Welcome to another installment of our author interview series, “5 Questions with…” This time around, we’re talking with Spooky Middle Grade’s Mary Averling, author of THE CURSE OF EELGRASS BOG (January 2024) and the brand-new spooky story, THE GHOSTS OF BITTERFLY BAY, which just came out this week!
1. Mary, tell us about THE GHOSTS OF BITTERFLY BAY. How did you come up with the idea? What inspired it?
BITTERFLY BAY is a fantastical middle grade horror about a group of kid ghosts who haunt a lakeside cabin. They have (perhaps too much) fun freaking out vacationers . . . until something starts haunting them right back. It’s about bravery, storytelling, and the importance of facing the truth, and it’s got MANY weird creatures!
It was inspired by an old cottage my family used to stay at when I was little. I have so many fond memories of that place, but it was built right into a sheer mountainside and surrounded by dark, dense woods. (It also smelled a bit strange and had several creepy carved birds inside). BITTERFLY BAY came from those summertime memories of somewhere strange, comforting, and also super eerie.
2. What books did you like to read when you were a kid? Did those books influence your writing?
I was actually more of a fantasy than a horror reader! I loved Prophecy of the Stones by Flavia Bujour, The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine, The Land of Elyon by Patrick Carmen . . . so many! Even now, I still write my books with a strong fantastical element. I like blurring the line between horror and fantasy.
3. What are you working on now?
I’m revising another middle grade horror with my editor (shhhh, it’s a secret). I can’t say much yet, but it’s about anger and monsters and belonging and, y’know, fire powers. I’m excited to share more soon!
4. What was the most fun thing about writing THE GHOSTS OF BITTERFLY BAY?
I loved thinking up shenanigans for the ghosts’ haunting games! If I was a 12-year-old ghost trying to scare people, what would I do? It was fun to imagine haunting as a game rather than something terrifying . . . but it was also fun writing Longfingers and a more sinister kind of haunting, too.
5. What’s your favorite Halloween costume you’ve ever worn?
When I was five, I dressed up as Barbie Girl. (My title). Pink shiny wig, pink shiny dress, rhinestone wand, plastic high heels, and probably some fairy wings to boot. Not spooky, not scary, but I thought I looked SO cool. I always like sharing pictures of this one, because who’d have thought that twenty years later, this little Barbie Girl would get to publish ghost stories? Why not both?!
Ally Russell’s novel Down Came the Spiders will publish from Scholastic December 2025. Spooky Middle Grade is excited to help reveal the cover of Ally’s new book, but first . . . let us tell you what the book is about!
Twelve-year-old Andi loves everything about spiders—they’re endlessly fascinating creatures. So when she finds a species she’s never seen before at a classmate’s Halloween party, she’s over the moon. 🕷️ Until the spiders start to behave in unusual and threatening ways, that is. They can camouflage themselves incredibly well, they can jump higher than she’s ever seen, and their webs are strong. Maybe even strong enough to trap a person . . . 🕷️
Andi and her friends Carly and Devon try to find an adult to help, but make a terrifying discovery: The parent chaperones have been immobilized by the spiders. As the only ones who know 🕷️ what’s going on, Andi, Carly, and Devon will have to take on the spiders themselves—before it’s too late!
Sorry to leave you hanging by a thread. Here’s the cover!
Arachnophobia meets Five Nights at Freddy’s in this middle grade horror novel perfect for fans of K.R. Alexander and Mary Downing Hahn.
And now, let’s hear more from the spider on the cover:
Is this your first book cover?
I’ve been under plenty of books, but this is my first time being ona book.
Did you spin that web yourself?
Jai McFerran helped with the illustrations, and Stephanie Yang helped with the cover design, but I produced all the spider silk for the web. It was a team effort.
Why red?
Why not?
How did you decide on the title Down Came the Spiders?
I mean . . . that’s kind of what spiders do, you know?
When can readers get their hands on this book?
We were aiming for Halloween, but we decided to jazz things up, so look for this book under your bed . . . no. Wait. Sorry. Force of habit. Look for this book at Scholastic Book Fairs and bookstores December 2, 2025.
About the author:
Ally Russell is the author of It Came from the Trees. She grew up on a steady diet of Halloween parties, horror films, Unsolved Mysteries, and Goosebumps books. She has always loved scary stories, and got her MFA from Simmons University. She hails from Pittsburgh—ground zero for the zombie apocalypse. Ally lives with her husband and her two black cats, Nox and Fury. She’s afraid of the woods, the dark, and heights.
Set in a small New England town with a secret history dating back to the Salem Witch Trials, The Witches of Willow Cove is an upper-middle grade series full of magic, mystery, and adventure perfect for readers ages 10 and up. To mark today’s publication of the second book in the series, we’re sitting down with author Josh Roberts for another installment of our Spooky Middle Grade interview series, “5 Questions with …”
1. Tell us about The Curse of Willow Cove and its predecessor, The Witches of Willow Cove.
The first book, called The Witches of Willow Cove, tells the story of a 13-year-old girl named Abby Shepherd, who learns she’s a witch just as a mysterious stranger arrives in town and offers to teach her everything there is to know about witchcraft. The only problem? This stranger might also be responsible for the disappearance of someone close to Abby years earlier . . . and she might have something equally wicked planned this time around.
