The little town of Cowslip Grove seems to be safe and orderly, full of neat gardens and tidy streets. That is, until two mismatched friends, Levi and Kat, discover a dark and terrifying secret beneath the surface: children are going missing, and nobody even realises it. Everyone—their family, their teachers, their friends—has forgotten they even existed!
Following a family tragedy, Sam Shipwright is sent to live with her grandad on Draymur Isle, an island as cold as the people who inhabit it. While Sam tries her best to adjust to her new life - ignoring her classmates’ jabs about her mad grandad, trying to keep Myrtle, her chaotic pet goat, from eating her shoes, and avoiding the relentlessly cruel Major Chase - she also has to learn to accept a terrifying truth.
On first glance, Dread Wood is appealing to look at. The border of each chapter page is attractively (and a little creepily, in keeping with the title) illustrated by Tom Clohosy Cole, the paragraphs and spacing are inviting and uncluttered, and this reviewer felt there was an inclusivity to all types of readers in the book’s presentation.
The Red Gloves and Other Stories is a spooky and atmospheric collection of short stories inspired by a variety of Welsh myths and folktales. From a menacing pair of red gloves that have a mind of their own, to a mysterious snow-white hare that arrives in the night with much more to it than meets the eye, this collection has it all!
Caitlyn McCabe lives in fear of any of her classmates touching her and discovering her strange secret. That is until Professor Sackimun Brody orchestrates a school-related trip in order to meet her. Caitlyn subsequently learns there is more to her gift and more to her parents’ past than she ever realised. She steps into the Second Realm and discovers something sinister is leaking in from the Third Realm, that if unleashed, will compromise the order of all three.
This Halloween, Rita wants a witch. She wants a witch that will let her stay up late at night, flying around on a broomstick. Rita’s witch wouldn’t fuss over cleaning or homework – there’s too much marvellous magic to be done! As Rita continues to think about the practicalities of having a witch in her life, she realises that it may not all be fun and games. There are many ways that living with a witch could be disastrous!
A Spooktacular Place to Be is Úna Woods’ follow up to her popular Have You Seen the Dublin Vampire from last year. In the book, the Dublin vampire (does he have a name?) and his bat friend journey around Ireland in search of spookier places to live than his Dublin park. They hit all the spooky and haunted destinations across the country such as Newgrange, St Michans church, Fastnet Lighthouse and others, but do any of them feel as homely as his spooky and familiar old tree?
You’re likely familiar with the fairy tale of Rumpelstiltkin; a mischievous creature who helps a young girl impress the king, but at a great cost. The only way out of this bargain is if the young girl can guess this strange creature’s unusual name. In this, part two of the Fairy Tales Gone Bad trilogy, Coelho tells a twisted version of this familiar story.
Estevez’s fantasy, fiction novel is an intriguing page turner that relies heavily on investment in the novel’s main question: do monsters exist and if so, are they responsible for the disappearances of young male swimmers in two separate places? The novel is told through two narrative perspectives and worlds. Harris White is from sunny Formentera. Harris is determined to prove his best friend Jonty was taken by an underwater monster.
The Monsters of Rookhaven won the 2021 KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Honour Award for Fiction. The Shadows of Rookhaven is a well-crafted sequel that explores themes of family, belonging, loss, and difference. We first meet Billy in the human world where, as a misbegotten, he is an outcast. He lives with the Catchpoles, who are not human, and he has taken Meg, another outcast, under his wing. When this unlikely family unit is captured, and Meg’s safety is threatened, Billy agrees to their captors’ demands so that he can save her.
