholarship students. 

Both enrol at Brisbane’s APAC (Aboriginal Performing Arts Centre) and almost as soon as they have started their respective courses are given an opportunity to be interns with a professional film crew.

The unit is undertaking a documentary to promote a huge government mining country with the intent of making it acceptable to the traditional owners of the area. 

Both young people are elated at the prospect and not just because of the film aspect. 

Review: A Girl Called Corpse

Corpse is… well… a corpse. With a body made of candle wax, seaweed hair and shells for eyes, she uses magic to hold her body together and prevent her spirit from crossing over into Death Proper.

On the rock-that-doesn’t-exist, Corpse stays hidden in the attic of the witches’ shack. She wants nothing more than to leave the rock and the horrible old witches. She wants to find her family. She wants to live.

But Corpse can’t leave the rock. She tried to find a way, but there isn’t one. Until a ghost turns up and changes everything.

Review: Ghostie

Ava is bored. And when she's bored - so is her elusive friend, Ghostie. And what do ghosts do when they're bored?

They howl and screech! They float and flicker! And their absolute specialty? Slime!

Pets terrorised, bathrooms flooded, an indoor mud-pie mess - naughty Ghostie!

... or is it really Ghostie?

This eerie romp for little ones is a howl of a hoot - skittering along with humour and charm. 

Review: Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories

Looking for a new series of books similar to The Diary of a Wimpy Kid, then this book is for you. Bestselling author Jeff Kinney introduces us to Rowley Jefferson and his Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories.

If you love the dark and being scared, then prepare to laugh out loud and be terrified at the same time as you encounter vampires, zombies and ghosts.

These comical, rollicking stories evolve from Rowley Jefferson’s vivid imagination. With over 14 stories featured in this instalment you will certainly be entertained while there is an underlying message we can all learn from.

One of the characters in the stories is Rowan, who discovers his hairy chest and uses hair remover only to discover a well-kept family secret.

Then there is Jasper, the town prankster who wakes up, only to realise he was dead? Did that mean he was a ghost?

Junior Review: The Companion

The Companion by Katie Alender is a spooky and thrilling mystery, where each page brings you more chills and excitement. 

In the story, Margot has survived the unspeakable, the rest of her family has died in a car crash and she’s the only survivor. 

After the terrible accident, Margot is placed in a group home. She thinks it’s great that she’s left the group home to go live with the Suttons, a rich family who live in the countryside. 

Margot soon learns that they have a job for her in the secluded country estate. 

They want her to be a companion to their daughter Agatha, who recently lost her ability to speak and needs help doing everyday tasks. 

She starts to have suspicions about family members and starts exploring the house. This sends Margot on a whirl winding path of scary secrets about the Sutton family. 

Looking for Books for... Halloween

Halloween is only a few days away, so we though we'd get in the mood with some spooky and scary picture books! So what is it about freaky, spooky, gruesome and ghoulish books that kids like? Scary books give kids the opportunity to experience the thrill of a little bit of fear whilst knowing they are actually safe and comfortable, sitting with whoever is reading them the story. They can feel a sense of achievement at being brave whilst exploring their fears in a safe environment.

We hope you enjoy reading some of these scary and spooky (and fun!) picture books over the coming days!

Scary Night by Lesley Gibbes and Stephen Michael King, Working Title Press, $24.99, 9781921504631, 3+, KBR Review

Review: What the Woods Keep

Enthralling and totally addictive, What the Woods Keep is a story that travels deep into your mind and takes up residence.

Hayden has had a hard life. Her mother mysteriously disappeared when she was a child, she was expelled from school for some strange occurrences, she’s spent most of her life in therapy and her father is losing his mind.

When she turns eighteen, she inherits the house she grew up in — as her mother’s will instructs — so she returns to her old town, to where her mother vanished and where things are still… strange.

Hayden doesn’t believe in the supernatural, but it becomes hard to ignore the unusual things that keep happening to her and her best friend Del.

Review: The Genie Rings (The Witching Hours Book #3)

In book three in the Witching Hours series, Anna and Max travel to the desert. 

Their father, the Professor, is there to help an expedition uncover an ancient buried city, and Anna and Max are along for the ride.

But this time, the Professor’s work is not on the peripheral while Anna and Max uncover dangerous fantastical creatures. 

This time, the Professor’s work is right at the heart of the mystery Anna and Max are trying to solve, and the Professor himself is in great danger.

You see, there are saboteurs in the expedition camp, and they’re searching for deadly artefacts that might just end the world. 

Anna and Max must find out who they are, what they want and how to stop them or EVERYONE is in serious trouble.

Review: The Troll Heart (The Witching Hours Book #2)

Book two in the Witching Hours series is just as exciting, thrilling, addictive and scary as book one!

These are not books for the faint hearted, but they balance a perfect line between being too scary for kids and making hearts thump.

In The Troll Heart, brother and sister duo Anna and Max head into the foggy, secluded countryside of England. 

