After a 12-year hiatus (in the United States), the Creepies series of readers returns from Britain. In this title, a boy staying with his grandfather is scared of a small closet in his bedroom; his uncle used to terrorize the boy's mother by telling her it hid "ghosts / and ghouls / and vampires." Although Grandpa reassures the boy, he rather insensitively pulls a huge dragon kite from the closet and hangs it above the frightened boy's bed "to fly tomorrow." The boy wrestles with fear of closet and kite but vanquishes both by stuffing the kite back in the closet. In its companion, The Midnight Ship (ISBN: 978-0-9844366-1-3), a girl must bunk with her older sister when guests visit. The two have a rollicking night imagining their bed is a boat surrounded by sharks and snakes, but when the older sister dozes off, the younger one is at the mercy of her imagination. Kemp’s dark illustrations provide most of the “creepiness” in these two gentle tales of dread. Thoughtless Grandpa aside, new readers seeking shivers will probably find these tame. (Early reader. 5-8)
