Nightbooks

Nightbooks by J. A. White     304 pages

A boy is imprisoned by a witch and must tell her a new scary story each night to stay alive. This thrilling contemporary fantasy from J. A. White, the acclaimed author of the Thickety series, brings to life the magic and craft of storytelling.

Alex’s original hair-raising tales are the only thing keeping the witch Natacha happy, but soon he’ll run out of pages to read from and be trapped forever. He’s loved scary stories his whole life, and he knows most don’t have a happily ever after. Now that Alex is trapped in a true terrifying tale, he’s desperate for a different ending—and a way out of this twisted place.

This was a really cool, dark re-telling of Hansel & Gretel/Scheherazade. Alex, a young boy stumbles across an apartment where he can hear his favorite movie being played and he's so drawn to it, he ends up captured by a witch and becomes her prisoner, having to tell her a scary story every night to keep her happy.

I liked the inclusion of Alex's stories - they provide an extra level of creepiness that young kids will love (a bit like reading "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark"). Plus, having those stories around gives further insight into Alex's character, what he means when he talks about being different from other people, because you can see how his mind conjures up scary things to turn into stories.

I think the character development in this story is really well done. Alex's character is revealed a bit at a time, but you get a lot from his stories. Yasmin, also, takes a while to open up, but you can see her and Alex's relationship developing and it's very natural and sweet. White does a good job of writing the characters to be the age they're supposed to be. Both think and speak like children, so it keeps the story realistic and more accessible to the age group it was written for.

As far as the scariness, I definitely think kids would find aspects of this book terrifying. As an adult, I didn't find it too creepy, but I'm also not the target audience. Having Alex's stories helps with the creepy factor, but I also like the way White developed this more modern Hansel & Gretel witch. The apartment itself is its own character, which is really cool. It gives another element to the story and makes it feel less like a re-telling and more like something new and different. In this way, White keeps the reader from seeing the end ahead of time. I could predict certain things, but there were a lot of red herrings to keep you from realizing the full story, which I enjoyed very much.

I would definitely recommend this book to kids looking for a creepy story. Plus, this would make a great Halloween read-aloud, especially since it features creepy stories being read aloud! Check it out!