The Nightmare Room 07 – The Howler

The Howler, from R. L. Stine's Nightmare Room series, is a spooky story for 11 year olds about a boy who'll try anything to reach his cousin's ghost.

What happens

Spencer is thirteen. Last winter he went skating on the frozen pond near his house with his cousin Ian, and the ice cracked. Spencer grabbed Ian's hand and couldn't hold on.

Now there's only one thing he wants. He wants to find Ian's ghost and ask him if he knows how hard Spencer tried to save him.

So he keeps buying ghost-hunting gadgets. His friend Vanessa rolls her eyes at every single one, and the latest ends up in the bin.

Then, running away from the boy next door, he cuts down an alley he never uses and finds a creepy little shop. The pale man inside, with a white ponytail and a booming voice, sells him a grey box that's meant to catch the cries of ghosts. It comes with a warning. He might wish it didn't work!

Can you guess what Spencer hears in the middle of the night?

It's all told by Spencer himself in short, jumpy sentences, and half the fun is how often you jump for nothing. A door creaks slowly open and it's only Scott from next door. A ghostly howl in a kitchen turns out to be the cat wanting to come in.

There's plenty to laugh at too. Spencer's big brother Nick treats him like a servant ("make me a sandwich") and smacks him round the head with what he calls an Unidentified Flying Fist. Scott keeps bragging that his house is haunted.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

The accident on the ice is told right at the start, as a memory, and it's told very closely, from the crack of the ice to Ian's hand slipping away. Spencer's guilt runs underneath everything that follows. For a child who has lost someone, or who's nervous around water, that could be a lot.

For a reader who likes their scares with real feeling underneath them, it's gripping, with plenty of properly creepy moments.

What to read next

If this one hooks them, Don't Forget Me opens the series with a girl who jokes about wanting to be an only child and then really does start to lose her little brother.