It isn’t very often that I fall so in love with a book that I read it over and over, with joy and gusto every time.
Well, I recently found this love in the strangest place. In a series of horror comedy books for elementary school kids. And now, I want to share that love with you.
Let me introduce you to Wiley & Grampa’s Creature Features. It’s a ten-book series of horror comedy illustrated adventures for the second to fifth grade set, following the hijinx of Wiley, his best friend Jubal, his Gramma (whose hair bun has mystical powers), his Grampa, and their cat, Merle. And goldfish Paco. And hounds Esther and Chavez. Now, if you’re like “no, these are kids books!” Hold up. I’m all grown up (mostly), and I couldn’t stop laughing. Because these books are beautiful, hilarious homages to horror cinema and culture. They work on an entirely different level for adults and kids. If you do have kids, these are the books you won’t mind reading out loud five hundred times!
Throughout the ten-book series, Kirk Scroggs cover basically every trope in horror: Zombies, psychics (in a Carrie scene fit for all ages) , gothic haunted houses, cursed objects, bigfoot, creature features, vampires. All. of. It.
Unfortunately, the series is out of print in paperback, but it’s still out there in ebook. (Why? Why is this out of print? I’m looking at you, Little Brown Books for Young Readers.)
So if you have a little one in your life, or just want to read some really hilarious and fantastically illustrated horror kids books. Check these out!
horror comedy and comedy fantasy author D.M. Guay 