A Really Haunted House

To be Published in March 2016

NZ Writer and Illustrator

Kyle Mewburn, illustrated by Sarah Davis

The House on the Hill

Scholastic NZ  2016  $27.00hb  32pp

ISBN 978 1 7754 3084 1

Themes: Ghosts/ Halloween/ Haunted houses/ Stories in rhyme

Two small ghosts glide through the dusk slowly and rather reluctantly (as well they might) up the steps that lead to the gloomy house on the hill. They go through the door and up the stairs. Their eyes (which we can see through their ghostly garb, grow rounder and rounder with astonishment and fear until at last – oh thank goodness, they reach the very heart of the house on the hill. And here the eerie sepia colour disappears and a burst of technicolour shows us a party of kids removing their masks getting ready to enjoy Halloween.  In true Gothic style Kyle Mewburn and Sarah Davis have pulled out all the stops and take us on a memorable tour of a really scary house with skeletons, headless horrors and of course, pumpkins!  Because of the very graphic images I would be wary of giving this to the very young unless it was shared with an adult with an extra cheerful voice and a very big smile. Most children from six up will, of course, revel in it and return to it many times. 

Year 2 up/ Age 6 up