Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books - Favourite Children's/kids Book Picks - OCTOBER 2025

 

• Author: Dominique Valente
• Title: Witchlight (Witchspark)
• Publisher ‏: Usborne Publishing Ltd
• Publication Date: 9 Oct. 2025
• ISBN-13 ‏: ‎978-1805316800 - Paperback
• Reading Age ‏: ‎ 9 - 12 years

Return to the magical world of witches, royalty and curses in this spellbinding sequel to Witchspark. 

Miss Hegotty's Secret Society of Witches has a lot of work to do. The Department of Isle-Spark Regulation is up to no good.

For Princess Victoria at the palace, this means possibly losing her powers forever. And for Eglantine Bury, her magical home can't stop sneezing, causing total chaos with each "ACHOO!".

As if that wasn't enough to worry about, Eglantine's house isn't the only magical being falling mysteriously ill. With dragons and gargoyles getting sicker and sicker, the witches will have to use time travel, disguise spells and genie wishes to uncover the truth...before it's too late.

https://uk.bookshop.org/a/10860/9781805316800

• Author: Phil Hickes 
• Illustrator: Oriol Vidal
• Title: The Last Day of October
• Publisher ‏: ‎Barrington Stoke
• Publication Date ‏ : ‎ 9 Oct. 2025
• ISBN-13 ‏: ‎978-0008748517
• Reading Age ‏: ‎9 years and up

• A spine-tingling middle-grade horror perfect for Halloween! (Dyslexia-friendly)

Bored with trick-or-treating, three friends venture into the woods on Halloween night to hunt for the haunted McBride House in this spine-tingling horror story from Phil Hickes.

If you go down to the woods today, you’re in for a nasty surprise …

Seeking creepy thrills instead of candy, Cody and his friends set out on Halloween to search for the ruins of the haunted McBride House in the woods near his home in Oregon.

The house has taken on a sinister legendary status after it burned down a hundred years ago with tragic consequences, and it’s said that the ghosts of the family who lived there return each year on the last day of October.

But when they find the house, the truth of what is happening on this eerie autumn night is more terrifying than the three teenagers could ever have imagined …

https://uk.bookshop.org/a/10860/9780008748517

• Author: Frank J. Camacho 
• Title: The Monsters They Made Us (The Heirs of Driftmoor) BK 1 
• Publisher: FJC Books
• Publication Date ‏: ‎1 Oct. 2025
• ISBN-13 ‏: ‎979-8998781810
• Reading Age ‏: ‎15 - 18 years

For fans of supernatural dramas and dark academia comes a new tale of salt-soaked secrets, blood-bound legacies, and a coastal town where every wave carries the weight of centuries-old curses.

Some monsters are born. Others are made. But the worst are inherited.

Long before Driftmoor was a town, it was a threshold where the veil between the natural and supernatural ran thin. Where wicked bargains were struck in the dark. Bargains that cursed four bloodlines forever.

Dorothy arrives at Driftmoor Academy hoping to leave her past behind and become someone new. But after a car crash leaves her teetering between life and death, dark abilities awaken inside her. Whispers through the halls. Nightmares claw at her sleep. And death follows wherever she goes.

As Dorothy is pulled into the gilded world of Driftmoor’s elite, pieces of a forgotten legacy begin to surface—along with a power she doesn’t understand and a past someone tried to erase. And she’s not the only one marked by what came before.

There’s the boy touched by the sea, who’s drawn to a song no one else can hear. The socialite carved from gold and expectation, clinging to perfection before it shatters. And the son born in shadows, raised by a family that never intended to keep him.

Linked by the bargains of their ancestors, the heirs of Driftmoor must each decide: will they surrender to their curses, harness the power they’ve inherited, or let it destroy them?

