Tag: haunted house

Posted in Horror, Middle Grade, Tween Reads

Dark middle grade fantasy: Room of Shadows

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Room of Shadows, by Ronald Kidd, (Aug. 2017, Albert Whitman), $16.99, ISBN: 9780807568057

Recommended for readers 10-13

David finds himself with a lot of anger lately. I mean, it’s justified: his dad abandoned his mom, and they’ve been forced to move into this creepy old house. When a school bully messes with him on a bad day, David beats him up, earning some in-house grounding from his mom. That’s where he discovers the room: a secret room with an old desk and a carving of a Raven, signed, “EP”. The weird dreams start shortly after. When the incidents start at school, all involving people who David’s tangled with, everyone starts looking at him differently, including his mom and the police. How can David prove he isn’t The Raven – the person responsible for the incidents, who leaves a signed note each time? And how can he keep himself safe from The Raven, who’s fixated on him?

With a background in Edgar Allan Poe’s history, I dove eagerly into Room of Shadows. The author takes Poe into very dark territory here, for reasons that become clear as the story progresses. It’s an interesting concept, but one I had a hard time with. I didn’t really get to know David or his best friend, Libby; I felt like their character development took more of a backseat, allowing the Poe storyline to drive the plot. I did like the nod to some of Poe’s greatest hits in the story, including The Tell-Tale Heart, The Black Cat, and The Pit and the Pendulum; it’s always great to discover Poe in new fiction. This one wasn’t my book, but middle grade horror fans who are ready for something weightier than Goosebumps and Haunted Mansion may sit down with this one.

Posted in Fiction, Horror, Middle Grade, Tween Reads

Doll’s Eye is SO creepy. Perfect for horror fans.

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

dolls-eyeThe Doll’s Eye, by Marina Cohen, (Feb. 2017, Roaring Brook Press), $16.99, ISBN: 9781626722040

Recommended for ages 9-13

Twelve year-old Hadley is not thrilled with her mother’s decisions. Since she married Ed, whose 6 year-old son, Isaac, is nosy and allergic to everything, means Hadley’s constantly chasing him away from her stuff AND her entire way of eating has changed to accommodate Isaac. They’ve moved out of their apartment and away from her friends to live in this huge, dilapidated house, away from everything, because her mom and Ed got it cheap. Her mother even broke her promise to send Hadley to summer camp with her best friend, to go on a family road trip instead. And worst of all, her mother seems to have no time for her anymore. The only neighbor her age is a bug-obsessed kid named Gabe; at least the tenant, an older woman named Althea, treats her like a granddaughter.

Hadley discovers an old dollhouse with a doll family, and wishes her family were perfect, just like the dolls. But you should always be careful with wishes…

Doll’s Eye is creeptastic and perfect for middle grade horror fans that are ready for some more scares in their reading. Hadley is well thought-out and written, and her supporting characters will keep readers turning pages. Wacky former neighbor Grace is a delight, a scary movie staple as the person who’s in tune with the spirit world. The unexpected ending will get some strong reactions – Doll’s Eye is a great book to give to Goosebumps fans who are ready to go next level.

Give this to your Mary Downing Hahn fans and tell them between The Doll’s Eye and Took (by Hahn), they’ll be looking at their dolls (or their siblings’ dolls) with a very different set of eyes.

 

Posted in Fiction, Fiction, Horror, Middle Grade, Tween Reads

Ghosts roam The Shadow House… but who are they?

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

shadow-house_coverThe Gathering (Shadow House #1), by Dan Poblocki, (Aug. 2016, Scholastic Press), $12.99, ISBN: 9780545925501

Recommended for ages 8-12

Poppy is pretty much an orphan, abandoned as a baby and raised in a group home, where she’s known as “Crazy Poppy” because of the ghostly friend that lives in her mirror and who leaves her little gifts. She receives a letter from a long lost relative, thrilled to have found her, and invites her to live with her at Larkspur Estate.