In The Curse of Willow Cove, Abby has a year of witchcraft under her belt and things are finally starting to go her way—until some of her classmates start vanishing in the night, only to return as something terrifyingly different than before. With the clock ticking and the danger getting closer and closer to Abby’s doorstep, she and her best friend Robby O’Reilly must both decide what they’re willing to risk to save everyone they love . . . before an ancient curse from Willow Cove’s past sinks its teeth into them all.
School Library Journal says that The Witches of Willow Cove series “may be written for middle grade, but the exciting narrative could appeal to young adults,” and that’s exactly what I was going for—a sort of PG-13 story that can genuinely be enjoyed by readers of all ages.
2. What inspired this new book? How did you come up with the idea?
As a lifelong New Englander, I’ve always been interested in the region’s history and folklore, and in particular a mysterious episode from the past called the Great New England Vampire Panic. Back in the late 19th century, farmers and townspeople all across New England became convinced that their dead relatives were rising from their graves as vampires to suck the life from their living relatives. The Curse of Willow Cove began with the question, “What if they were actually right?”
3. Did you love spooky stories as a kid?
My dad was a funeral director and we lived in a spooky old Victorian funeral home for my entire childhood, so in many ways my life was a spooky story. In fact, my dad was the fifth generation in our family to work as a mortician, dating all the way back to the Civil War. I don’t recall reading a lot of scary stories as a kid, but I have always loved inventing them.
The Witches of Willow Cove series borrows heavily from my childhood and teenage years growing up in a New England town just north of Salem, Massachusetts. I became fascinated by the fact that not only were there accused witches all across the state—including one in my hometown—but also that the witch trials did not actually occur in modern day Salem.
That was the kernel of the idea that kicked off the whole series: What if the town you were living in had a secret witch history you didn’t even know about . . . and what if something about your own family history tied you directly to that distant past?
4. What is your writing process?
It changes and evolves with every book. Earlier in my writing career, I was a meticulous outliner. I had to have every scene and chapter mapped out and working perfectly before I could even begin to put words on the page. But what I found is that it made the writing process less interesting for me once I sat down to actually craft the story, because it didn’t leave a lot of room for surprises.
With the first book in The Witches of Willow Cove series, I went entirely the other way—I just started writing without any idea of where it would go. That proved to be a little too exciting because it led to a few dead ends that I struggled to resolve in my early drafts.
Where I’ve landed now is a sort of hybrid writing process where I put together a list of ideas, scenes, themes, characters, and settings that I find interesting, and then I start to write with some checkpoints in mind. I have a vague sense of where I’m going and how I want to get there, but there’s still plenty of room for discovery and surprises along the way.
In every scene, I’m asking myself, “What’s the most exciting thing that could happen here?” Sometimes it’s an idea I’ve already settled on. Sometimes it takes the story in a whole new direction. I love giving myself permission to explore those ideas and see where I end up.
5. What’s next for The Witches of Willow Cove?
As with The Curse of Willow Cove, the next book in the series will jump ahead another year—putting the main cast of characters in high school for the first time. So, a new school, new friends, new rivals . . . and lots of new opportunities for storytelling. It’s tentatively titled The Haunting of Willow Cove and I can’t wait to share it with readers, just as soon as I finish writing it!
Praise for The Witches of Willow Cove series
“Roberts is a masterful storyteller. I loved it!” —Lora Senf, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Clackity
“A delightfully spooky page-turner . . . Roberts spins an engrossing tale of magic, mystery, and friendship.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
“The book may be written for middle grade, but the exciting narrative could appeal to young adults . . . A first-tier purchase for public and school library middle grade collections.” —School Library Journal, Starred Review
It’s back to school time! Well, in some parts of the world; hopefully if you’re a teacher, you get a few more weeks to catch your breath.
Here at Spooky Middle-Grade, we can’t appreciate you educators enough. We do our best to show our appreciation, by hosting free virtual author Q&A visits for example. Some of us are teachers or librarians ourselves, so we get it.
To show our appreciation a little extra at the start of this school year, we’re hosting a MEGA 20-book giveaway…! One winner will get all 20 books in this graphic below. It’s the perfect way to start a spooky middle-grade library…
Welcome to my interview with Author Dan Poblocki and his latest release TALES TO KEEP YOU UP AT NIGHT! **Teachers, Parents: With the spooky season creeping every so slowly upon us, this is the perfect book to add to your reading list.
Amelia is cleaning out her grandmother’s attic when she stumbles across a book: Tales to Keep You Up at Night. But when she goes to the library to return it, she’s told that the book never belonged there. Curious, she starts to read the stories: tales of strange incidents in nearby towns, journal entries chronicling endless, twisting pumpkin vines, birthday parties gone awry, and cursed tarot decks. At the center of the stories lies a family of witches. And witches, she’s told, can look like anyone. As elements from the stories begin to come to life around her, and their eerie connections become clear, Amelia begins to realize that she may be in a spooky story of her own.
TALES TO KEEP YOU UP AT NIGHT is the perfect next-read for fans of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark!. An excellent addition to Halloween round ups, middle grade readers will be glued to the pages, up way past their bedtimes, reading with flashlights, as they explore each of these interconnected stories. With frightening artwork at the start of each chapter, this book keeps readers engaged and terrified from beginning to end.