• 
  
• Author: Katherine Child
• Title: The Notted Island 
• Publisher: ‎Flying Eye Books
• Publication Date ‏ : ‎ 9 Oct. 2025
• ISBN-13 ‏: ‎978-1913123147 - Hardback
• Reading Age ‏: ‎ 9 - 11 years

Before 1861, the world was black and white. As Colour reached the end of his job, world-weary he stopped to rest on Last Island: the last uncoloured place. The people of the island are believed to be the reason for this and seek to better themselves, in the hope that Colour will recognise their efforts and bring colour to the island. To make matters worse, the islands Nott - a deity responsible for drawing the curtain of night - begins to make more and more mistakes. As the islanders grow restless, they send a letter threatening Nott. However, when the letter finds itself in the hands of Tisky, a young islander with pockets full of cake, she tasks herself with bringing unity back to Last Island.

https://uk.bookshop.org/a/10860/9781913123147

The Best Children's US Book Picks September 2022 - Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books

 

Lindsay Currie - The Girl in White - Published by ‎Sourcebooks Young Readers (September 6, 2022) - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1728236544 - Hardback - Age: 8+

Mallory hasn't quite adapted to life in her new town of Eastport yet. Maybe it's because everyone is obsessed with keeping the town's reputation as the most cursed town in the US.

And thanks to the nightmares she's had since arriving, Mallory hardly sleeps. Combined with the unsettling sensation of being watched, she's quickly becoming convinced there's more to her town. Something darker.

When Mallory has a terrifying encounter with the same old woman from her dreams, she knows she has to do something―but what? With Eastport gearing up to celebrate the anniversary of their first recorded legend Mallory is forced to investigate the one legend she's always secretly been afraid of . . . Sweet Molly.

Colin Meloy - The Stars Did Wander Darkling - Published by ‎ Balzer + Bray (September 13, 2022) - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0063015517 - Hardback - Age: 8+ 

A suspenseful and atmospheric horror set in 1980s Oregon, perfect for fans of Stranger Things, Neil Gaiman, and Margaret Peterson Haddix, from New York Times bestselling author and the Decemberists’ lead singer/songwriter, Colin Meloy.

Maybe Archie Coomes has been watching too many horror movies.

All of a sudden, the most ordinary things have taken on a sinister edge: a penny on a doormat. An odd man in a brown suit under a streetlamp. The persistent sound of an ax chopping in the middle of the night.

He keeps telling himself that this is Seaham, a sleepy seaside town where nothing ever happens. Or at least nothing did, until his dad’s construction company opened up the cliff beneath the old—some say cursed—Langdon place.

Soon, though, he and his friends can’t deny it: more and more of the adults in town are acting strangely. An ancient, long-buried evil has been unleashed upon the community, and it’s up to the kids to stop it before it’s too late. . . .

Mary Downing Hahn - What We Saw: A Thriller - Published by Clarion Books (September 6, 2022) - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0358414414 - Hardback - Age: 8+

A chilling murder mystery lies at the heart of this page-turning thriller about a missing teacher, small-town secrets, and turbulent tween friendships from the master of middle-grade horror Mary Downing Hahn.

When best friends Abbi and Skylar witness a clandestine meeting between a mysterious woman and someone in a dark van, they're thrilled. Finally, a mystery to spice up the summer!

Who could these people be? Why are they meeting? Are they spies? Criminals? The two girls are determined to find out. But then a local woman goes missing and is found dead in the woods. And Abbi and Skylar realize that their detective work could hold the keys to solving her murder. Suddenly, sleuthing isn't so fun anymore.

As tensions rise and their friendship frays, the girls find themselves in increasing danger, and must choose between keeping a secret or exposing a life-altering truth.

Kalyn Josephson - Ravefall - Published by Delacorte Press (September 6, 2022) - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593483589 - Hardback - Age: 9+ 

• One magical inn, two kids with supernatural powers, and an ancient Celtic creature trying to destroy their world by Halloween night...
   
  Halloweentown meets Supernatural in this spooky middle-grade series from the acclaimed author of the Storm Crow duology!
  
  Thirteen-year-old Annabella Ballinkay has never been normal, even by her psychic family’s standards. Every generation uses their abilities to help run the Ravenfall Inn, a sprawling, magical B&B at the crossroads of the human world and the Otherworld. But it’s hard to contribute when your only power is foreseeing death.
   
  So when fourteen-year-old Colin Pierce arrives at Ravenfall searching for his missing older brother and the supernatural creature who killed their parents, Anna jumps at the chance to help. But the mysteries tied to Colin go much deeper than either of them expects. . . .
   