Marcus is a musical prodigy who always hears music in his head. He receives a full scholarship to the Larkspur Academy of Music and can’t wait to be around other musicians.

Azumi is lost without her sister, who disappeared into a Japanese forest on a family trip. She receives word that she’s been accepted to the prestigious Larkspur Academy, where she can start over in a place where no one knows her.

Dash and Dylan are twin brothers, child stars who have left their show to go on to bigger and better things. They’re offered the chance to star in a horror movie to be filmed at a school… Larkspur Academy.

When the tweens all arrive at Larkspur, they realize that something is wrong. No one is there to greet them or explain what’s going on. Children wearing ghostly masks show up and try to attack them. What is really going on in the Shadow House?

This first book in a new middle grade horror series is a lot of fun, with a lot of creepiness that kids will love. If they’re ready for a little more than Goosebumps, but not old enough yet for Madeline Roux’s Asylum books, this is the book to give them. It’s a fast-paced read, switching between the points of view of the main characters (one of whom is hiding a whopper of a secret) and revealing little bits of information at a time. The ending left me a little wanting, but I’m hoping that book two, due in December, will clear the confusion up.

Scholastic is going all out with this series. There’s a Shadow House website with links to a healthy print excerpt, an audio excerpt, and an app that lets users explore the Shadow House. I haven’t downloaded it, but I may snag my son’s iPad (my phone is almost out of memory) and try it out. If you use it, comment here and let me know!

If you have horror fans, add this one to your list. I’ll booktalk this with the Haunted Mansion and Haunted Museum series.

 

Posted in Fiction, Horror, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

Return to the Dark House… If you DARE.

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Return-to-the-Dark-House-Laurie-Faria-StolarzReturn to the Dark House, by Laurie Faria Stolarz (July 2015, Hyperion), $17.99, ISBN: 978-142318173-6

Recommended for ages 12+

There’s always a sequel. Survivor Girl has to come back.

In last year’s Welcome to the Dark House, we met a group of contestants that agreed to appear on a reality show in the hopes of getting their big break in horror. Well, they did… sort of.  In Return to the Dark House, we meet Ivy – the Survivor Girl – who’s still tormented by the events that took place at the Dark House, Parker, who she left behind, and more importantly, what the killer knew about her life.

But the killer’s not done with Ivy yet. He wants his sequel.

Ivy’s frustrated with what she sees as a lack of interest in her case by the police and even her guardian parents, Apple and Core. When messages and texts start showing up, Ivy decides to take matters into her own hands, joining forces with Taylor: the girl who ran away from the Dark House before it all began. But can she trust Taylor? Can she trust anyone?

I LOVED Welcome to the Dark House. It blended the ’80s slasher flicks that I grew up with into a reality TV environment that kids today have grown up with. Return to the Dark House reminds me a bit of the Scream movie series, with its meta-references to horror tropes and scream queens, and I LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT. Never humorous like Scream, Return to the Dark House is straight-up skin-crawling as we follow Ivy’s narrative and see her putting the pieces of her shattered life together. Taylor is one of those characters you kind of want to thump on the head, asking, “can someone be that vapid?” and then you remember from other books and movies that yes, yes someone can. Feelings for Taylor will start out sympathetic only to plummet into frustration and suspicion, and that’s exactly how it’s supposed to play out.

If you love horror, and haven’t read this book already, make this part of your Halloween season reading. It’s a worthy sequel that makes you hope for the almighty horror trilogy.

Posted in Fiction, Horror, Teen, Uncategorized, Young Adult/New Adult

The Asylum series, Volumes 1 and 2: Asylum and Sanctum

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

asylumAbout two years ago, I picked up Madeleine Roux’s Asylum, because I was in the mood for a good haunted house type story and the cover looked wonderfully creepy. I was not disappointed.

