The Haunting of Hill House meets Get Out in this chilling YA psychological thriller and modern take on the classic haunted house story from New York Times bestselling author Tiffany D. Jackson! Marigold is running from ghosts. The phantoms of her old life keep haunting her, but a move with her newly blended family from their small California beach town to the embattled Midwestern city of Cedarville might be the fresh start she needs. Her mom has accepted a new job with the Sterling Foundation that comes with a free house, one that Mari now has to share with her bratty ten-year-old stepsister, Piper. The renovated picture-perfect home on Maple Street, sitting between dilapidated houses, surrounded by wary neighbors has its . . . secrets. That's only half the problem: household items vanish, doors open on their own, lights turn off, shadows walk past rooms, voices can be heard in the walls, and there's a foul smell seeping through the vents only Mari seems to notice. Worse: Piper keeps talking about a friend who wants Mari gone. But "running from ghosts" is just a metaphor, right? As the house closes in, Mari learns that the danger isn't limited to Maple Street. Cedarville has its secrets, too. And secrets always find their way through the cracks. * An Amazon Best Book of the Month * Parade's Best YA Books of the Year * Indigo Best Books of the Year * SLJ Best Books of the Year * Kirkus Best Books of the Year * A YALSA Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults Book of the Year *

When Pete, Krish and Nancy read a story in the local paper about weird gunk being found in a field where sheep have gone missing next to Hilltop House, they're sure there's a mystery to be investigated. The new research farm at Hilltop is working on the creation of new bio-fuels, but when a storm knocks out the power in the local area and something escapes from the farm, it's clear that the research has gone horribly wrong ... Can the brave trio save the village in their most terrifying adventure yet?

Video games have never been more murderous. Veronica wakes up trapped with four strangers in a sprawling manor house in a snow storm with a dead body, a mystery right out of an Agatha Christie novel. It feels so real - but it isn't. This is VR and this is THE Game; a rumoured Easter Egg hidden in other VR games that draws you into a competition for a prize beyond your wildest dreams. And there's no escaping the VR world until the Game is won. But while Veronica and her fellow players are trying to figure out the puzzle, something is not right in the VR world. Blackouts, glitches, NPCs acting strange, and a mysterious figure haunting their footsteps. Then when a player dies, and also dies in real life, all hell breaks loose. Without warning, the game Veronica thought she was playing gets overshadowed by a much darker, and much more real, mystery: who is killing us?' It may not be a game Veronica wanted to play, but it's one that she has to win - or die trying.

"It's dark monstrous fun!" Wondrous Reads Enter the darkly funny world of Stitch Head, as he steps out of the shadows into the adventure of an almost-lifetime... Deep in the maze-like dungeons of Castle Grotteskew, insane Professor Erasmus created Stitch Head, a small, almost-human creature. His experiments continued, filling the castle with creations so fabulously monstrous that Stitch Head was long forgotten. Until a travelling circus ringmaster knocks at the castle door, promising to make Stitch Head a star. Is this Stitch Head's chance to venture beyond the castle walls? Or could he be making a terrible mistake...? The first book in the best-selling, laugh-out-loud STITCH HEAD series by award-winning author Guy Bass, with illustrations by Pete Williamson. Full of monstrous fun, STITCH HEAD is perfect for fans of David Walliams, AMELIA FANG and THE NOTHING TO SEE HERE HOTEL. Delve into Stitch Head's other adventures: THE PIRATE'S EYE THE GHOST OF GROTTESKEW THE SPIDER'S LAIR THE BEAST OF GRUBBERS NUBBIN THE MONSTER HUNTER

Become a kid detective. Identify suspects, gather clues, navigate puzzles, and solve the mystery in this interactive Choose Your Path adventure. Old Central School is closing for good. Why? Because it's reportedly haunted! Creepy noises, flickering lights, objects moving without explanation, Old Central has it all. The incidents have gotten so spooky that parents refuse to send their kids to school. Yet Irene Gorter, a student there, doesn't believe it's true-and she's hiring you to prove it. Choose your supplies, and let the investigation begin. You're the detective in this puzzling mystery. As you work your way through the story, it's up to you to identify suspects and gather clues. Make choices that affect what happens next. Navigate challenging puzzles-from mazes to secret codes-to build your case. Use deductive reasoning to determine what the crime was, how it happened, and whodunit. But be careful; one wrong choice could lead to your doom! Interactive books for kids are more popular than ever. Create your own adventure with the Detective: You book series for boys and girls. You're the main character. You make the choices. Will you solve the case?