  As the two team up to find answers, they unearth Colin’s family’s secret past and discover that Colin has powers beyond his imagination. And now the supernatural creature, one with eerie origins in Celtic mythology, is coming after him. If Anna and Colin can’t stop the creature by Halloween night, the veil to the Otherworld could be ripped open—which would spell destruction for their world as they know it.

Alex Foulkes - Author Interview (Q&A) - Rules for Vampires - Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books #23

Hello to you all. It's time to flap your fantasy wings and crack out the garlic in our second fantastic interview. I'm delighted to be able to introduce Alex Foulkes, who is the author of a dark, funny series called Rules for Vampires. Ghosts Bite Back is the second book in the series and will be published later this year (Sept 2022 by Simon and Schuster). We thought we would ask the 'jammy' author and school librarian some questions on how to keep Vampires at bay and how she 'staked' a claim in writing horror fiction. We hope you enjoy this 'bleeding' marvellous interview; did you like what I did there? Enjoy! You can buy the book Here. 

• Rules for Vampires is your first children's book, do you think Vampires actually have rules?

Yes! Vampires actually have loads of different rules throughout literary history - too many to include in one book. If you added in every vampire rule out there, you would have a very long story (and one that would contradict itself!) When I was writing Rules for Vampires, I wanted a clear set of Vampiric Laws to govern the world. I chose my faves and added a few of my own. My favourite Vampiric Law is probably concerning vampires being unable to enter uninvited, which I think is one of the coolest vampire limitations.

• Would your younger self enjoy reading this book and why?

The character of Leo is actually based on myself when I was eleven, as well as children I've worked with in my time as a school librarian and a teaching assistant. I was a weird sort of kid and Rules for Vampires is definitely a very weird story! When I was a young reader, I definitely wanted something with a bit of bite, lots of fight scenes, scares and laughs. This has been my checklist for Rules for Vampires.

• Are there any books that you have read that you think may have influenced your writing?

Oh, absolutely loads. A stand-out series is definitely Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, mostly for its gothic tone, amazing villain and eerie, unsettling atmosphere. I read these books growing up and absolutely wanted to be Violet Baudelaire! I think these stories have stayed with me all the way through to adulthood.

• How do you think Sara Ogilvie's illustrations add another dimension to the storytelling and did she also illustrate the wonderful book cover?

Sara Ogilvie absolutely did illustrate the spine-chilling cover for Rules for Vampires! Her artwork takes this story to another level; her imagining of these characters and this world is so rich, so fun and so detailed. When you pick up a copy of Vampires, Sara brings you into the Dreadwald in a way that words on their own wouldn't do quite as well. She's seriously magical. Her work on Leo in particular added additional depth to the way I now write this important character. I think it's because I have Sara's strong picture of Leo's design in my head as I write her.

• I read somewhere that "World Book Day would be your Jam." What would be your perfect World Book Day?

Hahaha! World Book Day is indeed my total jam - you've been on my author website! Fangs so much! World Book Day is an important day to librarians everywhere and I am no exception. My ideal WBD would definitely be in school, with lots of dress-up and fun activities. Of course an open, busy library. And - most important of all - sharing stories. Reading together. Talking about books. Of course, reading is for every day, but WBD is such an amazing celebration of reading for enjoyment, why not make a point of it? Discussing our favourite reads is so important.

• Ghosts Bite Back will be the second book in the series (published this September 2022). What can readers expect in this book and is humour a key role in this story?

If readers have enjoyed Rules for Vampires, they will find that Ghosts Bite Back is even BIGGER, even GHOSTLIER, with oodles of fights and laughs and chills. I wanted to take everything I loved about writing Vampires and turn it up to eleven for Ghosts. Leo and Minna are facing some serious danger in this story! In spite of this, humour is absolutely still a key element to Ghosts Bite Back. I find that, no matter what I write, having a lightness and a sense of fun is always important.

• What is the best thing about being a published author? 

