Vlad Pale

Pre-teens will enjoy the spooky twists on situations recognizable from their own lives. Here you will jockey with a ghost at a sleepover, battle otherworldly monsters in a crosswalk at school, and risk your fate on a fiendish roller coaster. Plus meet a shadow with an unusual ambition, pursue an eerie solution for impossible homework, and face the creature that won't let go of your loose tooth. Seven additional stories lurk, each equally hair-raising. Vlad Pale's Crick Crack, 13 Ghoulish Tales for Tweens, should be a go-to favorite in every pre-teen's library.