You'll love them-to death. Twin sisters Destiny and Livvy Weller return home from summer vacation with a dark secret ...and an inhuman desire to drink blood. What have they become? Can they ever turn back? As their deadly secret becomes harder to keep, more questions arise and loyalties are tested. And as one sister descends into darkness, the other must find a way to save her-and herself. Who will live to see the glow of the next full moon? Which sister will survive? In Dangerous Girls and Dangerous Girls #2: The Taste of Night, published together in Bitten, bestselling author R.L. Stine explores the dark creatures of the night.

A fabled witch. A powerful curse. A monster out for revenge. 13-year-old Kallie Tamm can't wait to spend a week of her summer holidays at the Wildstorm Theatre Camp: she's determined not to let her dyslexia hold her back from achieving her dream of becoming a playwright. The finale of the whole week is a performance in the local village theatre. But as soon as she arrives, Kallie discovers that the cast will be performing a play written by a 17th Century witch, Ellsabet Graveheart, and strange, scary things start happening. Unbeknown to Kallie, a dark shadow is stirring in the woodland near Wildstorm: an ancient and dangerous creature has awoken from a centuries old slumber, and they're out for revenge, putting Kallie and all of her new friends in grave danger. The Wildstorm Curse is a thrillingly suspenseful story about unlikely heroes and the power of storytelling, from author of The Bird Singers, Eve Wersocki Morris. Praise for The Wildstorm Curse 'A riveting tale full of secrets, suspense and the power of storytelling. Just beware reading it if camping out in a dark, spooky wood...' - Jamie Littler, bestselling author of Frostheart 'Fabulously gripping. I couldn't put it down.' - Abi Elphinstone, bestselling author of Sky Song 'Bewitching and beguiling - The Wildstorm Curse is a heartwarming and spinechilling tale of friendship, bravery, and the intoxicating magic of storytelling. Once you step foot into the Wildstorm Theatre, you'll never want to leave.' - Jack Meggitt-Phillips, author of The Beast and the Bethany 'The Wildstorm Curse is a brilliant, spine-tingling mystery that kept me on the edge of my seat. I would wholeheartedly recommend it!' - Ewa Jozefkowicz, author of The Dragon in the Bookshop 'Distinctive, dark and mysterious - a thoroughly intriguing adventure.' - Katherine Woodfine, author of The Sinclair's Mysteries

A young actress draws a sinister spotlight in this spooky installment in R.L. Stine's bestselling Fear Street series--now with a fresh new look! Selena has it all. She just scored the lead in her high school play, and everyone adores her. So when she starts receiving dead flowers from a secret "admirer" named The Sun, she just assumes it's a harmless fan. But Selena soon realizes that The Sun is serious...dead serious. First, her understudy is injured in a suspicious accident. Then, a speeding car almost kills her! Selena doesn't know what this psycho wants. All she knows is that her number-one fan has become her number-one nightmare.

PART STORY, PART GAME - PURE ADVENTURE! "A new way of telling stories and in many ways the birth of modern gaming, these books captured the imaginations of a generation of kids - it's great to think that a new generation are going to be similarly captivated" bestselling author Charlie Higson You, the hero, must beat seven deadly serpents to the fortress of Mampang and destroy them before they can warn the Archmage of your mission to find the Crown of Kings. ABOUT THE SERIES The multi-million copy globally bestselling choose-your-own-adventure series is repackaged and reignited for a brand new generation of children. All you need is a dice and you can choose which way the story goes Be careful - the main character can die at any point! 20 million copies sold worldwide in 32 languages Perfect for kids who love gaming A great way to encourage children away from gaming on screens and get them back into reading books!

New York Times and USA Today bestseller! New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson delivers the witty and pulse-pounding conclusion to the Truly Devious series as Stevie Bell solves the mystery that has haunted Ellingham Academy for over 75 years. Ellingham Academy must be cursed. Three people are now dead. One, a victim of either a prank gone wrong or a murder. Another, dead by misadventure. And now, an accident in Burlington has claimed another life. All three in the wrong place at the wrong time. All at the exact moment of Stevie's greatest triumph . . . She knows who Truly Devious is. She's solved it. The greatest case of the century. At least, she thinks she has. With this latest tragedy, it's hard to concentrate on the past. Not only has someone died in town, but David disappeared of his own free will and is up to something. Stevie is sure that somehow-somehow-all these things connect. The three deaths in the present. The deaths in the past. The missing Alice Ellingham and the missing David Eastman. Somewhere in this place of riddles and puzzles there must be answers. Then another accident occurs as a massive storm heads toward Vermont. This is too much for the parents and administrators. Ellingham Academy is evacuated. Obviously, it's time for Stevie to do something stupid. It's time to stay on the mountain and face the storm-and a murderer. In the tantalizing finale to the Truly Devious trilogy, New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson expertly tangles her dual narrative threads and ignites an explosive end for all who've walked through Ellingham Academy. Praise for the Truly Devious series: "Readers, hang tight: there's one more round to come, and if the signs are right, it'll be to die for." -Publishers Weekly (starred review) "The Agatha Christie-like ecosystem pairs with lacerating contemporary wit, and alternating past and present scenes makes for a multilayered, modern detective story." -New York Times Book Review "Remember the first time reading Harry Potter and knowing it was special? There's that same sense of magic in the introduction of teen Sherlock-in-training Stevie Bell." -USA Today (four stars) "Be still, my Agatha-Christie-loving beating heart." -Bustle

In America after the Second Civil War, the Pro-Choice and Pro-Life armies came to an agreement: The Bill of Life states that human life may not be touched from the moment of conception until a child reaches the age of thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, a parent may choose to retroactively get rid of a child through a process called "unwinding." Unwinding ensures that the child's life doesn't "technically" end by transplanting all the organs in the child's body to various recipients. Now a common and accepted practice in society, troublesome or unwanted teens are able to easily be unwound.
With breathtaking suspense, this book follows three teens who all become runaway Unwinds: Connor, a rebel whose parents have ordered his unwinding; Risa, a ward of the state who is to be unwound due to cost-cutting; and Lev, his parents' tenth child whose unwinding has been planned since birth as a religious tithing. As their paths intersect and lives hang in the balance, Shusterman examines serious moral issues in a way that will keep readers turning the pages to see if Connor, Risa, and Lev avoid meeting their untimely ends.

Death is only the beginning. . . Elena Gilbert's entire world has shattered in a single moment. Her true love Stefan is dead, staked through the heart by their so-called friend Jack. Now the only thing Elena cares about is destroying Jack and his race of scientifically created vampires. But Jack's creations are impossible to kill?immune to sunlight, stakes, and every traditional weapon against vampires. Elena and Damon set out to uncover the mystery of Jack's dark past in hopes of finding his weakness. As they spend more time together, Elena and Damon can't deny that their connection is stronger than ever. Can she face her feelings for him without betraying Stefan's memory, or are some things better left unspoken?

Reading someone's diary is bad but Slappy is already evil, so how could anyone resist finding out all of this dummy's terrifying secrets? What do Zoey and Billy Traister do when they find an abandoned ventriloquist dummy in an empty lot? They take him home, of course! As the pair tries to figure out why someone would throw out a perfectly good dummy, they accidentally bring Slappy to life. A night of horror ensues until the siblings put Slappy back into his case. But when they find Slappy's diary and clues that could lead to gold, they'll have to find Slappy's second diary while evading the evil dummy and other terrors.

A runaway can't outrun her troubles in this spine-tingling installment in R.L. Stine's bestselling Fear Street series--now with a fresh new look!

Shadyside. It sounded like such a nice town, the perfect place for a runaway like Felicia. Nobody here would know about her dark powers. Nobody would know what she's done. For once, she could be a normal girl. She could be safe.

But someone in Shadyside discovers Felicia's secret. Someone finds out about the awful things her powers made her do. Felicia doesn't want to run away again. But if she stays, she might lose control. And then people would start to die.

When the dastardly Frank Hellman steals priceless fossilised eggs from a Romanian dig site, only Mr Sharp knows him well enough to find his hiding place. Matt and Jo help him on this hair-brained race across spooky Transylvania and uncover a fossil smuggling scheme. But will they catch Hellman before it's too late? And what is that mysterious shadow in the window? About The Dinosaur Detectives series: The Dinosaur Detectives is a fun-filled adventure series following the story of Matt Sharp and his family as they hunt for dinosaur eggs. This fact meets fiction series is great for inspiring the young explorer and particularly popular amongst readers aged 7+.