THE INTERVIEW🎙️
Hi Dan! It’s great to have you visit our spooky crypt. Let’s start with this: A description of Tales To Keep You Up At Night appears in the local newspaper. What does it say?
What do you do if you find a mysterious book in your missing grandmother’s attic? If you’re Amelia, you try to return it to the local library. But what if the librarian says the book doesn’t belong there? Amelia reads the creepy tales within – stories about bad birthday parties and scary sleepovers, about revenge gone wrong and weird rocks out in the woods, about a family of witches who may or may not have the right to be very angry – and by sunset she realizes that the stories are not just stories. Like the title of her new book suggests, Amelia won’t be getting ANY sleep tonight.
That would definitely draw in some attention.
Set the stage as the story begins and what happens when your main character Amelia sneaks into an old attic.
Amelia’s story begins when she and her family are at Grandmother’s house to finally clean it out. Grandmother has been gone for a year. Amelia’s mothers say Grandmother has passed on, but Amelia doesn’t believe it. Annoyed, Amelia sneaks up to the quiet attic and remembers a dream in which Grandmother hands her a book called Tales to Keep You Up at Night. To her surprise, the very book is lying on the dusty floor. Is this a clue about what really happened to Grandmother, or is this just another library book? Flipping through the tales, Amelia soon learns that the answer is a little bit of both, but also . . . a little bit of neither . . .
Like most of your books, Amelia’s story is grounded in spooky elements. What makes this spooky world different or unique from the other scary tales you’ve written?
Tales to Keep You Up at Night is my first foray into short stories. So that feels unique. Like many of my previous work, I was inspired by the books I read as a kid, books that kept my eyes glued to the pages, and that was my goal here, as it has been since I started writing. There are many elements in TALES that I pulled from my own previous work, and perceptive readers might catch clues about how my other books are tied together in a great big web, just like the short stories in TALES. Another unique aspect of Amelia’s story was being able to play with format; there are tales in this new book that are homages to the styles of classic American story-tellers, that are written in unusual Points Of View, and even one that is a series of journal entries. It was a fun challenge to change things up in these ways.
Sounds like a great book for all students, but especially for those reluctant readers out there.
STORY CHARM🌟
You’ve inserted other stories within Amelia’s main story. Would you share how you made it all fit together?
It was like piecing together the biggest puzzle I’ve ever worked on. Simply put, I first mapped out which tales would be in the novel. Then, I wrote them, one by one. And as I went along, I noted characters and elements from the tales that might overlap with others. Once I understood that ALL of the tales related to Amelia’s own life, I leaned hard into making those overlapping details as strong as I could, so that the entire book reads more like a novel than a collection of tales. Though, now I can see that the book is BOTH of those things, which I think is pretty cool.
And I’m sure readers will think that’s pretty cool, too!
Do you have a favorite scene in the book?
In the tale called “The Volunteers,” a series of horrifying events befalls a family after they reject a gift of pumpkins from their witchy neighbors. By the end of the story, the main character realizes he’s all alone, in the dark, and he reflects back on his life, and his family, and what got them to this place. These little moments click together in his mind as he scrambles to write them all down. It’s a whirlwind of thought and emotion and worry about the choices he must now make, and every time I reread it, I get chills. The details feel real and true, and this makes the moment even scarier.
#GULP
AUTHOR’S CORNER 🖊️
What is the hardest part about writing?
The hardest part for me is the waiting. I find that most times, I can push myself to put down words on the page easily enough (especially if I don’t think of them as overly-precious words), but then, waiting to hear back from other people about what they thought or if the manuscript will sell, and finally, everything that leads up to a book coming out into the world is so stressful. But it’s also out of my control. The best thing I can do in those circumstances is start writing something new, just for myself. That’s what I can control, and that’s what keeps me grounded. Keeps me going.
What do you believe young readers can gain from reading spooky tales?
I can talk about what I gained from reading spooky tales as a young reader: a love for turning pages to find out what will happen next; for Story with a capital S; a sense of how to solve problems that scare you; that there may be a way out of the dark if you look hard enough; that children can be (and sometimes need to be) as brave (or braver!) than any adult. And especially: If a story feels TOO spooky, you can ALWAYS put the book down and say, NOT TODAY, DAN POBLOCKI, YOU SCOUNDREL! (Trust me, I don’t mind.)
Any advice for teachers and parents out there on how to encourage middle schoolers to engage in more independent reading and writing?
Thinking back to what first got me excited and engaged: Reaching for what felt accomplishable. Sometimes those were books with lots of pictures, or comic strips, or comic books, and then, eventually graphic novels, even poetry and short story collections. I’m not saying these things are necessarily “easy” but they have an added appeal for reluctant readers that other books might not. I liked being able to finish reading something, even if it was a page or two long. So, maybe, let kids read what they want to read, don’t push them away from what you think isn’t right/ sophisticated enough for them, and then encourage them to explore what might be directly adjacent to their interests, to expand the Venn diagrams of their minds.
Inquiring minds want to know: What can your readers expect from you next?
Next up are MORE TALE TO KEEP YOU UP AT NIGHT. Specifically, another novel of interconnected scary stories that piggybacks off of Tales to Keep You Up at Night with new characters, new settings – even some familiar names and faces. You won’t need to read the first collection to enjoy this next one, but it certainly won’t hurt (at least . . . I hope it won’t. I can’t make any promises!).
