By Phil Hickes (author) , Oriol Vidal (illustrator)
"Halloween chills and thrills throng through this gripping haunted house horror story."
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October 2025 Book of the Month Interest Age 9+ Reading Age 8
With a classic “Nothing much ever happened” around here set-up, Phil Hickes’ The Last Day of October is a treat of haunted Halloween trickery. In this case, the setting is the small town of Column Falls in Oregon, where folks are festooning their front lawns with elaborate displays of spooky graveyards, robotic werewolves, raggedy ghosts and “pumpkins with eerie grins and shining eyes” while three friends, Cody, Dori and Sean, hatch plans for Halloween.
Cody is set on looking for scares, and so the trio venture to the super-spooky, allegedly haunted McBride House in search of “a real Halloween experience – not just a load of dudes dressed up in costumes with fake fangs and rubber bats.” With the anniversary of the house’s tragic burning on the horizon, the friends wonder whether they might see the ghosts of the children who died in the fire. And so, the trio head to the deep, dark woods that surround the house.
While it seems as if the house was expecting the friends, what unfolds is an entirely unexpected tale that rises to a gripping, gasp-inducing climax. Written for 9+-year-olds with a reading age of eight, The Last Day of October is also brilliantly inclusive, and sure to satisfy swathes of spooky-story fans as the nights draw in.
Bored with trick-or-treating, three friends venture into the woods on Halloween night to hunt for the haunted McBride House in this spine-tingling horror story from Phil Hickes.
Read the full description
If you go down to the woods today, you're in for a nasty surprise …
Seeking creepy thrills instead of candy, Cody and his friends set out on Halloween to search for the ruins of the haunted McBride House in the woods near his home in Oregon.
The house has taken on a sinister legendary status after it burned down a hundred years ago with tragic consequences, and it's said that the ghosts of the family who lived there return each year on the last day of October.
But when they find the house, the truth of what is happening on this eerie autumn night is more terrifying than the three teenagers could ever have imagined …
Particularly suitable for readers aged 9+ with a reading age of 8.
Phil Hickes has a passion for horror, ghosts and all things that go bump in the night. His short stories have been published in adult horror anthologies, but Phil turned his hand to writing middle grade as he wanted to create the same visceral thrill he remembers from reading Alan Garner, Clive King and Roald Dahl.
The Haunting of Aveline Jones was his first middle grade novel and he's also the author of a two-book series, Shadowhall Academy as well as his dyslexia friendly novel, The Last Day in October.
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Bored with trick-or-treating, three friends venture into the woods on Halloween night to hunt for the haunted McBride House in this spine-tingling horror story from Phil Hickes. If you go down to the woods today, you're in for a nasty surprise … Seeking creepy thrills instead of candy, Cody and his friends set out on Halloween to search for the ruins of the haunted McBride House in the woods near his home in Oregon.
The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed The Last Day of October and determined it is suitable for children aged 9-12 years old
The Last Day of October features in the following genres: Featured Books for 9+ readers, Featured Books for 11+ readers, Books of the Month, Recommendations, Adventure Stories, Crime & Mystery, Horror & Ghost Stories, Thrillers, Mystery / Mythology, Dyslexia Friendly Books for Interest age 9+, Dyslexia Friendly Books for Interest age 11+, Children's and Young Adult Fiction, Children’s / Teenage general interest: Supernatural and mythological creatures, Children’s, Teenage and Educational, Children’s / Teenage: General interest
Paperback. £7.19, down from the £7.99 cover price. In Stock.
The Last Day of October was written by Phil Hickes and published by Barrington Stoke an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
The Last Day of October has 88 pages
£7.19, reduced from £7.99. In Stock.
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