Beware Beware by Susan Hill illustrated by Angela Barrett

Kitchen's warm.

Smells of spice.

Kettle sings.

Fire bright.

But what's out there?

Beware, beware.

The little girl keeps looking out the window. While her mother is distracted over the cooking pot, she slips outside. 

In long shadows lies the wood.

I knew I could!

I'm here, out there.

Beware, beware!

I will take care.

It is cold and the sound of every footstep echoes against the bare branches of the trees. Who is there? Turn the half page.

Trolls Goblins

Elves Sprites

Mysterious lights

Fingers beckon

Eyes stare

Wolf 

Bear

Dragon's lair

Beware! Beware!

The tension builds and builds until we see the mother come outside to look for her daughter. She finds her thank goodness and brings her back into the safety and warmth of their home but ... The ending is open - it seems this little girl will one day once again venture outside.

If you share this book with a group of older students there is a whole lesson hiding here about the use of repetition and more importantly the use of exclamation marks.

Look at these lines and think about how they might impact the way you read this book aloud.

Beware, beware.

Beware, beware!

Beware! Beware!

Beware! Beware!

Book seller blurb: An atmospheric prose-poem, shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal, about a child wandering out into the dark. A little girl looks out at the cold snowy night, while her mother is busy at the kitchen stove. "What's out there?" she wonders. "Don't go!" a voice inside her warns. But curiosity prevails over fear, and she steps out into the snow towards the dark wood. Who knows what scary things await her there? 

It seems impossible to read every book in a school library but my friend from Kinderbookswitheverything actually does this! AND she has an encyclopedic knowledge of the books in her library and also their creators - authors and illustrators. This week, as she packed up her Halloween book display, she passed me Beware, Beware. I will confess I did have this book in my previous school library and while I might have flipped it open at some stage I had not sat down and read this wonderful book until this morning.

Very young children aged 5 and 6 often used to ask me for scary stories. I would give them a Dark, Dark Tale or The Flat Man but given this same opportunity now I would also give them Beware, Beware. Another book illustrated by Angela Barrett - The Hidden House - is one of my most favourite picture books. Angela Barrett has been shortlisted three times for the Kurt Maschler Award and has won the 1989 Smarties Book Prize 6-8 Category for "Can It Be True?", and the 1991 W.H.Smith Illustration Award for "The Hidden House". Her other titles include "The Snow Queen" and "The Walker Book of Ghost Stories". "Beware Beware" was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal. She also illustrated another wonderful book which is fantastic to read aloud - The Night Fairy.

Of course, you know I am going to say Beware Beware (1993) is now out of print. IF you have a mint condition new copy it is worth more than AUS$200. I did find a copy from an Australian online seller for just AUS$4 so I have made an enquiry about the postage cost. I think I do need to own this very special book!

Versatile full-spread illustrations, delicate and haunting, reflect and enhance the text. The movement from the poetic calm of the salmon pink sky to the frenzy within the wood is graceful and realistic. Split pages in two spreads allow Hill and Barrett to intensify still further the suspense of their wintry drama.  Publisher's Weekly

Guess What? by Mem Fox illustrated by Vivienne Goodman

Far away from here lives a crazy lady called Daisy O'Grady. 

Is she tall and thin? 

Guess!

Yes! 

Does she wear a long black dress?

Guess!

Yes!

The illustrations in this picture book are really incredible - weird and quite scary. I would suggest this is a book for readers aged 10+ but I imagine Mem Fox had a younger audience in mind. The design of each page with tiny spotlight illustrations that anticipate the image on the next page give this book a layer of interaction and so I think this book works best when it is read slowly side by side with your young or slightly older reading companion. Then turn to the back to see the list of all the things you might like to spot such as a mandrill, a piranha, a chocolate doughnut, a banana and tawny frogmouth (bird).

Mem Fox said: When you see the astonishing illustrations in this book (I kiss the feet of Vivienne Goodman) you’ll realise why it took almost five years for it to be completed, in spite of the sparseness of my very simple text. There are many hidden bits of hilarious detail that are so clever I asked the Australian publishers, Omnibus, to put a guide to them in the back of the most recent edition (2008).