JUST FOR FUN🤪
Have to ask: What scares you?
Many of my early nightmares were about giant mouths filled with sharp teeth, which is weird because now that I’m a little more grown-up, I have an irrational fear of being eaten alive . . . By fish, bears, pythons, alligators, even by hungry humans! NOPE. NO WAY. (NOT TODAY.) I still have a difficult time looking at photographs of animals (especially from the deep ocean) with wide jaws and their mouths full of little serrated blades. Yowch! Please, never show me a picture of a shark. I will fall to the floor and cover my head, and then I’ll be embarrassed and you’ll be embarrassed and no one will have a good time anymore, at all, ever.
Um, yeah . . . you probably should stay away from giant teeth. LOL
Thank you for sharing your spooky tales with our readers! All the best to your from your #SpookyMG crew!
THE AUTHOR
Dan Poblocki is the co-author with Neil Patrick Harris of the #1 New York Times bestselling series The Magic Misfits (writing under the pen-name Alec Azam). He’s also the author of The Stone Child, The Nightmarys, and the Mysterious Four series. His recent books, The Ghost of Graylock and The Haunting of Gabriel Ashe, were Junior Library Guild selections and made the American Library Association’s Best Fiction for Young Adults list in 2013 and 2014. Dan lives in Saugerties, New York, with two scaredy-cats and a growing collection of very creepy toys.
About the illustrator: Marie Bergeron was born and raised in Montreal. After studying cinematography, she attended École de Design. Her style is inspired by many things, including films and games, contrasting a more graphic approach with organic strokes. Her clients have included Marvel Studios, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., Fox Entertainment, and more.
*So Readers, what do you think about Dan’s new book?
Look closer . . . what do you think is in the girl’s hands? Or in the pictures behind her?
Nice answers! Well, I don’t see specific things, but I do sense a bit of shock and some awe. Maybe a sliver of curiosity, too. And a cat. But I guess a cat is specific. #shrugs Any hoot, before I share the rest of this amazing book cover, here’s a bit about this spooky tale which is set for release in January 2023 by Holiday House.
BOOK SUMMARY📙
The Addams Family meets The Westing Game in this exhilarating mystery about a modern magical dynasty trapped in the ruins of their once-grand, now-crumbling ancestral home.
Twelve-year-old Garnet regrets that she doesn’t know her family. Her mother has done her best to keep it that way, living far from the rest of the magical Carrefour clan and their dark, dangerous mansion known as Crossroad House.
But when Garnet finally gets summoned to the estate, it isn’t quite what she hoped for. Her relatives are strange and quarrelsome, each room in Crossroad House is more dilapidated than the last, and she can’t keep straight which dusty hallways and cobwebbed corners are forbidden.
Then Garnet learns the family secret: their dying patriarch fights to retain his life by stealing power from others. Every accident that isn’t an accident, every unexpected illness and unexplained disappearance grants Jasper Carrefour a little more time. While the Carrefours squabbles over who will inherit his role when (if) he dies, Garnet encounters evidence of an even deeper curse. Was she brought to Crossroad House as part of the curse . . . or is she meant to break it?
Written with loads of creepy atmosphere and an edge-of-your-seat magical mystery, this thrilling story reads like The Haunting of Hill House for preteens. Perfect for late-night reading under the covers.
So, fellow readers who love some spook and creep in their books, what comparison got you first? The Addams Family reference or The Haunting of Hill House?
Haha! I know! They both got me, too. Well, enough with all that. Here’s The Carrefour Curse cover in all it’s spookiness!
BOOK CHARM
Whoa . . . check out the kiddos in the framed photos. Super creepy . . .
INSPIRATION BEHIND THE BOOK🌟
When I was very young, I fell in love with the supernatural soap opera, Dark Shadows. (My mom was a fan.) The show centered on an old house and a family with a menacing family patriarch. There was magic and mystery and the nearby ruins of an older, larger house. When the main character went traveling into the past century, the “Old House” was restored to its former glory, blowing my childhood mind. Many of these elements made it into The Carrefour Curse, mashed together with a haunting Ambrose Bierce vignette about two men who found a room full of dead people that later disappeared, taking one of the men with it.
THE AUTHOR🪧
DIANNE K. SALERNI is the author of middle grade and YA novels, including Eleanor, Alice, & the Roosevelt Ghosts and Jadie in Five Dimensions, both Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selections, and The Eighth Day series, nominated for seven state award lists. Her eighth book, The Carrefour Curse, is a spine-chilling mystery inspired by Dianne’s love of all things gothic, but especially the supernatural soap opera Dark Shadows. Dianne was a Pennsylvania public school teacher for 25 years before leaving the profession to spend time hanging around creepy cemeteries, attending ghost hunting classes, and climbing 2000 year-old pyramids in the name of book research. In her spare time, she volunteers at her local animal rescue shelter, walking dogs and serving the needs of the feline overlords.
Thank you so much for sharing in Dianne’s exciting cover reveal! Make sure to come back in a few months, when we release more about this eerie story with a full interview with Dianne.