SUMMER 1914. When Fran unearths a bone in the garden of Longbarrow House on the same afternoon that Leo breaks his leg, it must surely be just a coincidence. But Fran can't shake the uneasy feeling that the events are somehow connected, and there is a shift in the atmosphere that leaves her troubled and anxious. Roped into keeping wheelchair-bound Leo company, Fran is forced to listen to his foolish theories about the looming threat of war in Europe. But as the pair start to uncover more secrets buried beneath the garden, they dredge up threatening shadows of the future, and Fran begins to fear that Leo's dire predictions might be coming true ... Queen of Historical Fiction, Emma Carroll, makes her Barrington Stoke debut with a powerful, evocative, and spine-tingling story of childhood on the brink of war. Particularly suitable for struggling, reluctant or dyslexic readers aged 8+

Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online. Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content. The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary. Ghost Stories, a Level 3 Reader, is A2 in the CEFR framework. The text is made up of sentences with up to three clauses, introducing first conditional, past continuous and present perfect simple for general experience. It is well supported by illustrations, which appear on most pages. A strange whistle, a dangerous curse, a buried crown and a hotel without a room 13. Don't read these four frightening ghost stories by M.R. James late at night! Visit the Penguin Readers website Exclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys.

NOW A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! 'AN INTENSE AND BROODING THRILLER ' - THE OBSERVER A intensely romantic and atmospheric thriller for young adults, full of twists and turns with a simmering supernatural undercurrent. Perfect for fans of Holly Jackson, Karen McManus and Delia Owens' Where the Crawdads Sing When seventeen-year-old Grey makes her annual visit to La Cachette, Louisiana - the tiny bayou town that proclaims to be the "Psychic Capital of the World" - she knows it will be different from past years: her childhood best friend Elora went missing several months earlier and no one is telling the truth about the night she disappears. Grey can't believe that Elora vanished into thin air any more than she can believe that nobody in a town full of psychics knows what happened. But as she digs into the night that Elora went missing, she begins to realize that everybody in town is hiding something-her grandmother Honey; her childhood crush Hart; and even her late mother, whose secrets continue to call to Grey from beyond the grave. When a mysterious stranger emerges from the bayou - a stormy-eyed boy with links to Elora and the town's bloody history - Grey realizes that La Cachette's past is far more present and dangerous than she'd ever understood. She doesn't know who she can trust. In a town where secrets lurk just below the surface, and where a murderer is on the loose, nobody can be presumed innocent-and La Cachette's dark and shallow lies may just rip the town apart.

It's not always easy being Death: a witty and gloriously gothic tale of friendship and discovery from bestselling Jenni Spangler. Twelve-year-old Valentine Crow has lived his entire life at the Foundling Hospital. Now, he and his best friend Philomena are leaving to begin their new lives as apprentices - but Valentine has been assigned to Death himself. Valentine finds himself in an impossible situation when his best friend's name appears on the list of souls to take. Can he fight Death to save her soul, or does fate have other ideas? Distinctive, warm and funny, the highly-acclaimed Jenni Spangler returns with a richly imagined world perfect for readers of The Beast and the Bethany and Lemony Snickett.

A haunting, evocative and highly unusual romantic debut and now a Netflix Mandarin original drama premiering January 2020! Seventeen-year-old Li Lan lives in 1890s Malaya with her quietly-ruined father, who returns one evening with a proposition - the fabulously wealthy Lim family want Li Lan to marry their son. The only problem is, he's dead. After a fateful visit to the Lim mansion, Li Lan finds herself haunted not only by her ghostly would-be suitor, but also her desire for the Lims' handsome new heir. At night she is drawn into the Chinese afterlife - a world of ghost cities, paper funeral offerings, monstrous bureaucracy and vengeful spirits. Enlisting the help of mysterious Er Lang (a dragon turned clerk) Li Lan must uncover the secrets of the ghost world - before she becomes trapped there forever. Drawing on traditional Malayan folklore and superstition, THE GHOST BRIDE is a haunting, exotic and romantic read perfect for fans of EMPRESS ORCHID and MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA.

Welcome to Cod's Bottom - the sleepy seaside town with a secret! Meet an unusual cast of ghosts in a laugh-out-loud new middle-grade series by the bestselling author of The Nothing to See Here Hotel. Perfect for fans of The Danger Gang and The Boy Who Grew Dragons. There's nothing out of the ordinary about ten-year-old Ella Griffin. Nothing at all . . . until she's forced to move to the seaside town of Cod's Bottom and everything changes. In search of adventure, Ella stumbles into an old abandoned theatre, but all is not as it seems. Because the theatre isn't empty, it's haunted by weird and wonderful ghosts, and they need her help to save them! Praise for The Nothing to See Here Hotel: 'This book is so good you won't blunking believe it!' Tom Fletcher, author of The Danger Gang 'Hilariously funny and inventive' Cressida Cowell, author of How to Train Your Dragon 'A rip-roaring, swashbuckling, amazerous magical adventure. Comedy Gold.' Francesca Simon, author of the Horrid Henry series 'This hotel gets five stars from me.' Liz Pichon, author of the Tom Gates series