The pictures are very Australian: the isolated, ramshackle farmhouse amongst brown bushes, the outhouse with graffiti and recognizable product labels such as Vegemite and Defender. ...It is by looking at the illustrations carefully that adults and older children will pick up some of the humour and reality of the book. For instance, a glance at her kitchen shows familiar packets of flour, tomato sauce, baked beans and spices. Reading labels will give a very different view of her cooking! As will a careful inspection of her recipe bookshelf. Aussie Reviews

I do think Halloween is an odd event here in Australia. It is the wrong season and we have no cultural heritage around this event. It is also strange to see how the event seems to grow bigger each year with more and more 'things' available in various stores from pumpkins to costumes, from bags of sweets to decorations. Having said all of that, though, Guess What (1988) would be a perfect book to share in your family tonight. This book is sure to be in many school and public libraries. It was republished in 2008. And this book has been banned in some US States!

It is fairly easy to find picture books about Halloween. This alternate list might interest you. My friend from Kinderbookswitheverything has a Pinterest collection of Halloween chapter books for readers aged 5-8.

I would pair Guess what with Meannie and the Min Min.

How I Saved the World in a Week by Polly Ho-Yen

Billy lives with his mum but right from the start is is very clear he is not living a normal life. Billy calls his mum by her name -  Sylvia and he has learned to be very careful of her changing moods. She keeps him moving from place to place and it is now two years since Billy has seen his dad, Steve. Constantly having to change schools means there is never time to make a friend. His mother also regularly takes him on adventures which were fun when he was young but now he finds confusing and at times even quite scary and she drills into him five important survival rules:

1. Always be prepared - have everything you need ready and with you at all times

2. Pay attention - keep constant observations of your surroundings

3. Trust no one - you may only be able to rely on yourself

4. Master your fears - through practice, planning and taking action

5.  Never stop trying - you must never give up!

These might be the rules but rules are made to be broken aren't they.  In his latest new school Billy finds a friend - a boy called Anwar so that might mean rule number three needs to change. 

Sylvia is becoming more and more strange. She goes out every night leaving Billy alone in their flat. She takes huge boxes with her and returns each time in the early hours of the morning. She is preparing for something. Then one day she takes Billy to a remote place - to a deserted building. She has been stockpiling food and other supplies. But why? Sylvia has also been teaching Billy all sorts of strange survival techniques which come from a very old book "How to Survive".

"The book has a musty odour, not horrible, but the sort of smell you notice immediately. A previous owner underlined words here and there. A few of the page corners have been bent over in neat triangles."

After a big crisis Billy is sent to live with his dad and he makes another unexpected friend. Thank goodness this friend is very prepared to break her promises. 

Publisher blurb: Billy’s mum isn’t like other mums. All she wants is to teach him the Rules of Survival – how to make fire, build shelter and find food. She likes to test Billy on the rules until one day she goes too far, and Billy is sent to live with a dad he barely knows. Then the world changes forever as people begin to be infected with a mysterious virus that turns their skin grey. As chaos breaks out, Billy has to flee the city. Suddenly he realises that this is what his mum was preparing him for – not just to save his family, but to save the whole world. 

How I saved the World in a Week has 375 pages but I read it in just one day because it is such a perfect page turner. I have given this book four stars but I nearly gave five - I just have a few very tiny niggles about the final scenes (I can't explain these because they would be spoilers). As one reviewer commented their are a few aspects of this story which might stretch credibility for adult reader.  Having said that I am sure Primary school aged readers will simply want to gobble up this action packed story of survival. 

This book does touch on issues of mental health in a parent - other books on this topic are The Illustrated Mum by Jacqueline Wilson; October October by Katya Balen; Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor; and The Secrets we Keep by Nova Weetman. 

Once again Polly Ho-Yen shows her facility at injecting a thrilling element of sci-fi and mild horror into her stories of very real children and authentic depictions of relationships with family and friends. What could be a familiar tale of a young boy dealing with family break up and a parent with what we can see are mental health issues, becomes a nightmare battle for survival. Love Reading4Kids

This deeply unusual and moving story for middle-grade readers is part gripping zombie-thriller, part family drama. ... The core of the book, however, is Billy trying to find his place in the world as he struggles to be believed, being pulled in all directions and finding the courage to trust people – even when one of his mum’s top rules for survival is ‘trust no-one’ – with a powerful message that no matter who we are, we are always stronger together. Book Trust

The publisher and other reviewers suggest this book for ages 8+ but I am going to say 10+ would be a better fit. 