Here at Spooky Middle Grade, we’re always saying that spooky books aren’t just for Halloween—they’re good all year round. And to prove it, here’s a list of some spooky books coming out this spring and summer that we can’t wait to read:
THE BEAST AND THE BETHANY BOOK 2: REVENGE OF THE BEAST written by Jack Meggit-Phillips and illustrated by Isabelle Follath In this second book in the series that’s described as Lemony Snicket meets Roald Dahl, prankster Bethany tries to turn over a new leaf, but gets thwarted in the funniest and most spooky ways at every turn. Out MARCH 22 from Aladdin
STORM written by Nicola Skinner Doll Bones meets Lemony Snicket in this middle-grade adventure about a girl who, after she dies in a freak natural disaster that wipes out her whole town, must navigate her temper even when she’s a ghost. Out MARCH 29 from HarperCollins
WITCHLINGSwritten by Claribel A. Ortega This new book from the New York Times best-selling author features 12-year-old Seven Salazar, who, after being put in a coven for witches with little power, must fulfill an impossible task to gain her full power and become the witch she always knew she could be… or be turned into a toad, forever. Out APRIL 5 from Scholastic
FREDDIE VS. THE FAMILY CURSE written by Tracy Badua In this fun and spooky middle-grade adventure, Filipino-American Freddie Ruiz finds a family heirloom that he thinks will break his family’s curse, until he discovers that his cranky great-granduncle Ramon is trapped in the heirloom and the evil spirits responsible for his death have returned with a vengeance. Now Freddie and his cousin Sharkey have 13 days to break the curse, or join Ramon in an untimely afterlife. Out MAY 3 from Clarion Books
WILDSEED WITCH written by Marti Dumas This MG contemporary fantasy tells the story of how social-media-loving tween Hasani’s summer plans of building a makeup YouTube channel are drastically changed when she’s sent to Les Belles Demoiselles, a literal charm school that teaches generations of old-money witch families to harness their magic. Out MAY 10 from Amulet Books
LET THE MONSTER OUT written by Chad Lucas A mix of Stranger Things and The Parker Inheritance, this story is about Bones Malone, who feels like an outsider as one of the only Black kids in his new small town. But when things in his town start getting weird, Bones and his friend Kyle Specks find a mysterious scientist’s journal and have to push through their fear to find some answers. Out MAY 17 from Amulet Books
THE CLACKITY written by Lora Senf This eerie spooky MG is reminiscent of Doll Bones and about a girl who must enter a world of ghosts, witches and monsters to play a deadly game if she’s going to rescue her aunt. Out JUNE 28 from Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Plus these spooky MG books are coming out on paperback:
ROOT MAGIC written by Eden Royce Out APRIL 5 from Walden Pond Press
Obviously, all of us at Spooky MG love creepy stories. And we love the ones written for young readers with a special fierceness.
But I wanted to know about the books that genuinely terrify us—or that terrified us when we were young and impressionable, and that may have given us writing (or nightmare) material for years to come.
I’ll knew what my own answer would be:
Like pretty much everyone else in my Elder Millennial/Oregon Trail generation, my third grade mind was blown by Alvin Schwartz’s SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK. I was terrified by those collections, and I adored them—probably for the same reasons. My friends and I would read them aloud at sleepovers, poring over Stephen Gammell’s illustrations, scaring ourselves catatonic. On my own, I would turn back to certain stories or images again and again, seeing if they were as frightening as I remembered. They always were.
If I had to pick a few stories that really dug their hooks into me, I might say “The Bride” (Gah, “The Bride”!!), “The Wendigo” (Its frozen, empty eeriness hit this upper Midwesterner hard), or “Me Tie Doughty Walker,” where the protagonist’s dog begins speaking in strange nonsense words, and is answered by a voice that comes from somewhere in the darkness outside his little cottage… The thought of that one still makes me shudder.
I know some grownups who say they were scarred by these books, and who wish they hadn’t read them when they were small. I suppose I was scarred by them too. But I’m weirdly grateful for it. Without them, I’m not sure what dark and terrible things would be missing from my imagination. And now I get to play with those dark and terrible things when I sit down to write creepy stories of my own.
So, what books for young readers scared—or scarred—my fellow Spookies?
Sarah Cannon (ODDITY, TWIST)
Before SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK or GOOSEBUMPS, there was an author named Daniel Cohen who used to put out scary story collections, and GHOSTLY ANIMALS in particular scared the pants off me. There was a ghost that was a skunk with a human face, which was so completely out of left field that it blindsided me…it hadn’t even occurred to me to be scared of such a thing before! Also, Phillis Reynolds Naylor’s Witch series (WITCH WATER, WITCH’S SISTER, etc.) scared me half to death, mostly because the villain was a scary old lady neighbor. The adults could *see* her, they just thought the kids were being fanciful. But they weren’t, and the scary incidents that illustrated this were extremely real to me.
Samantha M. Clark (THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST)
The book that terrified me most as a kid was actually THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE. I was terrified that the Witch was going to turn me to stone and horrified about all the animals that had been turned to stone. The idea still haunts me to this day. I’ve never been able to look at realistic statues without wondering if a person is trapped inside…
Tania del Rio (WARREN THE 13TH series)
So a book that scared me as a kid was The BFG by Roald Dahl, which is funny because it’s not even a scary book, at least not compared to, say, THE WITCHES. And even though BFG literally stands for big FRIENDLY giant, I still used to lay awake at night terrified that an enormous eye would peer into my bedroom window or that a massive hand would reach through and whisk me away. Even the idea of a giant man blowing pleasant dreams through a long horn creeped me out. It didn’t help that I had tall poplar trees in my backyard and at night, their silhouettes looked like giants wearing long cloaks! 😬
Janet Fox (THE ARTIFACT HUNTERS, THE CHARMED CHILDREN OF ROOKSKILL CASTLE)
I hate to say it, but almost nothing I read as a kid scared me. Even the grownup books. Even DRACULA. But put me in front of a mildly scary movie – even today – and I will have nightmares for weeks, months, years. I don’t know if that helps, but it’s the truth. And maybe why I can write scary books today.
