A deliciously spooky story with its roots in a Scots folk tale, Strange Visitor is just the graphic novel we needed to add some shivers to our Halloween story-time.
Written by Renita Boyle, with gothic-style illustrations by Mike Abel, the rhyming story features a lonely old lady, spending a quiet evening sipping tea and rocking in her chair – when a strange visitor arrives at her door.
With a cat, brooms, a shoogly-woogly-armed monster and plenty of spooky noises, Strange Visitor has all the ingredients a great ghost story needs, and it’s also a lot of fun.
We particularly enjoyed spotting the implements – from tennis rackets to umbrellas and knitting needles – that found unexpected purposes as the tale unravelled, as well as the reminder that (especially on cold, dark nights) nothing is quite what it seems!
Strange Visitor, by Renita Boyle and Mike Abel (Curly Tale Books)
Roaring Reads 