Companion reads:

The World ends in April

This is a very old book but it is well worth finding

A Chance of Safety

For readers who enjoy survival stories - The Honest Truth

Small as an Elephant

In a Dark Dark Room and other Scary Stories by Alvin Schwartz

Easy Fiction Treasure

The youngest readers visiting my Primary school library often ask for a "scary" story. I love this little book because it contains several "scary" stories. Some are quite creepy so I would suggest it is for readers aged 7+.

In a Dark Dark Room was first published in 1984. An anniversary edition was published in 2017 so this book is still available. This is another title that has been culled from my former library. Hopefully a replacement will be purchased.

The stories and poems in this book are: “The Teeth,” “In the Graveyard,” “The Green Ribbon,” “In A Dark, Dark Room,” “The Night It Rained,” “The Pirate,” and “The Ghost of John.”

In a Dark Dark Room links well with A Dark Dark Tale by Ruth Brown which is one of my favourite 'scary' read aloud books. I read this every year to Kindergarten.

You can read more details about the stories and listen to an audio of The Teeth on this blog post by Once my looks go, I've got nothing.  In this post by Betsy Bird for her blog Fuse8n'Kate she compares the two illustrators for this book - Dirk Zimmer and Victor Rivas.

Here is a audio reading of the whole book.

Here are some other scary books I love to share:

The Park in the Dark by Martin Waddell 

illustrated by Barbara Firth

Beware the deep dark forest by Sue Whiting 

illustrated by Annie White

The Flat Man by Rose Impey illustrated by Moira Kemp

You might also look for another book from this series by Alvin Schwartz - Ghosts

Felix and Alexander by Terry Denton

Children's Book Council past Winner  

this one is truly a TREASURE!

Image source: https://store.cbca.org.au/sheet-of-short-list-stickers

This is my fourth post about past CBCA winners and short list treasures. Click these to read the previous posts. Post one, post two and post three.

In 1986 Felix and Alexander won the Picture Book of the Year award and it has remained a firm favourite of mine. Sadly it is out of print. This is a book that needs to be reprinted so it can be shared with a new generation of children. Today Terry Denton is very famous for his collaboration with Andy Griffiths on the Treehouse books but earlier in his career Terry did scrumptious colour picture books like this one and another I long to find again - The story of Imelda, who was small - by Morris Lurie. He also illustrated Night Noises by Mem Fox.

I like to begin a discussion of Felix and Alexander with a discussion about the cover.  Can we predict - Who is Felix? Who is Alexander? Where are they? What time is it? How do you know?

"Alexander lived in a block of flats in the big city. Even though he was not allowed to have a real pet, he had Felix, a toy dog. Felix was Alexander's best friend and always laughed at Alexander's jokes"

Now compare our answers with what we discover here on the first page. Alexander is the boy, Felix is the dog and they live in a block of flats in the city. But have you noticed the twist - Felix laughs at Alexander's jokes! They must have a very special relationship.

By page five we reach the twist. Alexander sets off for his usual afternoon city walk (without Felix) but on this particular day Alexander does not come home. Felix packs "his torch into his suitcase" and sets off to find his friend. It is late afternoon and the night is not far away.  As climbs through the fence a nail catches his side.

"Tiny balls of stuffing like pale pink pearls fell from the tear. Clutching his side, Felix ran into the street."

Felix walks through the dark streets and the buildings begin to look quite sinister. There is a scream and Felix sees his friend in the grip of a monster. Resourceful Felix turns the monster to stone using his torch but now the two friends are totally lost.  How can they find their way home. Can you make a link with Hansel and Gretel?

I love the final page:

"After giving him some new extra stuffing, Alexander sewed up the little tear in Felix's side ... For a long time after, Felix would always feel a little stitch in his side when he laughed too hard at Alexander's jokes, and he would remember their adventure in the streets of the city."

Magrit by Lee Battersby

Sometimes books come along to test boundaries 

Magpies Volume 31, issue 2, page 32.

