Abandon all hope, ye who enter here!
Get ready for a terrifying spin on some of literature’s most beloved tales—no story is safe! From Captain Hook’s run-in with dark magic to Sherlock Holmes narrowly escaping graveyard spirits to a happily never after for Cinderella, this horror anthology is anything but a bedtime story. In this terrifying new collection for young readers, the best-loved stories from the literary canon are revisited and reimagined with a deadly twist by some of the top authors working in middle grade today.
Featuring tales from New York Times bestselling authors Jonathan Maberry and Kelley Armstrong, Carlos Hernandez, Lisa Morton, Maurice Broaddus, and many others, this collection will haunt you long after you turn the last page. Read on—if you dare!
Created by award-winning editor Eric J. Guignard.
• In “The Hound of the Basking Villas," a wily girl teams with young Sherlock Holmes to search for a missing boy in a fae-haunted cemetery.
• In “The Boy of La Mancha Rides a Ghost Horse," a young Don Quixote, along with his stalwart companions, seeks honor and recognition by capturing (before time of his mother’s curfew) a ghost horse that terrorizes all of La Mancha.
• In “Hook and the Hand of Fate," Captain Hook trades a promise for the return of his hand, but learns that barters cannot be broken in Neverland.
• In “Prince Badi az-Zaman and the Ogress Fattan," a young prince sets out to find an ogress responsible for mayhem among his people, only to learn not all is as seems.
. . . and more!
Some of my favorite writers have breathed new life into classic tales to delight young readers and the young at heart. My favorites were based on the stories I loved best as a child.
The Glass Slipper by Sherrilyn Kenyon imagines a very different fate for Cinderella after she marries her prince.
The Hound of the Basking Villas by Kelly Armstrong leads young sleuths to a graveyard in a spooky search for a missing boy.
The GruelMaster by Nathan Carson could have saved Oliver Twist from going hungry.
The plight of missing people is blamed on an Ogress in Prince Badi Az-Zaman and the Ogress Fattan by Tanvir Ahmed, but who is the real culprit?
The Secret Thing in the Garden by Delilah S. Dawson is a far spookier version when young friends attempt to dig a pond.
Wolf In The Mirror by Sarwat Chadda pays homage to The Jungle Book where Mowgli should have been left alone.
Freckle and Hide by Jonathan Mayberry is about a boy with anger issues and his timid adopted dog.
The Shadows in The Rock by Joe R. Lansdale is a Huck Finn rafting adventure.
These were my favorites, yours may differ. The recommended reading age is 8-12 years old, but there is no reason older children wouldn't relish these tales. I think younger kids may struggle with some of the words and may be better suited to have the stories read to them.
My thanks to Eric J. Guignard for the hardcover copy.
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