The best thing about being a published author... is going into schools, libraries and bookshops and meeting readers. It's absolutely the best thing in the world. I also love talking to aspiring writers and hearing about their creativity and writing journeys.

• What question were you hoping I might have asked? (Please could you answer from the perspective of one of your characters in the book)

I have spoken to Rodrigo, Leo's spidery roommate, and he had this to say:

"You must want to know what it's like being the secret TRUE HERO of this story! Of course Rules for Vampires should have been called Rules for Spiders, as I am clearly the most important character on the page. My chapters are clearly the best. I'm working on being included in EVERY chapter of Ghosts Bite Back, as I think this would improve the story eightfold.

"I've found fame tricky to deal with, ever since Rules for Vampires came out. Paparazzi chase me at every turn. Please understand - I know I am a big deal and you want to put me on the cover of every magazine - but I am just a humble spider. So humble."

Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books - Fantastic Halloween Spooktacular Kids Book Reads 2021

 

Phil Hickes (Author), Keith Robinson (Illustrator) - The Bewitching of Aveline Jones: BK 2 - Published by Usborne Publishing Ltd (16 Sept. 2021) - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1474972154 - Paperback 

Turn on your torches and join Aveline Jones! Aveline is thrilled when she discovers that the holiday cottage her mum has rented for the summer is beside a stone circle. Thousands of years old, the local villagers refer to the ancient structure as the Witch Stones, and Aveline cannot wait to learn more about them. Then Aveline meets Hazel. Impossibly cool, mysterious yet friendly, Aveline soon falls under Hazel's spell. In fact, Hazel is quite unlike anyone Aveline has ever met before, but she can't work out why. Will Aveline discover the truth about Hazel, before it's too late? The second in a deliciously spine-tingling, spooky series, where mysteries are always solved, spirits are always laid to rest, and everybody gets to bed on time.

Pádraig Kenny (Author), Edward Bettison (Illustrator) - The Monsters of Rookhaven - Published by Macmillan Children's Books (30 Sept. 2021) - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1529031485 - Hardback 

Sometimes the monsters take us. Sometimes we become the monsters.
Mirabelle has always known she is a monster. When the glamour protecting her unusual family from the human world is torn and an orphaned brother and sister stumble upon Rookhaven, Mirabelle soon discovers that friendship can be found in the outside world.

But as something far more sinister comes to threaten them all, it quickly becomes clear that the true monsters aren't necessarily the ones you can see.

A thought-provoking, chilling and beautifully written novel, Pádraig Kenny's The Monsters of Rookhhaven, stunningly illustrated by Edward Bettison, explores difference and empathy through the eyes of characters you won't want to let go.

Chris Priestley - Freeze - Published by Barrington Stoke (2 Sept. 2021) - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1781129838 Paperback 
When Maya and her classmates are asked to write a creepy story with a winter theme, they come up with some brilliant ideas. Rising floodwaters uncover long-buried bodies and ghostly children take to the ice on a frozen canal. But as each of the stories is read out in class, Maya grows more and more uncomfortable. She features in each of her friends’ creepy tales and they start to feel a little too real. Finally, when a mysterious new girl stands up to read the last story of the day, the light outside dims and it starts to snow. The classroom starts to freeze but everyone is trapped. Can Maya stop the story before the nightmare comes true?

Alex Foulkes (Author), Sara Ogilvie (Illustrator) - Rules of Vampires - Published by Simon & Schuster Children's UK (16 Sept. 2021) - ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1471199554 - Paperback 

There are highs and lows to being a vampire. On one claw, you get cool powers like beastly strength and hypnotism and the ability to GRIMWALK.  On the other claw, however, vampires are bound by the Vampiric Laws: rules to protect the balance between the worlds of the Living and the Undead.  And unfortunately, 11-year-old Leo has just forgotten rule number one . . . The Rules for Vampires don't tell you what to do when you make a ghostly enemy, or accidentally restart an ancient war.  But Leo and her very unusual family are more than up to the job.

A monstrously funny and devilishly dark new adventure from debut talent Alex Foulkes, illustrated throughout by the award-winning Sara Ogilvie, Rules for Vampires is the series that fans of Lemony Snickett and Skulduggery Pleasant will devour for breakfast.