Lorien Lawrence (THE STITCHERS)
Lorien Lawrence (THE STITCHERS)
The first scary story that comes to mind is “The Green Ribbon” by Alvin Schwartz from his IN A DARK, DARK ROOM collection. I remember a librarian reading this to my class as kindergarteners – which seems bizarre now because it’s SUCH a scary story, even by today’s standards! We were all sitting on the carpet, huddled together, just listening. I could not stop thinking about it for days afterwards. It definitely gave me nightmares, but it also left me wanting more. I’m sure that read-aloud jump started my love of all things spooky!
Cynthia Reeg (FROM THE GRAVE, INTO THE SHADOWLANDS)
Cynthia Reeg (FROM THE GRAVE, INTO THE SHADOWLANDS)
I have to admit that I was a Nancy Drew addict—these creepy, spooky, mysterious books always appealed to me. Plus, I enjoyed trying to solve the puzzle, and they were easily accessible at the small local libraries where I lived when I was an MG reader. But I also remember how creepy and chilling the GREEN KNOWE books by Lucy M. Boston were. Loved them! And often I would ready spooky Clyde Robert Bulla books like THE GHOST OF WINDY HILL. First and foremost in monstrous books for me were fairy tales and folklore stories, which were again easily accessible and often taught at school.
Kim Ventrella (THE SECRET LIFE OF SAM, THE SKELETON TREE, etc.)
As a kid, I always found myself yearning for stories that both transported me and reflected my experiences, and those experiences weren’t always roses and rainbows. Books that tackled tough topics or delved into the scary or macabre, rather than frightening me, made me feel accepted and understood. They validated my experience and gave me courage. I especially loved SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK, mostly thanks to the disturbing, ethereal imagery. Unlike other scary books for kids, that collection didn’t sugar-coat things. I remember being in fifth grade and getting super upset when I read a book (that shall remain unnamed :P) where the ‘monster’ turned out to be some big misunderstanding, basically a Scooby Doo ending. I wanted the monsters to be real, so that I could see kids overcoming true evil. I longed for that catharsis. The funny thing is that now, as an adult, my books with ’spooky’ themes are all about finding light, whimsy and wonder in the midst of darkness. The spooky elements are there partly to lessen the blow of the real-life tough topics I address, like loss and grief. But I think the two needs are connected, i.e. the need I had as a young reader to see kids overcoming true evil, and the recognition that, as an adult, real life is much more terrifying than any kind of fantasy monster.
Jacqueline West is the author of THE BOOKS OF ELSEWHERE, THE COLLECTORS, and DIGGING UP DANGER, as well as the YA horror novel LAST THINGS. Visit her at http://www.jacquelinewest.com, or find her at jacqueline.west.writes (Instagram) or @JacquelineMWest (Twitter).
Like most kids of the eighties and nineties, I grew up reading the SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK anthology by Alvin Schwartz with haunting illustrations by Stephen Gammell. Unlike other scary books for kids, that collection didn’t sugar-coat things. I remember being in fifth grade and getting super upset when I read a book (that shall remain unnamed :P) where the ‘monster’ turned out to be some big misunderstanding, basically a Scooby Doo ending. I wanted the monsters to be real, so that I could see kids overcoming true evil. So I could believe that I too could conquer my personal demons. I longed for that catharsis, and it required real monsters.
That’s why I’m so thrilled to have a story in a brand new anthology, DON’T TURN OUT THE LIGHTS: A TRIBUTE TO ALVIN SCHWARTZ’S SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK, presented by the Horror Writers Association. For me, this was all about coming full circle, returning to the series that inspired my creativity as a child. The anthology features 35 original tales by 35 of today’s top authors, edited by Jonathan Maberry.
I had a chance to chat with just a few of the contributors to ask them about their contribution and the influence of the original SCARY STORIES series. Here’s what they had to say:
Kami Garcia
Kami is the #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author and comic book writer of thirteen novels including the Beautiful Creatures novels, BROKEN BEAUTIFUL HEARTS, TEEN TITANS: RAVEN, and TEEN TITANS: BEAST BOY. Find Kami online at www.kamigarcia.com.
Kim: What inspired your contribution?
Kami Garcia: My story is about a bottle tree and a ghost. My mom’s family is from North Carolina and bottle trees are very common there. My mom has one in her yard. According to the superstition, if you put brightly colored bottles on the branches of a tree, ghosts will be attracted to the color and they will get caught in the bottles.
Kim: Oooh, can’t wait to read it! This anthology is a tribute to SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK. What memories to you have of that series from childhood?
Kami Garcia: I loved reading SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK when I was in elementary school. They have a timeless quality. I was a teacher before I became a writer and my students loved SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK, too!
Kim: Why you think kids are so drawn to these chilling tales?
Kami Garcia: Reading stories about scary things allows children to experience their fears in a safe way.
