Children

The Walter Award Honor-winning author of Root Magic returns with a terrifying story in the Southern Gothic tradition, inspired by the hoodoo practice of hair burning.

At night, Roddie still dreams of sitting at his mother's feet while she braids his Afro down. But that's a memory from before. Before his mom died in a tragic accident. Before he was taken in by an aunt he barely knows. Before his aunt brought him to Dogwood House, the creepiest place Roddie has ever seen. It was his family's home for over a hundred years. Now the house--abandoned and rotting, draped in Spanish moss that reminds him too much of hair--is his home too.

Aunt Angie has returned to South Carolina to take care of Roddie and reconnect with their family's hoodoo roots. Roddie, however, can't help but feel lost. His mom had never told him anything about hoodoo, Dogwood House, or their family. And as they set about fixing the house up, Roddie discovers that there is even more his mother never said. Like why she left home when she was seventeen, never to return. Or why she insisted Aunt Angie always wear her hair in locs. Or what she knew of the strange secrets hidden deep within Dogwood House--secrets that have awoken again, and are reaching out to Roddie...

What happens when a smart toy gets a little too smart?

Victor is thrilled to get the toy he's always wanted for Christmas. It's a LenBot--a smart robot that can learn anything. For once, it's a toy that lives up to the hype. The robot really does become Victor's best friend. But before long the robot starts learning more than Victor has taught it and acting very strangely. Victor knows LenBot is smart, but a toy robot couldn't be cruel. It can't kill...can it?

The epub edition of this title is fully accessible.

An atmospheric retelling of Frankenstein, full of adventure and as thrilling as a lightning strike.

Stitch and his friend Henry Oaf were brought to life by the genius Professor Hardacre. But when his wicked nephew takes over the laboratory, they soon discover that the new professor's sights are set on Henry as his next experiment. Can Stitch and Henry escape his clutches and make their way in a world they were never built for--and that may only ever see them as monsters? Literary yet accessible, warmhearted yet chillingly gothic, this beautiful novel, described by the London Times as "exceptional," explores themes of life and death, friendship and acceptance, all through a page-turning adventure about what it means to be human.

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here!

Get ready for a terrifying spin on some of literature's most beloved tales--no story is safe! From Captain Hook's run-in with dark magic to Sherlock Holmes narrowly escaping graveyard spirits to a happily never after for Cinderella, this horror anthology is anything but a bedtime story. In this terrifying new collection for young readers, the best-loved stories from the literary canon are revisited and reimagined with a deadly twist by some of the top authors working in middle grade today.

Featuring tales from New York Times bestselling authors Jonathan Maberry and Kelley Armstrong, Carlos Hernandez, Lisa Morton, Maurice Broaddus, and many others, this collection will haunt you long after you turn the last page. Read on--if you dare!

The complete list of writers: Teel James Glenn, Maxwell I. Gold, Lisa Morton, Tanvir Ahmed, Kelley Armstrong, Maurice Broaddus, Delilah S. Dawson, Joe R. Lansdale, Kristi Petersen Schoonover, Carlos Hernandez, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Sarwat Chadda, Ai Jiang, Jonathan Maberry, Nancy Holder, Nathan Carson.

Goosebumps now on Disney+!

Something fishy is going on!

What happens when a talking fish, a runaway dog, and a herd of hog-like creatures descend on the woods behind Cody Brachman's house? An abosolute nightmare! His friend Sam wanted to stay inside and play video games all day, but Cody insisted they go wading in the creek. What starts as a fun morning in the water quickly turns into the scariest day the two friends have ever experienced. If Cody can't figure out why everything is going wrong, he's worried he won't live to swim another day!

A sleepover at an amusement park turns into a night of terror in this scary middle school read from the New York Times bestselling author of Mine and Camp Scare.

Tonight is Brie’s chance to finally be accepted by the Ems—the most popular girls at school. If she can just keep one potentially reputation-ending secret under wraps, she’ll have the best night of her life, screaming on scary rides and running the Wildwoods amusement park with her new friends.

