Nightmareland by James Preller

Just in time for the spooky Halloween season, we have this new book, Nightmareland, by James Preller.

Part of the Scary Tales series, Nightmareland is a spine-tingling book that describes the night a nine-year-old boy really gets into his new videogame.  Once Aaron starts playing the game, he quickly finds himself in a land inhabited by creatures from his own nightmares -- wolves and evil snowmen.  He uses his own knowledge of video games to help himself survive, but is eventually overwhelmed.  It takes the help of his sister and the pizza-delivery guy, who luckily knows quite a bit about video games himself, to help Aaron escape from the nightmare castle.

This is a good book for children looking for a scary, but not too terrifying, book.  It is good at describing atmospheric scenes, but stays away from anything likely to cause too many real nightmares.  Good for anyone who enjoys Goosebumps or other scary stories for younger readers.  At 85 pages, it is a quick read, and good for anyone looking for a shivery tale just right for chilly nights when the darkness falls early.
2014
M. Adams

The Cavendish Home For Boys and Girls by Claire Legrand

The Cavendish Home For Boys and Girls

Friends can be messy. And Victoria does not like mess of any kind. She likes perfection in all areas of her life from her appearance to her grades to her home life. She prides herself on her perfect hair, her perfectly organized bedroom and mostly her flawless grades. The only complication she allows into her life is one extremely messy friend named Lawrence. When Lawrence goes missing, Victoria realizes that all the children in her seemingly perfect town, who are a little different in some way, have all disappeared. She traces the disappearances to the mysterious Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls where children seem to go into but never come out. The problem is Victoria is the only one who seems to notice that the children are gone. Even their parents seem strangely unaware.

Once Victoria gains entry into Cavendish, the mystery only heightens. It's run by an ominous headmistress who takes delight in torturing the children, who are held captive, using their specific weakness against them. The walls and floors seem to move of their own accord and the rooms are crawling with insects that are capable of carrying off any rule breaking children.

As Victoria and her friend Lawrence manage to bring down the evil Mrs. Cavendish and save their friends from her clutches, she learns that being different and having "mess" in your life are the things that make life rich and interesting.

While the message of this book is important and the plot definitely holds the reader's interest, the story is incredibly creepy and dark. Scenes of children being physically and emotionally tortured may be extremely difficult for some children to tolerate. Lovers of horror stories will enjoy the story but caution should be used when recommending this book.

P.Sassoon. 2013.

The Nightmarys, by Dan Poblicki

An ancient curse, a dragon mural that comes to life, and nightmarish girls named Mary are just some of the scary elements in this truly creepy story. Timothy, a seventh grader, must overcome his own fears in order to conquer the evil he has discovered. Working with Abigail, whose grandmother knows more than she's letting on, he eventually solves the mystery of the curse of the jawbone. For kids who like their stories high on the frightening scale, this book has some effectively gruesome scenes. At times there are so many different story-line threads that it gets a little confusing, but overall the idea of a boy who sees terrifying events that few other people around him can see is compelling. 2010.

M. Adams