Fatal Glitch: Ground Zero, by Erin Entrada Kelly & Eliot Schrefer/Illustrated by Jeannette Arroyo, (July 2026, Stonefruit Studio), $14.99, ISBN: 9781464241048
Ages 8-12
This new middle grade horror series hits perfect for Goosebumps readers who are ready to take it up a notch. In Ground Zero, we meet Sofia, an 11-year-old gamer who’s not really a wonderful person. She’s being sent to Camp Forestjaw after an incident involving her older sister, and we get that she’s pretty wrapped up in the game Sandbox (think Minecraft). She blows off her dad and when she meets the other campers in her cabin – all Sandbox players – she forms some pretty rude opinions of them, too. When Monarch, their camp administrator, introduces them to the Razors – creepy mechanical vultures – and hooded, spooky NPCs, all the campers are unsettled. And then the eliminations begin. Players vote one another off, and the loser is carried off to who knows where by one of the Razors. Sofia, convinced she’s got a Sandbox pot of gold at the end of her rainbow, plays her best Survivor game, attempting to double-cross and gaslight her way to the finish line. But that’s not the way it works in this tale of comeuppance and just desserts. Illustrated with black-and-white pictures and featuring shorter chapters, this is great for readers who are just hitting their chapter book stride or who may not yet have the attention span for longer novels. Looking forward to the next book in this technology gone bad series. A recommended first purchase.
School Bus Graveyard Volume 1, by Red (June 2026, Webtoon), $18.99, ISBN: 9798217122875
Ages 14+
Ashlyn is a high school loner forced to make friends when a field trip goes awry and leaves her cursed. Now, she and her classmates are the only ones who see smiling phantoms in the night, and when the clock strikes midnight, the skies turn red and the teens are pulled into a parallel universe filled with the horrible creatures. The teens gather in the school bus parking lot – the “graveyard” – to strategize and survive. Ashlyn is forced to let her guard down and trust her classmates in hopes of finding the secret to breaking the curse. This volume collects episodes 1-32 of the Webtoon series and includes extra art from the author. Creepy, with laughs placed to break up the tension, this has some great moments that Webtoon fans, graphic novel readers, and horror aficionados will enjoy. The smiling monsters are chilling and watching the group figure out how to combat them and learn to rely on one another makes for a great story. Look out for a live-action adaptation, and in the meantime, read up on the WebToon here.
Mom Read It 