Welcome to Feral

Gr 4 Up–In this wild and weird graphic novel about the supernatural small town of Feral, many a terrifying tale is told as Fearing sets a city-sized stage on which to spin tall tales of youthful demise. A flannel-clad narrator frames stories of sinister playground slides, a soul-sucking sweets seller, and a campfire vampire. Fearing’s illustrations are sketchy, infused with the energetic spirit of childhood, and the characters’ expressions are almost goofy, so it’s something of a surprise when the yarns he weaves nearly all end in protagonists trapped, transformed, or blasted to space. For newcomers to scary stories, it’s a slightly discombobulating, and thus perfect, way to introduce the psyche-rocking roots of horror—terrifying concepts, parceled out in manageable morsels for more timid readers.