When I read a book from our school library my mind often wanders to thoughts of which student might enjoy it. Magrit is almost impossible to categorise.  While I did enjoy Magrit it is such an odd book and at times feels quite harsh and dark.  Some reviewers suggest age 10 but I think this is really a book for a very senior primary student and certainly one who has read quite widely.

The setting for Magrit is a cemetery.  Magrit lives there with her 'friend' Mister Puppet.  Magrit herself created Mr Puppet.

"Magrit had pieced him together from elements she had found in every corner of the graveyard : a bone here, a stick there, a tin can in one corner and rotten twine from a garbage bag in another. Now he sat at the apex of the roof, with his long arms wrapped around the stone cross, and kept vigil."

Mr Puppet is the voice of doubt, the voice of reason perhaps the voice of authority.  He gives Magrit advice which is presented in a bold hand drawn font.

When a stork drops a tiny baby into the graveyard Mr Puppet orders Magrit to kill it but she does not.  Instead she nurtures and cares for the tiny infant.  She finds ways to feed, clothe and wash her new 'friend' and gives him the name Bugrat. Through care of this child Magrit discovers love and finds happiness. There is, however, one dark corner of the graveyard Magrit never visits.  Everything changes when Bugrat learns to walk and sets of exploring.  He wanders over to the forbidden place and finds the skeleton of a young girl and Magrit is distraught.

"It was a small skeleton, obviously a child, curled up on its side as if sleeping, with its legs drawn up towards its chest and arms folded as if hugging a non-existent teddy ...  Magrit realised that the whole world had fallen silent ... The murmur and hum that always emanated from the surrounding buildings, so prevalent that she never really noticed, was painful in its absence ."

You can read more of the plot here.

Watch this short video to hear the author Lee Battersby from Western Australia talk about Magrit.  I am not sure that I would read this book with a class but here are a set of teacher notes from Walker Books which might give you some further insights into this complex and yet compelling book.

Magrit is a unique book but it does have some links with The Graveyard book, The Unfinished Angel and perhaps Skellig.

You can read some reviews here by clicking these quotes:

Themes include resilience, responsibility and independence, wrapped up in a suspenseful and fantastical mystery. 

Magrit has plenty of soul, sadness, despair, and hope. It’s a delightfully dark fairy tale, full of Battersby’s whimsy and charm.

Magrit is a wonderfully crafted story that is magical, unusual, strange and captivating.  I haven’t read anything quite like it before.  

Serafina and the black cloak by Robert Beatty

Serafina must seek the answers that will unlock the puzzle of her past.

Start with the trailer for this book - it is fabulous.

Now read this book - Yes!! you must read this book you will understand what I am about to share. I started this book last night thinking (as usual I would read a few pages).  I read over 100.  Today I took the book to a meeting.  I sat in the car and grabbed a few reading minutes. At chapter 24 something truly terrifying happens and I had to stop reading to get to my meeting!  Waiting to get back to this book was agony.

Serafina works with her Pa at the Biltmore Estate owned by the Vanderbilt family.  Serafina seems not quite human : "She had a skinny little body, nothing but muscle and bone .. Her long hair wasn't a single color like normal people had, but varying shades of gold and light brown. ... She had large, steady amber eyes. She could see at night as well as she could during the day."  This last skill is important because it is her job to catch rats around the house.  She is the CRC - Chief Rat Catcher although the Valerbilts don't even know she exists.

One night Serafina witnesses some thing truly frightening.  She sees a little girl in a yellow dress being chased through the dark corridors of the house by a man in a huge black silk cloak.  "He tangled her in his arms. She flailed and struck him in the face with her tiny fists .... the folds of the cloak slithered around her like the tentacles of a hungry serpent ... Then the fold closed over her, the scream went silent and the girl disappeared, leaving nothing but the blackness of the cloak."

This little girl, who is now missing, is called Clara.  She is the first of many missing children. Together with her new ally and friend Braeden Vanderbilt, nephew to Mrs and Mrs Vanderbilt, Serafina knows this is a mystery which must be solved but at what cost?  The final scenes will leave you gasping.

Read this review by my fellow blogger Mr K.  This is how I discovered this gem.  You can read  part of the first chapter on the Disney web site.  Good news there is a sequel - it is now on my shopping list.  Here is a set of teaching notes and a set about the vocabulary used in the book which is set in the Southern United States.

