Review: Good old-fashioned horror story for kids
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 10, 2013
Pete's grandparents live in the middle of nowhere with a graveyard next door--not quite Pete's idea of a great place to stay while his parents are away, but what choice does he have? Something bad is going to happen, he thinks, and author Brian Barnett builds a convincing tension as he introduces this fascinating cast of characters, slowly turning a boy's everyday concerns into something much scarier.Smoothly written for eight to twelve-year-olds, with a pleasing mix of innocence and scares, the story evokes the Wizard of Oz as young Pete tries to do right, fails to do wrong, and struggles to save the world. But perhaps the world has been saved before, and perhaps it will be saved in the future too if more stories follow. Meanwhile Pete's mysterious pawpaw might prove to know more than it seems. And readers can enjoy a fun adventure filled with smiles and cheats galore.Disclosure: I was lucky enough to be given a free ecopy of this novella and I really enjoyed it.