Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for the brilliant Scareground – a creepy middle grade tale perfect for those looking for a spine-tingling read.
With the long summer holiday now a distant memory for most children, the shops are most definitely ramping up for Hallowe’en at the end of next month and for anyone who is less into getting their thrills from trick-or-treating on a cold, dark – possibly wet – evening and more into getting them in the comfort of their own home, perhaps with a treat and a hot chocolate on the side, this is the book for you.
Set in Victorian Greenwich, this is an absolute treat for fans of spooky reads such as Jennifer Killick’s Crater Lake and Dread Wood series or Phil Hickes’s Aveline Jones reads, and is one that I gobbled up in two sittings as I joined young protagonist Nancy Crumpet as she heads to the heart of the terrifying Scareground of the title.
For Nancy, her greatest adventure is yet to begin when we meet her, scampering over the rooftops of the houses close to her bakery home as she heads towards the chimney of someone who has argued with her adopted mother in order to exact her own brand of revenge. Mission accomplished, Nancy turns her attention to a black balloon she has spotted and decides to follow it, annoying the sky which chooses to rain on her. Not bothered by this action, Nancy becomes aware of fairground music playing and reflects on Mr and Mrs Crumpet’s assertions that fairs are terrible places and her promise to them to stay away from them, only to watch on as the balloon plummets to the ground in a cloud of feathers, accompanied by the whispered words Scareground, Scareground, Scareground.
Arranging to meet with friend Arthur after supper, Nancy tries to broach the subject of the fair with her parents as they eat – something that does not go to plan – and Pa Crumpet reluctantly reveals that the last time a fair visited, it ended in tragedy before he is hushed by his wife. Leaving the table, Nancy overhears Ma Crumpet telling her husband that she will not let anyone take Nancy away and wonders what to make of it before she hurries away to meet up with Arthur. Telling her friend about the balloon, she is shocked when in reply Arthur tells her that no ordinary fair is coming – instead it is one about which the locals tell tales of ghosts and that his own father has told him the strangest of stories.
Curiosity now firmly piqued, the children promise one another that they will visit the fair, against their parents’ wishes, and after seeing some of the fair folk when Nancy visits Greenwich Market, the opportunity very soon affords itself to her and Arthur when they are both lucky enough to receive tickets to the Scareground, run by the mysterious Skelter Tombola. Arriving at the fair alongside many of Greenwich’s residents, Nancy and Arthur watch on in wonder at the sight of Tombola performing magic for his visitors before admitting them. The two of them soon realise that the appearance of everything within the attraction is deliberately designed to scare and Nancy determines to do all she can to try to find out just what happened the last time it came to town. Soon, she is caught up in a terrifying mystery. What connects her to Tombola? And just what are his plans for the Scareground?
Having discovered snippets of information about what happened the last time the show visited Greenwich, these together with hints about her past and the thrill of visiting the attraction, which is something she has never before experienced, are an irresistible combination. For Nancy, like so many children, her parents forbidding a visit to the fair has only served to make it all the more attractive, and old enough and smart enough to figure out a plan to sneak out secretly, she cannot help but visit once she has a ticket. Blessed with the ability to tell what the sky is thinking, she counts it as her friend alongside Arthur but even when that tries to warn her off, she remains resolute in her conviction that what she is doing is right and chooses to ignore its actions – something that I suspect many of us would do in the same position.
As well as this ability of Nancy’s, there are other threads of magic running through the story, both the illusions performed by professional performers and whispers of other magic – real magic, which lend the book a brilliant creepiness as it is not always clear which variety is at play. Together with the figure of Tombola and a sprinkling of slugs – surely one of the most revolting of creatures – this makes for a wonderful blend of scares that will delight and thrill young readers in upper KS2. Although I cannot find any information on a sequel, the book ends in such a way as to hint at further adventures for Nancy, and I am sure I will not be the only one crossing their fingers that this will not be left as a standalone.
Scareground is on sale now. My enormous thanks, of course, must go to publisher Neem Tree Press and Random Things Tours for my gifted copy and inviting me to be part of the blog tour. Don’t forget to check out the other stops:
Mrs Sydney's Famous World's Smallest Library 