Guest Post: Nick Tomlinson - The Ghouls of Howlfair - How I Became a Horror Writer

Hello everybody. The nights are getting darker and Halloween is getting closer. I hear you all asking, what's new in the scary kid's book world? What book is going to get your heart racing and your spine-tingling? Well, this is the book for you. It's the fantastic debut spooky mystery by Nick Tomlinson (illustrated by Kim Geyer). The Ghouls of Howlfair will be published by Walker Books this October (2019). This might just be the book that you've been looking for. 

Welcome, Nick, to Mr. Ripley's Enchanted Books. Thank you for writing this guest post about the book and how you became a Horror writer. I am sure that this post will entice everyone to pick this book up and read it this coming autumn. Bookdepository.com

Firing Jacob and Hiring Molly – How I Became a Horror Writer 
Aeons ago, after my first book (written for grown-ups) got good reviews but only sold four copies, I decided to become a children’s writer. Everyone was going loopy about Harry Potter, and becoming a famous children’s writer struck me as the best way to achieve my artistic dream of selling more than four books. Also, I’d had an amazing idea for a middle-grade fantasy story, and I wanted to write it before someone else got there first. 


In kids’ fantasy books, you tend to get the main character who journeys to a magical world (say, Narnia) from somewhere real (say, Smethwick). Often there’s a reason why the character’s destined to go to that fantasy world. They have credentials - they’ve defeated Voldemort or they’re meant to fulfil an ancient prophecy or something. This is where I tripped myself up: I had a good reason why my character, Jacob, was supposed to journey to my fantasy land (Howlfair, a scary town full of monsters), but it was so flipping complicated that it took me half the book to explain it. Jacob and my book were doomed from the start, but I wrote it anyway, and rewrote it, and rewrote it. 


There was something pure about my early efforts to write the book. Specifically, they were pure rubbish. Every other page saw some soothsayer step from behind a curtain and deliver a speech about a meaningful aspect of Jacob’s backstory. By the final scene, the monsters were so bored with delivering speeches that they wanted to be killed. 


My agent didn’t deal with children’s books, so we parted ways and now I had no agent. I wrote hundreds of drafts and sent them to scores of agents; many liked the opening chapters but spat out their coffee when I told them the final word-count. They’d advise me to cut fifty-thousand words, so I’d chop the manuscript in half and then neaten up the edges by adding some clarifying dialogue about Jacob’s highly significant past, and suddenly presto! The manuscript was even bigger than before. Like a self-renewing monster from Greek myth. 


I carried on hacking down and bulking up my manuscript for fifteen years, always convinced that the next draft would be the one that’d get published. 


My fantasy setting, Howlfair, was a town built over a gateway to Hell. Miners had accidentally opened the gateway, flooding the whole valley with monsters. The townsfolk had organised themselves into special groups to take on the monsters – the Order of Noble Vampire Hunters, the Order of the Silver Bullet, etc. My protagonist, Jacob, accidentally found himself joining a group of wimpy warrior-farmers that everyone else laughed at. But, owing to a three-hundred-page backstory involving a potion Jacob had drunk when he was four, Jacob’s destiny was to lead this rag-tag group in a mission to save Howlfair from a demon. It was a pretty good premise, I thought - but I couldn’t make it work. It wasn’t until I was lounging in a beer-barrel hot-tub on a dog-friendly eco-holiday in Wales, a holiday my wife and I had booked after adopting a dog we’d found outside a petrol station in Birmingham, that I suddenly realised how to save the story. 


What if I stopped trying to write a fantasy book and wrote horror instead? In horror, a character doesn’t go from Smethwick to Narnia. In horror, something malicious comes from Hell to Smethwick. Something evil invades the day-to-day. Your character doesn’t need a reason to go where the action happens, because in horror the action happens right here. 


Unfortunately, this meant that I had to fire poor Jacob. His backstory was a many-tentacled presence in my mind. The thought of him gave me vertigo. I needed a new protagonist, one without baggage. 


