Read at Your Own Risk

by Remy Lai

Overview

Perfect for Halloween and Summerween, Read at Your Own Risk is the spine-chilling illustrated sketch diary of a kid who is being haunted after a game goes terribly wrong and an evil spirit starts conversing with her on the page.

"The journal format of The Diary of a Wimpy Kid meets the thrills and chills of R.L. Stine in this middle-grade horror." —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"For tweens seeking Diary of a Wimpy Kid meets Tim Burton, this is an enjoyable scare that may prompt readers to write their own." —School Library Journal

Hannah and her friends were just having a bit of fun when they decided to play a game to communicate with spirits of the dead. Little did they know something would answer their call and crawl its way into the pages of Hannah’s journal. What started out as a game has turned into something much more evil. With dire, horrifying consequences.

Is there any way to escape the curse?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250394477
Publisher:	Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Publication date:	08/13/2024
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	160
File size:	54 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Remy Lai studied fine arts, with a major in painting and drawing. She was born in Indonesia, grew up in Singapore, and currently lives in Brisbane, Australia, where she writes and draws stories for kids with her two dogs by her side. She is the author of the critically-acclaimed Pie in the Sky, Fly on the Wall, Pawcasso, the Surviving the Wild series, Ghost Book, Read at Your Own Risk, and Chickenpox.

Editorial Reviews

★ 2024-05-17
A young girl finds herself plagued by a dark spirit.

Seventh grader Hannah Lee and her friends skip an assembly for children’s horror author Leon Star and instead go to the school’s supposedly haunted attic, where they attempt to contact the spirits. Soon after, Hannah realizes she’s unwittingly released an evil curse. Now she must contend with bad luck such as accidentally being skewered by a scalpel during science class. Hannah suspects that Leon Star might know what’s happening and seeks help; unfortunately, he tells her she doesn’t have much time before she’ll succumb to the curse. This inventive tale is presented in journal format as Hannah chronicles her troubles in a mix of doodlelike scrawls and diary entries. Even the pages of her notebook aren’t safe from the malevolent spirit, who often interrupts her musings and responds in red ink. Readers will find much to enjoy in this fast-paced but extremely macabre tale. Body horror abounds. The book’s pages become spattered with blood as Hannah’s teeth fall out; later her dentist tells her that her gums are overrun with silverfish. Characters who initially seem merely unsettling become shockingly sinister-looking at times. Lai plays with the form and function of language, adding action and sound effects and deftly tying narrative and visuals together. In the cartoonish illustrations, characters have skin the white of the page.

An ominous yet irresistible story that will delight and distress in equal measure. (Horror. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews