It’s October, my favorite month of the year! The weather has gotten cooler, fall is in the air, and I find myself wanting some (not so) spooky books to read. I recently read a really great book that fits into this category: The Shadows by Jacqueline West, which is the first in The Books of Elsewhere series.
When 11-year old Olive Dunwoody moves into the rundown Victorian mansion on Linden Street, she has a feeling something is wrong. The house is creepy, from the basement where Olive feels that someone is watching her to the ancient paintings that seem to be permanently fixed to the walls. When Olive finds an old pair of spectacles in one of the dresser drawers, she discovers something even stranger. The glasses allow her to go into the paintings, entering a spooky world where all is not as it seems and sinister figures and dark shadows lurk. With assistance from a trio of talking cats and Morton, a boy who is stuck in the world of Elsewhere, Olive must confront a dark and dangerous enemy who is determined to get rid of her by any means necessary. A fun page turner with just enough scares and suspense, The Shadows is a must for anyone who likes a not so spooky read. Plus there’s talking cats!
Some of my other favorite not so spooky reads:
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Bunnicula by James Howe
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
Something Upstairs by Avi
The Familiars by Adam Jay Epstein
Some great picture book choices:
Go Away, Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley
The Hallo-Wiener by Dav Pilkey
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat by Lucille Colandro
The Squeaky Door by Margaret Read MacDonald
The Spider and the Fly by Mary Howitt