For a long time, a character called Molly Thompson had been patiently haunting my imagination. I’d never considered her for this story because she wasn’t a feisty brave hero like you nearly always get in kids’ fantasy books. She was a shy bookworm, based on the shy bookworms I’d taught in a Birmingham girls’ school, girls who described themselves as weird and clumsy and socially awkward. I’d hoped to write a book one day in which these girls could meet a character like themselves, a character who was shy and awkward but 
unstoppable, and Molly would be the star of that book. But the more I thought about it, the more I felt as though Molly wanted to be in my Howlfair story. 


I turned Howlfair from a fantasy world into a corny tourist town with lots of silly old legends about monsters, legends nobody believes in. Nobody, that is, except a shy, unstoppable amateur historian named Molly Thompson, who lives in the creepy Excelsior Guesthouse. Molly knows the old legends better than anyone else, and she certainly knows them well enough to spot when one of them – the legend of the Ghouls of Loonchance Manor – is starting to come true… 


How does Molly fare? Well, she’s definitely not your usual brave adventurer. But, though I feel bad for Jacob, I hope readers will agree that once the scary old stories of Howlfair begin coming to life and someone needs to stop them, Molly turned out to be the right person for the job.

Twitter: @Tomlinsonio
Website: https://www.nicktomlinson.com

Barry Hutchison (Author), Lee Cosgrove (Illustrator) - Night of the Living Ted - Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books Book Review

When Lisa Marie and her step-brother Vernon pop into town to get their dad a birthday present, they discover the Create-a-Ted shop is offering free Halloween bears! Making two grisly bears for themselves and choosing an Elvis bear named Bearvis for Dad, they head home. That night the shopkeeper brings the bears to life for nefarious purposes … but Vernon’s bear, Grizz, doesn’t want to be a slave to humans – he wants to rule the world! Converting the shopkeeper’s Stuff-U-Lator into a machine for turning living matter into stuffed bears, he begins to prowl the streets. Can the children and Bearvis save themselves – and the world – from being stuffed?

WARNING: No Teddy Bears were harmed in the making of this book - they were only stuffed!

One of the most asked questions we receive is: what books would you recommend for readers around the ages of six or seven that have a scary element to them but are not ghost stories? This for me would be a good start to answering this question. It is the latest book by Barry Hutchison entitled Night of the Living Ted. The first book in a brand new series, this has already been published by Stripes Publishing and is out in shops now. 

The book has been illustrated by Lee Cosgrove which makes it even more fun and appealing to this particular age group. The illustrations add life to a story that is already brilliant and very enjoyable. The book cover image is especially clever; it really gives the reader the idea of what to expect inside the cover. For me, it captures the essence that you will definitely love it and, if you don't then we will set the teddies on you. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. Only five-star ratings on Amazon PLEASE. 

The magic of this book is that it will appeal to everybody regardless of age. You will laugh all the way through this crazy plotted story that harks back to the early books written by Barry Hutchinson's such as the INVISIBLE FIENDS series. The book is so funny that I found myself laughing on many occasions, especially if you are familiar with "THE KING" (Elvis Presley). The puns come quickly just like the action. The concept of the story revolves around Teddy Bears coming to life and wreaking havoc on their local neighborhood. Stealing, destroying and turning parents into slugs, what more could you want. It will both hook and transport you into the slightly sinister world of the author's childhood fantasies. (I think he might have read too many comics if you ask me!)

This book will provide great family entertainment. However, it also depicts the relationship between step-siblings and the feelings they have between each other. It develops another side to the story which just adds a little element of thinking.

You will never look at a Teddy Bear in the same way again. Those glassy eyes will be staring at you in a sinister way - you might want to watch your games console, just in case .... You'll certainly want the planet to be saved from these cuddly monsters. This is a five-star book full of fun, laughter and much much more .... Just watch your step and remember no teddy bear is to be trusted!

Guest Post By John Clewarth - The Dripping Quill: Reading and Writing for Halloween. Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books

Today, on Mr Ripley's Enchanted Grizzly Books is a post for Halloween. This has been specifically written by John Clewarth, the author of two brilliant books, both of which will definitely get you in the spirit for this spooky time. So, grab a torch, get underneath the bed covers and give it a read - IF YOU DARE! 