But when the Ems take a game of truth or dare too far, Brie ends up alone in a creepy abandoned section of the park. There, she meets a group of cool older teens that invite her to join them. They seem friendly enough.

Little does Brie know she’s about to come face to face with a reawakened evil that wants to take her on the ride of her life...make that her death.

One twin died. One twin lived. But did the dead twin ever let go?

Chelsea knows that her sister is dead. But she also knows that Angelica never really went away. Ever since that tragic day, Angelica has been around. Talking to her. Listening to her. Being her truest friend.

No one else can see Angelica, and Chelsea has learned to lie about her existence, because nobody else would believe it. It's their secret... until Chelsea makes a new friend and Angelica becomes jealous.

Jealous enough to hurt someone.

Chelsea's biggest secret has become her biggest fear.

Step inside the Factory in this suspenseful exploration of power, exploitation, and the nature of time that Kirkus calls a "gripping, fast-paced story with a cliffhanger ending," and a "complex beginning to what will surely be a sought-after series"!

Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle is no stranger to misfortune. Bullied at school and struggling with problems at home, he dreams of the day he can leave it all behind him. That's when he receives an unexpected opportunity: an invitation to join the Factory -- a top-secret research facility that's supposedly developing renewable energy -- and Asher will be paid handsomely for his participation. It seems like the answer to all his problems.

But not everything is as it seems at the Factory. The other kids in the program are tired and sullen, almost as if they've had the life sucked out of them, and the staff members are clearly hiding something. What's more, Asher discovers he wasn't chosen at random; someone in the program desperately wants him to participate. Asher can't help but feel that whatever the Factory is doing, it's not what he or any of the other kids signed up for.

To Asher's horror, it turns out that the Factory isn't developing renewable energy at all. So what is the Factory up to, and more important, why? As conditions in the Factory worsen, Asher must team up with the other kids to uncover the sinister truth behind the experiment -- and his personal connection to it -- before someone gets seriously hurt.

From Norway comes an international horror hit that is shudderingly terrifying and deliciously original.



The world has been overrun by hitherto unknown beasts. Society has collapsed: the power is gone, cars are abandoned across the highways, and anyone left is hiding from the terrifying creatures--and one another. Thirteen-year-old Abdi and his five-year-old sister Alva are on the run, their last hope to escape through the forest and to the sea. As they recall the strange events that led to the beasts'' arrival, and how the two of them got to where they were, they must ask themselves who they can trust--and what they will do to survive.



Set in a postapocalyptic world, Ingvild Bjerkeland''s chilling novel Beasts is about children who hope to reunite with their father. After a beast killed their mother, Abdi becomes the guardian of his five-year-old sister, Alva. With Alva feverish, Abdi is anxious to find supplies and travel to the remote island where their ornithologist father is stationed. The creatures the siblings encounter are six feet tall, covered in black fur, with hoofs and curling claws that unfurl for attacks. The narrative maintains an engaging and brutal pace as Abdi struggles to keep his sister and himself alive.



This gripping YA novel explores deeper themes, such as the line that separates not only child from adult but man from beast. The siblings anchor the book, and their emotional journey is as riveting as the physical one. Through his responsibility for Alva, Abdi overcomes his fears and finds strength within himself. Bjerkeland walks a careful line between being mindful of her audience''s age while refusing to shrink from the truth.



Beasts will appeal to readers of survival classics such as Hatchet and Julie of the Wolves with its realistic illustrations of Abdi''s dogged problem-solving. It will also please those who enjoy stories with supernatural antagonists in pursuit of their prey, like The Walking Dead or The Last of Us. Rippling with constant tension, Beasts is an eerie, quick read for teen readers who can handle a bit of horror and unease.



P R A I S E



"Bjerkeland''s writing is beautiful. A quick, enjoyable read."

