By Chris Priestley (author) , Vladimir Stankovic (illustrator)
Paperback Not Available
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Interest Age 8-12 Reading Age 8 Chris Priestley has a gift for writing frightening stories, and this short wartime-set novel for Barrington Stoke, which specialises in producing books designed and written to be accessible to all readers including those with dyslexia, is bound to send shivers down the spine.
Harry and his mother receive some unexpected good news: they’ve inherited an old manor house on the Suffolk coast. But the inheritance turns out to be nothing more than a cruel trick, and being there puts Harry in mortal danger. Indeed, he ends up in a battle with a supernatural enemy threatening more death and destruction even than Hitler.
A sense of foreboding builds steadily from the opening pages, and the 1940s setting gives added moral weight to questions about duty, and freedom. Best read with the lights on! ~ Andrea Reece
Particularly suitable for struggling, reluctant and dyslexic readers aged 8+
Barrington Stoke is the foremost publisher of dyslexia friendly books and those for reluctant readers. Here on Lovereading4kids we are constantly selecting new titles and refreshing our special dyslexia friendly category.
Click here to view our current selection which is broken down by age range.
When Harry and his mother inherit a house from a mysterious relative of his father's following his death in the War, they travel across the country to discover the bequeathing was a cruel trick - the house has fallen into the sea. But it seems there's even more afoot at Wickford Hall than they first imagined, as tales of lost children and evil paintings soon capture Harry's imagination. Is there something evil lurking in the land? And can Harry defeat it before it swallows him up too?
Read the full description
Chris Priestley has been a cartoonist and illustrator for many years, working mainly for magazines and newspapers. He currently has a weekly strip cartoon called 'Payne's Grey' in the New Statesman .
Ever since he was a teenager Chris has loved unsettling and creepy stories, with fond memories of buying comics like 'Strange Tales' and 'House of Mystery', watching classic BBC TV adaptations of M R James ghost stories every Christmas and reading assorted weirdness by everyone from Edgar Allen Poe to Ray Bradbury. He hopes Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror will haunt his readers in the way those writers have haunted him.
This brilliantly received series of ghost stories, Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror , Tales of Terror from the Black Ship and Tales of Terror from the Tunnel's Mouth , were reissued by Bloomsbury in March 2011 including a brand new story.
Meanwhile The Dead of Winter , published by Bloomsbury in October 2010 and in paperback in October 2011, is a nail-biting story of hauntings and terror, nominated for the Carnegie Medal 2012.
Mister Creecher , published by Bloomsbury in October 2011 and in paperback in March 2012, is a gripping gothic novel about friendship, trust and betrayal.
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When Harry and his mother inherit a house from a mysterious relative of his father's following his death in the War, they travel across the country to discover the bequeathing was a cruel trick - the house has fallen into the sea. But it seems there's even more afoot at Wickford Hall than they first imagined, as tales of lost children and evil paintings soon capture Harry's imagination.
The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed The Wickford Doom and determined it is suitable for children aged 9-12 years old
The Wickford Doom features in the following genres: Adventure Stories, Children's and Young Adult Fiction, Children’s, Teenage and Educational, Featured Books for 11+ readers, Recommendations, Historical Fiction, Featured Books for 9+ readers
Paperback. Not Available.
The Wickford Doom was written by Chris Priestley and published by Barrington Stoke Ltd
The Wickford Doom has 137 pages
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