BOO! Don’t you just love to be scared? I know I do – feeling that thrill and rush of the scarycoaster, particularly in the pages of a good book, is a great antidote to the pressures of real life. Halloween is lurking just around the corner, like the shadow of a vampire bat, and what better way to celebrate All Hallows' Eve than with a book that'll have you gripping each and every page with anticipation? 

It’s very difficult to choose top titles because there are so many great ones out there. For example, for the younger ones there are classics such as, The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Scared of Anything, by Linda Williams (about a little old lady, walking home in the dark, and despite the best efforts of numerous spooky objects, she is completely unscareable!), and if they’re into witches, there’s the fabulous Room on the Broom – not scary but totally charming.

Middle grade offers up such tempting morsels as, The Ghost Prison by Joseph Delaney (author of the Spook’s Apprentice series) – Billy, the new prison guard starts his job in a far from ordinary prison; or perhaps, Doll Bones by Holly Black which tells the story of a group of friends on an epic journey, who encounter a bone china doll that is more powerful than anyone banked on!

Tender Morsels, by Margo Lanagan, is a gross-out Young Adult retelling of tales from the Brothers Grimm: delicious! And of course, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is delightfully dark and ideal for this time of year.

These are just a few – and the list could go on and on forever (Google will point you in the right direction!) But, as a writer of spooky books for children and Young Adult myself, I thought it would be fun to share some techniques that I use when I’m writing the kind of material that could turn into a Halloween story. Maybe you could try some of these and see if they work for you too! Let’s say, you want to write a Halloween ghost story – they always go down well…

A good story is a good story; the same rules apply to ghost stories as to any other genre.

Create a likeable character who will be meeting the ghost. This could be the person that the reader identifies with. If we see the story through this person’s eyes and we feel they’re like us, we’ll be scared when they’re scared. 

Don't wait too long to start rattling the chains. In other words, hook the reader quickly with a scary event or at least the foreshadowing of one.

Create an unusual ghost; try to think of a different angle. The ghost could be anybody or anything - it could be the ghost of a dog, or an extinct animal, or any kind of person, with all their personality flaws.

Give the ghost motivation for what it’s doing. If it wants to frighten everybody, why? If it needs help, what unfinished business does it have on earth? See of you can come up with something unusual. It could be funny - maybe the person died in the middle of baking a cake and won’t able to rest until he or she sees how the finished product tastes. Perhaps the TV freaks out every time the Great British Bake Off is on! 

Create a fun hero or heroine for your story – why would they want to do battle with or help out the ghost? What will happen if they don’t? And put a deadline on it; perhaps the ghost must be banished before dawn, or something terrible might happen. 

See if you can come up with a twist to the ending. Instead of ending on the ghost’s problem being solved, maybe your character persuades the ghost to get even with a bully (of course you’d have to include the bully earlier in the story!) 

The story has to have atmosphere - the weather and setting help. Never underestimate the power of thunder and lightning and an abandoned old house in a scary story! 

Try not to be too graphic as you try to scare your reader – remember it is what you don’t see that scares you more than what you actually do see: what is that flickering shadow in the corner of your eye, that tapping on the window, that scratching beneath your bed?…

And remember, when writing for children or Young Adults - the secret of scaring them is remembering what it was like to be that age yourself. You need to try to remember what it was you were scared of as a young person, and how much you enjoyed being scared too. I used to love being allowed to stay up late on Friday nights to watch a show called ‘Appointment with Fear’. Even the opening titles were scary! And I always used to try to switch my bedroom light off so quickly that I could get in bed before it went dark (never made it!), just in case that thing in the wardrobe grabbed me before I hid under the duvet. 