Z Brewer
Z is the NYT bestselling author of THE CHRONICLES OF VLADIMIR TOD series, as well as INTO THE REAL (coming 10/20), THE SLAYER CHRONICLES series, SOULBOUND, THE CEMETERY BOYS, THE BLOOD BETWEEN US, MADNESS, and more short stories than they can recall. Their pronouns are they/them. When not making readers cry because they killed off a character they loved, Z is an anti-bullying and mental health advocate. Plus, they have awesome hair. Find out more at http://zbrewerbooks.com/.
Kim: What inspired your contribution?
Z Brewer: When I was a kid, my dad used to warn me that it was bad luck to pass a graveyard without whistling. His mom, my grandmother, had told him that same thing his entire childhood. It was a “fact” that they both passed on in a very serious tone. I was twelve before I was brave enough to not whistle past the graveyard. Fortunately nothing happened to me because of it…yet. But that fear has always been at the back of my mind.
Kim: What memories do you have of the SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK series from childhood?
I was obsessed with SCARY STORIES when they came out. The artwork was terrifying. The tales made my heart race. I loved every frightening moment. But my favorite memory is what transpired after I read “The Green Ribbon.” The story is about a girl who wears a green ribbon around her neck at all times. She meets a boy and falls in love, but the boy asks her over and over again throughout the years why she wears the ribbon around her neck. She eventually gets very sick and as she’s lying on her deathbed, she tells him to untie the ribbon and he will understand why she’d never told him why she wore it. He unties it…and her head falls off. It was gruesome. I loved it.
…which is why I took a bit of curling ribbon from a gift that had been opened and tied it around my neck (looking back on it, I can see how stupid and dangerous that was) so I could tell people that if I removed it, my head would fall off.
Did I mention I had no friends?
Kim: HAHAHA, yes! I think we are kindred spirits! Why do you think kids are so drawn to these chilling tales?
The stories were not at all reflective of children’s books at the time. They were dark. They were gritty. They had imagery that horrified even adults. There was so much about them that was forbidden fruit to so many people. Parents and teachers told kids not to read them, which made them even more tantalizing. Apart from the chill up my spine, I think my favorite thing about them is that SCARY STORIES inspired so many to rebel and pick up the books. I’ve always been of the mind that if someone tells you not to read something, you should absolutely read it to find out what they’re keeping from you. Viva la Resistance!
Barry Lyga
Called a “YA rebel-author” by Kirkus Reviews, Barry Lyga has published twenty-four novels in various genres in his fourteen-year career, including the New York Times bestselling I Hunt Killers. His books have been or are slated to be published in more than a dozen different languages in North America, Australia, Europe, and Asia.
Kim: What inspired your contribution?
Barry Lyga: I was thinking about something that could happen without reason or logic because those sorts of things, in my opinion, tend to be the scariest. I’ve always liked doppelgänger stories, so the idea of a murderous twin that comes out of nowhere really resonated for me. Originally, I thought a cursed mirror would create the doppelgänger…but then I realized that cursed mirrors have been done to death (literally, sometimes!). So I thought and I thought…and then I looked down at my keyboard…
Kim: Who doesn’t love an evil twin, am I right? Why do you think kids are so drawn to terrifying tales?
There are many different theories on this, but I think it’s because horror provides a way for them to experience and even experiment with things that are dangerous or frightening without actually being in danger. It’s almost like a training session for dealing with the more mundane — but very real — terrors of the real world.
Jonathan Maberry
Jonathan is a New York Times best-selling and five-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author, anthology editor, comic book writer, magazine feature writer, playwright, content creator, and writing teacher/lecturer. He was named one of the Today’s Top Ten Horror Writers. His books have been sold to more than two-dozen countries. Find out more at http://www.jonathanmaberry.com/.
I also had the pleasure of chatting with the editor of DON’T TURN OUT THE LIGHTS, Jonathan Maberry!
Kim: Sum it all up for us. Why do kids have such an enduring love for scary stories?
Jonathan Maberry: Kids like being scared for a whole slew of reasons. Partly it’s the simple thrill –the physical and biochemical reaction to fear that releases a bit of epinephrine (aka that old fight or flight hormone popularly known as adrenaline) which makes us feel stronger, faster, and more capable of escaping danger or dealing with it on our own terms and with our own resources. Kids, being younger and smaller than adults, have a natural inferiority complex, but the more challenges kids face –however virtual—the more agency they take over themselves.
Scary stories –especially those written expressly for kids—teach problem-solving; they often focus on elements of teamwork and friendship; and they often have better third acts than does the real world.
From a personal perspective, I grew up in a very troubled household that was in a crime-ridden and dangerous neighborhood. I read scary stories of all kinds because in those stories there was always an ending. But the stress in my life went on and on for years. So the stories were true escapism for me. This is something common to many millions of kids –and not just those from bad neighborhoods or abusive families. Kids face the challenges of a scary world every day, but in their stories those frights are encountered, experienced, and ultimately left behind. There is a measure of closure. Or, at least, the promise of one.
Want a sneak peek at the contents?