--New York Times



★ "Chilling... short chapters and taut prose set a frantic pace. Beasts combines the timelessness of a fairy tale with the stark immediacy of contemporary dystopian fiction."

-- Foreword (starred)



★ "Bjerkeland''s propulsive tale is sleek and elegant, a subtle blend of fable and realism that increasingly reflects many of today''s desperate refugees'' experiences. Every sentence is direct and brief, vivid with eventfulness, uncertainty, and Abdi''s deep sense of responsibility for his sister... The story''s brevity and abrupt forcefulness, and the characters'' stalwart courage and love, make this tale unusually compelling."

-- The Horn Book (starred)



"Crisp and spare, the lines lean as picked-clean bones... The siblings anchor the book, and their emotional journey is as riveting as the physical one... Bjerkeland walks a careful line between being mindful of her audience''s age while refusing to shrink from the truth. Filled with tension and a few heart-pounding moments, Beasts never fully strays into the darker recesses like its postapocalyptic adult cousins The Road or I Who Have Never Known Men, yet it also resists easy answers or a storybook ending. It''s a balance that clearly works... Beasts is likely to garner praise from far more readers than that in the United States and beyond."

-- Washington Independent Book Review



"Harrowing... Abdi''s perspective is gripping, and the vagueness of detail and backstory adds to the suspense... Highly appealing for a great many horror readers, new and old."

-- Kirkus



"Drips with eerie atmosphere and moves at a taut pace. Abdi''s first-person narrative balances the unsettling events with his poignant thoughts and feelings about caring for his younger sister, whose irrepressible attitude is a welcome lightness in this disquieting tale. Middle-grade readers looking for something scary but not too gory will appreciate the mood cultivated here."

-- Booklist



"For those just beginning to learn the [horror] genre, this is a magnificent introduction--spare, tense, gory just at the edges, and tightly focused on the siblings, creating a heightened sense of connection and investment in their survival. The beasts themselves, cunning and malicious, are well-described, and moments when Abdi and Alva encounter them are chilling. Readers will likely be left questioning whether they would have had the fortitude to survive, let alone keep a much younger sibling alive as well."

-- Bulletin of the Center for Children''s Books



"A sense of urgency simmers beneath every line of prose, relentlessly driving the characters--and the reader--forward... Beasts will appeal to readers of survival classics such as Hatchet with its realistic illustrations of Abdi''s dogged problem-solving, but will also please those who enjoy stories with supernatural antagonists in pursuit of their prey, like The Walking Dead or The Last of Us. Rippling with constant tension, Beasts is an eerie, quick read for readers who can handle a bit of horror and unease."

-- BookPage



"Bjerkeland paints a bleak picture of postapocalyptic monster survival reminiscent of media like 28 Days Later and The Last of Us... A simple yet effective monster story that will appeal to fans of postapocalyptic fiction."

-- School Library Journal

 

New York Times bestselling, acclaimed horror author Paul Tremblay delivers an unforgettable middle grade debut in this bone-chilling tale of an unsettling, unbreakable friendship.

"All the questions we ask as kids about who we are and what we're worth take a terrifying turn in this spooky tale of a sinister, inhuman imposter and the nightmares he brings. Tremblay has taken the world of horror for adults by storm, and in his middle-grade debut, once again, he serves up scenes that will make you squirm long after the book is closed."

--M.T. Anderson, National Book Award Winner

When Casey Wilson's parents tell him that his friend is coming for a sleepover, he has no idea who that might be. Ever since the Zoom Incident, everyone treats him like a pariah, and his tics are worse than ever.

When Morel appears, he's not like any friend Casey has ever met. His skin is like clay, and he doesn't speak. But Casey's parents are charmed by the strange kid, and it's nice to have someone to talk to besides his sister, Ally, who is away at college. As his normally loving parents grow distant from Casey, they gush and fawn over Morel. Casey knows something is wrong--but with no end in sight to the sleepover, he's exhausted. And in the dark, out of the corner of his eye, Morel doesn't look like a kid at all. . . .