Dan Crawford is a 16 year-old who heads to a New Hampshire College Prep program. When he arrives, he learns that the summer housing is closed, and students are staying in the ramshackle Brookline Dorm, which happens to be a former psychiatric hospital. Shortly after arriving, Dan starts seeing some weird things. With his new friends, Abby – whose aunt was once a patient at Brookline – and Jordan, he starts trying to explore and learn more about Brookline’s secrets, but there are some things he probably shouldn’t look into.

I loved Asylum. Loaded with creepy photographs that enhance the hair-raising mood of the book, the old haunted mental hospital story never fails here. There is solid character development, and some unexpected twists that will keep you riveted to the book until you finish. For anyone who loves a good, creepy haunting story, this is your book. Fans of the Miss Peregrine series will enjoy this series – you’ve got the past interacting with the present and the photographs to enhance the mood, with a twist of horror.

The story continues in Sanctum, which picks up shortly after the events of Asylum. Dan, Abby, and Jordan are all back sactumhome and still in touch, each coping with the events that took place in Asylum. Each of the teens receives odd messages that send them back to Brookline for more answers. They arrive under the guise of prospective students for an open-house weekend, where they meet Micah and Cal, two student hosts. This time around, we delve into secret societies and ghostly messages that send the teens on a hunt for answers around the town and at a creepy, old-time carnival taking place over the weekend.

Sanctum had a bit of sophomore slump for me. We got a little bit away from the ghost story and delved more into secret societies, mind-altering drugs and brainwashing, and cult violence. It was still a good story with some bits of horror present throughout, but parts of the book fell flat for me and I found myself really getting annoyed with Dan, who enters Harry Potter/Order of the Phoenix levels of self-centeredness.

There are still fantastically creepy photos, this time of Brookline and a creepy carnival, so that alone is worth the price of admission if you’re an old-timey horror fan like I am. Abandoned buildings, haunted houses, creepy circus stuff – I’m here for all of it.

The third volume in the Asylum series, Catacomb, hits stores on September 1st. Review coming shortly!

Asylum, by Madeleine Roux
ISBN: 9780062220967
HarperCollins, 8/13
$17.99

Sanctum by Madeleine Roux
ISBN: 9780062220998
HarperCollins, 8/14
$17.99

Recommended for ages 12+

Posted in Fiction, Horror, Teen

Amity is a chilling YA tale of haunted house horror.

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

amityAmity, by Micol Ostow. Egmont USA (2014), $17.99, 9781606841563

Pub Date: September 2014

Recommended for ages 14+

Told in parallel narratives, 10 years apart, Amity is a creepy, horrifying tale of a home, rotten to its core, and the effect it has on two families. We have two narrators, both in their late teens – around 17: Connor and Gwen – who provide readers with first-hand accounts of their descents into madness, and Amity’s history, which appears to lead them to it.

Connor and Gwen each have siblings they are close to, seemingly keeping them rooted in some sort of reality, at first. Connor is a sociopath with an anger management problem and far deeper, darker issues roiling under his surface. His twin sister, Jules, is the only thing in the world he has any feeling toward. He and his family arrive at Amity when his father – a shady businessman and an abusive drunk – attempts to escape yet another bad series of business deals.

Gwen’s family arrives at Amity looking for respite. Gwen has recently been hospitalized for a psychotic break, and the family just wants to start over. When Amity reveals herself to Gwen, her brother, Luke, attempts to stem the tide of what he initially believes is her breakdown, returning. Gwen’s Aunt Ro knows better, though. She may be portrayed at first as some sort of new age free spirit, we see Amity set to work on her, too.

Amity is alive, and she feeds on her occupants. She starts slowly, insidiously, but once she has her claws in you, you can’t escape.

There may be parallels drawn between Amity and the Amityville Horror – haunted house, violent history, even the eye-shaped windows of the home – but Amity stands very much on her own. Ms. Ostow builds a layered, compulsive tale – I couldn’t stop reading it – of growing horror with a shattering conclusion. Teens who grew up on the shock horror of films like Hostel and Saw need to sit down and read a good, old-fashioned, scare-the-pants-off-you haunted house story. Amity is that story.