Here’s the line-up for this totally terrifying anthology:
Editor’s Foreword by Jonathan Maberry “The Funeral Portrait” by Laurent Linn “The Carved Bear” by Brendan C Reichs “Don’t You See That Cat?” by Gaby Triana “The Golden Peacock” by Alethea Kontis “The Knock-Knock Man” by Brenna Yovanoff “Strange Music” by Joanna Parypinski “Copy and Paste Kill” by Barry Lyga “The House on the Hill” by Micol Ostow Harlan “Jingle Jangle” by Kim Ventrella (Oooh, it’s me!) “The Weeping Woman” by Courtney Alameda “The Neighbor” by Amy Lukavics “Tag, You’re It” by N. R. Lambert “The Painted Skin” by Jamie Ford “Lost to the World” by John Dixon “The Bargain” by Aric Cushing “Lint Trap” by Jonathan Auxier “The Cries of the Cat” by Josh Malerman “The Open Window” by Christopher Golden “The Skelly-Horse” by T. J. Wooldridge “The Umbrella Man” by Gary A. Braunbeck “The Green Grabber” by D.J. MacHale “Brain Spiders” by Luis Alberto Urrea and Rosario Urrea “Hachishakusama” by Catherine Jordan “Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board” by Margaret Stohl “In Stitches” by Michael Northrop “The Bottle Tree” by Kami Marin Garcia “The Ghost in Sam’s Closet” by R.L. Stine “Rap Tap” by Sherrilyn Kenyon “The Garage” by Tananarive Due “Don’t Go into the Pumpkin Patch at Night” by Sheri White “Pretty Girls Make Graves” by Tonya Hurley “Whistle Past the Graveyard” by Z Brewer “Long Shadows” by James A. Moore “Mud” by Linda D Addison “The Tall Ones” by Madeleine Roux
Hold on, what about the artwork?
I know what you’re thinking: The artwork was what made the original books so terrifying, right? I couldn’t agree more, and this anthology will not disappoint. It features gorgeous, ethereal and so-so haunting images by the amazing Iris Compiet.
Iris Compiet
Iris Compiet is an award-winning artist from the Netherlands. She has worked for a wide range of international clients and contributed to gallery shows and art annuals. She is also the creator of the book Faeries of the Faultlines. Drawing inspiration from European folklore, mythology, fairy tales, and the world around her, she strives to open a gateway to the imagination to ignite it even further.
Kim: Your illustrations are gorgeous, surreal and unsettling. Were you inspired by Stephen Gammell’s illustrations from the original SCARY STORIES books? How did you bring your own voice to the project?
Iris: I’ve been working in this illustration style for a while now, mixing ink with pencils and such to create a mood. I always try to adapt my illustrations to the needs of the book and stories, to help get across the feel of them and this style was the perfect fit. Rough and a bit gnarly. I think the use of materials and technique is very important in getting across the feel of the story, the illustration has to give the reader a little bit more information, heighten the mood so to speak. It seemed a perfect fit for these stories and it naturally ended up as a nod to the original scary stories, almost a homage if you will because those originals are pure genius. I wanted the illustrations to just underline that unsettling feel of the stories without giving away too much.
Kim: What scared you as a kid? Do those fears inspire your artwork?
Iris: I think I was afraid of the usual things as a kid, the thing hiding in my closet or under my bed. The creak upstairs at my grandmothers, things like that. I love a good scare and loved watching shows like Are You Afraid of the Dark. When I worked on these stories I tried to tap into those feelings
Kim: You’re known for creating fantastical creatures with touches of darkness and whimsy. How did you develop your unique artistic style?
Iris: Developing a style takes many years and a lot of work. I didn’t set out intentionally to develop my style like this but I love to mix things, I don’t believe something is 100% good or bad. Without darkness there can be no light, that’s the way I see things. So I love to create art that has both in them. Depending on who is looking at the artwork, they’ll be either drawn to the dark or light in a piece. I enjoy creating art that has both.
Kim: Why do you think kids connect so deeply with scary stories/art?
Iris: I think there’s nothing like a good scare, that rush of adrenaline, not just with kids. I think we all enjoy a good scare once in a while, to confront those fears and come out of it as the victor because we ‘survived’ the story. It’s a safe escape, reading scary stories. As a kid I grew up with the real fairytales, the ones with the chopped-off hands and the livers being eaten, things like that. I enjoyed Jaws as a kid even though it made me scared to go into the local pool, because there might be a giant shark there. It gave me a rush but it was a safe rush, nothing would ever happen to me.
Oh, and in case you wanted a sneak peek at the chapter art:
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Greetings fellow ghouls! Welcome to our first-ever Spooky Middle Grade Summer Writing Contest. Do you have what it takes to scare the pants off our spooky authors? Here are some quick rules:
Must be ages 8-12 to enter.
Submit your story to spookymiddlegrade@gmail.com by midnight CST on July 31, 2019.
Stories must be submitted as Word documents, 12pt font, double-spaced.
Stories should not exceed 1000 words.
Stories must start with the prompt (see below).
Include your full name and preferred contact email.
Ask for your parent or guardian’s permission before entering.
Three lucky winners will have their stories posted on spookymiddlegrade.com. They will also receive some cool, spooky swag and be forever known as “Official Scare Masters.”
STORY PROMPT:
Spending the summer in a haunted school bus in the middle of the woods was bad enough. Did there have to be killer pineapples?
Sarah Cannon (ODDITY, TWIST)
Samantha M. Clark (THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST)
Tania del Rio (WARREN THE 13TH series)
Spooky Middle Grade 