After reading Serafina and the black cloak I suggest TheThickety series, Fire girl or Fearless by Tim Lott.  All of these books are for very mature Primary readers.

Beatty spins an enchanting mystery through lonely Serafina's golden eyes. As she begins to defy her loving, protective father and involve herself in the estate’s doings, she comes ever closer to uncovering the villain and the secret behind her own origins. Each new clue adds another brush stroke to this keenly perceptive portrait of a young girl searching for answers 

about herself and the world around her. 

Ophelia and the marvelous boy by Karen Foxlee

It took me a long time to read this book and then it  sat on my review pile for a long time too but last night I watched the movie Frozen which led me to think about the power of a story like The Snow Queen and hence this book.  Ophelia and the Marvelous boy is deeply entwined with the famous story of the Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen.

Before reading on take a minute to click this site and read the whole prologue to Ophelia and the marvelous boy.  It will give you a sense of the tone and astute readers will immediately see the connection with The Snow Queen.

Ophelia has come with her sister and father to a large city museum.  Her father has been appointed curator of  "Battle : the greatest exhibition of swords in the history of the world."  Malcolm is a sword expert but he is also easy distracted by his work which he conducts with meticulous care.  This means he has not noticed that his younger daughter Ophelia has become caught up in her own quest - to free The Marvelous Boy.  If you have read the prologue you will know he has been locked up.

"If you choose to help me, you must find the key to this door.  We need to find my sword, which is magical, and the One Other, who will know how to wield it.  On the Wintertide Clock there is a number in the little window at the very bottom of the face, ... that will tell us how much time we have."

They have just three days.  Over this time Ophelia will learn the full story of the Marvelous Boy and each day she will have to overcome her own terror and retrieve things for the boy beginning with the key to his room.

Here is a review in our Australian magazine Reading Time.  Here is an interview with the author. One more review worth reading from the School Library Journal.

If you pick out this book for a class novel study it might be interesting to compare it with The Tunnel by Anthony Browne.  You might also enjoy Temmi and the flying bears.  We also have Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu in our library along with many editions of The Snow Queen.

Though she’s unsure she believes the boy’s fantastical story, Ophelia gradually heeds an inner voice urging her 

to follow her heart. 

The Imaginary by AF Harrold illustrated by Emily Gravett

One of my all time favourite books is about an imaginary friend.  It is called O'Diddy and is long out of print.  This book, The Imaginary, shares some concepts with O'Diddy but The Imaginary is for a much older audience and I have read two reviews which caution adults to read this book before putting it into the hands of a child.

Rudger is Amanda's imaginary friend but when Amanda is involved in a serious car accident Rudger must find a way to reconnect with his friend before he fades away.

"Some kids have big imaginations and they dream us up.  They make us and we're best chums and that's all good and proper, and then they get older and they lose interest and we get forgotten. That's when we start to Fade.  Normally that's the end, your job's done, you turn to smoke and blow away on the wind."

Several days before the accident, Amanda has had a visit from the mysterious Mr Bunting.  His appearance is decidedly odd :

"The man was dressed in Bermuda shorts, with a brightly patterned shirt, all clashing colours and dazzle, stretched across his wide round torso like palm trees bending in a tropical breeze ... A pair of dark glasses covered his eyes and a red moustache covered his mouth."

Along side this weird man there is a girl (see illustration below).  Amanda's mother cannot see this girl.  Perhaps she too in an imaginary friend.  But why would an adult still have an imaginary friend? And what does this strange and slightly threatening man want from their family?

I usually only comment on books I have really enjoyed but this book has an enticing cover, a world famous illustrator and it has been promoted in several Christmas book catalogs so I thought I would share my reactions. This book did frighten me.  Not in a silly story book sort of way but really scare me.  In fact as I was reading it I had to put it down several times and take a break.  The events are resolved at the end but the way Mr Bunting devours his victims is quite disturbing.  Katherine England in her Magpies Review (Volume 29, Issue 5, November 2014 page 36) said : "I found it seriously, unpleasurably scary ... choose your child judiciously."

Here is a comment by another reviewer

If you’re a parent, I’d advise you to read this before your children, or with them.