The Night Gardener--Lynn Becker's Book Picks

October’s Book Pick is the wonderfully creepy THE NIGHT GARDENER, by Jonathan Auxier.

Newly orphaned Molly and Kip desperately need food and a bed, and they are willing to work for it. After slogging through the ominous “sourwoods," they find themselves facing a remote house that looked "like something from a horrible fairy tale. It might as well have come with a drawbridge and boiling cauldron.” But worst of all was the tree, which was grown up and over the house, as if it were part of it. Molly and Kip stay on as servants, and slowly the secrets of the house are revealed: muddy footprints that appear in the night, a mysterious locked door, and the strange transformation of all who inhabit this cursed place. Molly, a budding storyteller, and Kip, transforming from a boy into an insightful young man, serve as strong, complex characters to see this tale through.

Reading The Night Gardener is a perfect way to set the mood for Halloween. I would give it to fans of Holly Black’s Doll Bones. The way both authors build creepiness and dread is wonderful, and just right for mid-grade readers looking for a scare. It's a good book to enjoy on a chilly October night, under the covers, with a flashlight.

Have you read THE NIGHT GARDENER? Were you spooked by it, even just a little??

--Lynn