Their father, the Professor, is busy with his studies, leaving Anna and Max to roam the grounds of the empty hotel they are staying at. Empty because only a few days earlier a boy went missing, and now no one wants to stay there.

Anna and Max sense that something weird is going on, so they set out to find the missing boy. But what they discover is not anything they ever expected. 

Review: After the Lights Go Out

What would you do if everything suddenly went black?

No lights. No electricity. No phones. Everything with a battery fried.

What would you do? How would you find food? How would you survive?

These are the core questions behind Lili Wilkinson’s new novel After the Lights Go Out. 

This addictive and enthralling book explores humanity at its best and worst as a small mining community struggles to survive in the face of the ultimate doomsday scenario.

But not everyone is so underprepared. 

Pru Palmer and her sisters have been preparing for this event for years. 

Review: Little Witch Plots and Potions (Book 3)

In the next instalment of the Little Witch series, Plots and Potions, Courtney is heading to school camp.

Nature, hiking and sports are not really her thing. She would much rather be indoors, reading her spell book and practicing spells. 

But she agrees to go, and after finding a magical way to bring her talking cat, Ink, she tries to make the best of things.

But camp turns out to be far more eventful than Courtney could have ever expected. The camp owner, Maude Mouseheart, is hiding secrets, and Courtney is the only one who seems to be concerned. 

Mysteries, kidnapping and secrets abound, and on top of all that, Courtney must deal with friendship woes as well.

Review: Small Spaces

Sarah Epstein has created a brilliant and unforgettable mystery/psychological thriller. Its superbly designed storyline and characters will have readers glued to their seats, turning pages until the last word.

Years ago, six year old Mallory Fisher went missing from the carnival for seven days and returned physically and mentally scarred, never to speak again. She was taken instead of Tash by the shadow that Tash named Sparrow. 

No one believed what she told them she saw. Regardless of years of therapy, the permanence of panic attacks, and the disbelief of the people she trusted - especially her parents, Tash lives with the trauma of her memories.

Review: I Want To Be In A Scary Story

I've been loving the wave of interactive picture books that have been released over the last few years. I take such delight in leading young readers, be it visitors to the library or my own children, through a story that requires them to respond to questions from the characters, follow requests or instructions, and converse animatedly with what is the brilliantly simple combination of an inanimate illustration and their own stimulated imaginations.

While I have read many (many, many!) picture books that directly address the reader(s) and ask for verbal or physical interaction, I haven't come across one quite like I Want to be in a Scary Story. This picture books is unique in the sense that it is the narrator and the character of the story that are interacting, while the reader remains a passive, though still highly engaged, participant.

Review: Sam: The Most Scaredy-Cat Kid in the Whole World

Oh how I relish the first viewing of a Mo Willems title - his books are delightful, often charming, always hilarious and so deliciously odd.

Characters do not always act as expected and it is an adventure to read through each new offering that Mo presents, and repeat readings are always must - he is the top of my recommendations list when patrons ask for my assistance at the library.

In this sequel to Leonardo the Terrible Monster (KBR Review here), we learn a bit more about Leonardo's friend Sam who as the title suggests, is the most scaredy-cat kid in the whole world. Sam is scared of absolutely everything, well everything except for Leonardo of course, because Leonardo and Sam are very good friends.

Review: Little Witch Secrets and Spells (Book 1) and Hauntings and Hexes (Book 2)

Courtney Little is a fairly average 12-year-old girl… until she discovers she’s a witch!

The Little Witch series by Australian author Aleesah Darlison is an awesome junior fiction series girls will adore. 

Filled with mystery, adventure and spells, these are fast-paced reads that are highly addictive. 

In book 1 in the series, Secrets and Spells, Courtney must spend her holidays in the small seaside town of Mixton Bay as her parents clean up and sell her deceased grandmother’s house.

At first, Courtney’s holidays look set to be the most boring in history, but then she discovers a box in the attic with her name on it and learns the grandmother she never met had many secrets.

Review: The Amazing Monster Detectoscope

In The Amazing Monster Detectoscope, Graeme Base, as always, delivers an incredibly detail-filled creation.

With a cute dog as the central character, we get to explore a perfectly normal house and backyard. At least that's what we're supposed to think.

The dog carries a monster detectoscope, a gadget that enables you to see monsters lurking beneath everyday objects.

And this is where I give a small warning.

Review: Lexicon

Lexicon opens with Will waking up in the men's toilets as a stranger inserts a needle into his eye.

I know, right?

Not your average opening for a novel. But wait, the pace just keeps hotting up from there.

As Will runs for his life, not knowing who are the good guys and who are bad, another drama plays out in another space, perhaps another time – that's for you to figure out...

Emily lives on the streets. She's a a hustler. She makes money persuading people to bet on her games of chance. But her skills are noticed. She is recruited and her world is never the same.

How are Emily and Will connected? Maybe they aren't. There's only one way to find out.