And it’s exactly that ‘scary-but-safe’ thrill that I try to create in my own books, for children and Young Adults. Why not give them a try? Firestorm Rising, for Middle-Grade readers, reached the final of The People’s Book Prize (alongside a Neil Gaiman book – wowee!). It’s the story of three friends, who unearth something very strange in a graveyard – on Halloween, of course! Demons in the Dark, for the teen/Young Adult market, is a story of awakening truths that have long lain hidden, and the value of true friendship in the face of ultimate horrors. Either one of these titles would make an ideal Halloween read – but make sure you wrap up warm and leave the lights on! 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

About the Author
John Clewarth is a writer for children and Young Adults. His first novel, ‘Firestorm Rising’, is a chilling tale, inspired by a visit to a gothic graveyard one dark, rainy day. His second novel, ‘Demons in the Dark’, is a horror story, broadly aimed written for the young adult market. John believes that horror should be scary but fun, and loves to lace his stories with humour. For further details and sneaky previews of these, along with John’s future projects, please 
visit his website: http://www.johnclewarth.com 
Other links: 
Twitter - @johnclewarth 
Facebook – John Clewarth - Author

Jeremy de Quidt - The Wrong Train - Blog Tour - What Makes a Great Halloween/Horror Read?

Welcome to the sixth stop, or perhaps we should call it a station, as part of this blog tour. I am delighted to be able to introduce 'What makes a great Halloween/horror read' post by Jeremy. It really is a chilling and cleverly written read. I certainly could feel my anxiety of the outcome beginning to surface as the anxiety and atmosphere intensified. It definitely highlights all of the main elements required in a good horror story - sleep well tonight!


The elderly man in the little bookshop thought for a moment.

‘What makes a great Halloween/horror read?’ he said.

He tapped the ash from his cigarette and leaned forward, leaned so far forward that his face was almost touching mine.

‘Very bad things happen to good people,’ he said. ‘That’s what makes a good Halloween read.’

I waited for him to say something more but he just looked at me.

Is that it? I asked.

He nodded.

‘And atmosphere,’ he said. ‘Lots of anxiety and fear. Do you realise for example that we are the only people in this shop of mine, and that after you came in I closed the door?’

I said that I hadn’t noticed. But I noticed it then, noticed that the card in the window had been turned round so that it said ‘Closed’.

‘Scarier too when you think someone is safe and they aren’t,’ he added.

I’m just wanting a book for Halloween, I said. It’s a present - friend of mine’s not been well.

‘You’ll be wanting a story with high stakes, then. Consequences.’ He had a thin smile, like a knife. ‘You’ll be wanting a story where you’ll like the person in it - maybe they’re doing something nice for someone else - then when the bad things start, you can be really afraid for what’s going to happen to them.’ 

He drew again on his cigarette and glanced up at the wall to where two yellowing newspapers hung in frames. ‘Boy Disappears’ read one. ‘Body found on tow-path’ read the other.

‘And foreshadowing,’ he said. ‘You’ll be looking for a story with foreshadowing. That will ratchet up the fear, give you some time to think about what might happen next.’

He lifted the counter, shuffled past me and reaching up to a switch turned the lights out in the shop. There was some street light from the window, but the narrow shop was all darkness and shadows now. I’ve never liked dark or shadows.

‘Your story will need fears,’ he said. ‘We all have fears. Most people fear death and evil. Lots of room in a Halloween story for evil. I like a nice bit of evil.’

I think I’ll just come back later, I said.

He was standing between me and the door now.

‘Can’t let you go yet, though’ he said.

Why not? I asked.

‘Pacing, you see,’ he said. ‘A good story is all about pacing. All that anxiety, those fears, they’ve got to build to something, got to to lead you on to the inevitable moment.’

Inevitable moment when what? I said.

For a second or two he didn’t say anything. Then he smiled again.

‘When the bad thing happens. We’ll all want to see that scene, won’t we. Won’t be a good Halloween read if we don’t see that.’

Then he turned and opened the door for me, stood to one side and let me pass.

I didn’t hesitate. I went straight through and out onto the street.

But to my discomfort he followed. He closed the door and locking it behind him looped his arm through mine. For all his old age that grip was as firm as iron. 

‘And your story will need a twist to it too. We can talk about that twist while we walk,’ he said.

And it was only then that I realised that the passage beside the shop, the one that he was quietly but ever so firmly leading me down didn’t lead back into town, but to the old canal - to the canal and the tow-path that ran unlit, forgotten and unseen beside it.

Book review Here thanks for reading, have a safe and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!