Creative and just a smidge creepy; well suited to the faint of heart.
Thirteen gently spooky stand-alone tales for elementary schoolers.
Fifth grader Emily makes new friends after a move and, with their encouragement, investigates an eerie old barn. Bella’s dollhouse gains an unusual inhabitant. Cousins Henry and Cadence solve riddles at the behest of a menacing tree. Nosferatu Night elementary school student Alexei is forever changed after a field trip to the Vampireville Zoo. Other stories feature dancing ghosts, superstitions, and neighbors who promise “All Tricks, No Treats.” Though one tale is set in an apartment building and several have a suburban neighborhood feel, overall the collection has a rural vibe, due to a story about a sentient apple-head doll, the lack of references to technology, and settings including the woods, a corn maze, and “a hill, tucked away from the rest of the town.” While Landolf’s entries will hold youngsters’ attention, she keeps the scares on the mild side. Clever, open-ended denouements (a faint “meee-ow” from under the floor, an abandoned broom’s twitch) offer braver readers the chance to let their imaginations run wild; the more timid can merely turn the page. Zilber's full-color illustrations and spot art brighten pages; in between tales, Landolf counts down the days till Halloween alongside artwork festooned with ghosts, candies, jack-o’-lanterns, and the like. Illustrations show occasional differences in skin tone and hairstyle.
Creative and just a smidge creepy; well suited to the faint of heart. (Paranormal short stories. 6-10)Pub Date: July 21, 2026
ISBN: 9780063494671
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Fiber artists beware! Unnerving artistry and reality TV mix and meld in this fantastic cautionary tale.
Obsession claims an unlikely victim when a young mole gives absolutely everything for a chance at glitz and glory.
Nine-year-old Winona Mole is passionate about crocheting. Her favorite television program is an Is It Cake?–like show called Yarn Is Everything!, in which contestants create realistic replicas of objects through stitch alone. After a trip to a woolen arts museum, Winona sees the mysterious Spirit Hook, rumored to bestow powers “upon those willing to pay the price.” Later, Winona finds a seeming replica of that same crochet hook in her bag. Suddenly, her skills accelerate fantastically. Yet when she gets a chance to compete on Yarn Is Everything!, what starts as a passion turns into something darker. Reynolds walks that thin line between kid-appropriate and chilling with an aplomb worthy of his Twilight Zone influences. Winona’s descent into unhealthy fixation is matched by Brown’s telltale yarn fragments, trailing eerily from objects that should not be yarn-based. Crafters may find it odd that Reynolds opted for crocheting, not the more common knitting, as Winona’s métier. Even so, this lends the usual homey arts an effective creepiness, even as the increasing ridiculousness of the crocheted objects makes it sublimely silly as well.
Fiber artists beware! Unnerving artistry and reality TV mix and meld in this fantastic cautionary tale. (Chapter book. 6-9)Pub Date: July 14, 2026
ISBN: 9781665961141
Page Count: 104
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2026
Disconcerting and possibly deadly dealings are afoot; certain to charm younger fans of the macabre.
In the latest installment of the delightfully disturbing chapter-book series, the mundane once more takes on supernatural qualities, this time in the form of veggies.
With this follow-up to Troubling Tonsils! (2025), our host, Jasper Rabbit, once more channels Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling. As Jasper narrates, we meet our heroes: fourth graders Thaddeus Badger and Oliver Possum, who love nothing more than eating junk food, particularly the hamburgers at Hurt-A-Burger (a mildly brilliant corporate name on the author’s part). When Oliver’s parents trick the two into a dinner of salads at their favorite fast-food joint, Thaddeus feels betrayed, but Oliver experiences something a little more dire. Soon after, Oliver starts acting strangely, and his parents begin behaving even more oddly. What’s going on? And does it have anything to do with the full moon? Tone is the true star of the show in this series; the mystery unspools thanks to the buildup of unnerving moments. Reynolds combines suspense with a keen ability to artistically frame both sunny innocent sequences and those rich with dark foreboding. Notably, this is no morality tale about eating your vegetables—this tale is fully on the side of its child readers. Brown’s black-and-white images, punctuated with eerie pops of green, heighten both horrifying and comedic moments.
Disconcerting and possibly deadly dealings are afoot; certain to charm younger fans of the macabre. (Chapter book. 6-9)Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2026
ISBN: 9781665961110
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2025
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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