SPOOKY SPOOKY HOUSE
BY ANDREW WEAL
ILLUSTRATED By LEE WILDISH
DESPITE this being a pop-up picture book aimed at little fingers, it has a dark and devilish sense of humour, warning readers not to lift the flaps at any cost.
This means that is precisely what they’ll do - to reveal lots of gruesome gravestones, cobwebbed creepy-crawlies and a clever magic-ink last page that needs a (very) hot little palm to reveal its secret.
Adult readers should look out for the witty book titles in the library (Winnie the Boo, Scary Poppins, and so on).
Age 3+
HORRID HENRY AND THE ZOMBIE VAMPIRE
BY FRANCESCA SIMON ILLUSTRATED BY TONY ROSS
(Orion £4.99
OK, THERE’S really only one scary adventure in this slim, four-story volume, but all new Horrid Henry stories are a joy to read and Henry’s outrageous behaviour on the class sleepover in the Our Town Museum (special exhibition: balls of wool through the ages) is spookily spiteful.
Add to that his plagiarising of Perfect Peter’s Rainbow Fairy story, tricking its creator out of money and sweets and sabotaging the school’s healthy eating plan, and it’s easy to see that Henry has a successful future ahead of him in global finance or politics ...
Age 6+
HAUNTED
Andersen Press
SHORT STORIES are the perfect vehicle for a chilling slice of horror - and for children who are daunted by a full-length novel.
A fine selection of quality writers have contributed tales here, from Eleanor Updale’s contemporary spirit reaching out through an internet server to Joseph Delaney’s traditional blood-curdling ghosts in a haunted castle.
Derek Landy’s young hero avenges the death of a teenage girl sacrificed in a ritual killing, while in The Ghost Wood by Philip Reeve, young Matt discovers that the Black Dog of folklore doesnÕt always bring tragedy in its wake.
An excellent balance of traditional and modern and a perfect pocket-money purchase for winter evenings.
Age 10+
MR CREECHER
BY CHRIS PRIESTLEY
Bloomsbury
AS A HUGE fan of Chris Priestley’s short stories, I approached this ambitious, full-length novel with excitement - most of which was rewarded.
ItÕs a clever, imaginative, atmospheric story in which a Victorian London urchin, Billy, becomes bound to the grotesque Mr Creecher, and uses his streetwise guile to spy upon Creecher’s mortal enemy, Victor Frankenstein.
Their journey takes them across the country as the monstrous Creecher in turns protects, threatens and teaches Billy, who glimpses the natural beauty and love that life can hold. Until it all goes murderously wrong Ñ with an elegant literary twist. ThereÕs a slight dragging of pace midway through, but the book is packed with literary allusions and clues to the final outcome and offers a highly original perspective on one of the worldÕs most famous gothic horror stories.
Age 14+
SNUFF
BY TERRY PRATCHETT
Doubleday
THE COUNTRYSIDE may hold bucolic charms for some, but not for Sam Vimes, who is much more at home in the fetid crowds of Ankh-Morpork. But although he may have risen to eminence as chief of the Ankh-Morpork police force and a reluctant member of the nobility, His Grace the Duke of Ankh, Commander Sir Samuel Vines is, as ever, powerless to combat the will of his wife, and Lady Sibyl has ordered him to accompany her to her family estate far from his home turf.
Tormented by the countryside’s peace and quiet and baffled by the servants at Ramkin Hall, Sam soon finds a welcome distraction when he stumbles upon a murder to solve. With the help of his assassin manservant Willikins and Feeney Upshot, the local constable, plus a friendly demonic presence, Sam soon has a suspect in his sights.
But that’s just the start of his problems because this is not a straightforward murder case - the victim was a young girl goblin, and in these here parts, as Sam discovers, goblins are regarded as vermin. The persecution of the goblins is one factor, prosecution of the law another, for technically Sam is outside his jurisdiction and the local magistrates seem to have taken the law into their own hands.
Can Sam unmask the killer? Can he save the ailing Sergeant Colon, who has inadvertently acquired a tiny goblin pot which will kill him unless it can be given to a goblin maiden? Will his son, Young Sam, ever tire of his hobby and obsession, collecting and dissecting poo?
And so to the key question: is there any sign of a falling-off in Sir Terry’s extraordinary abilities? No. Not one.
This is another brilliant, bravura command performance of comic fantasy. Terry Pratchett with Alzheimer’s is still up there with PG Wodehouse. Amazing. Wonderful. Fantastic. - Daily Mail