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Ink of Nightmares
(The Book of Screams)
Author
Illustrator
Andrew P Barr
Publication Date
September 16, 2025
Genre / Grade Band
Fiction / 6th − 8th
Language
English
Format
Chapter Book
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Description
The final instalment in the Book of Screams series.
Tanya and Niah lure writer Joel Southland to a local coffee shop to find out his scheme. But soon, customers are collapsing around them, lulled into an unnatural sleep--Southland's (and the evil ink's) doing. When Southland tells Tanya he needs her help to draw the ink back to its origins, it seems her only option. However, the ink is cunning. And it will take all Tanya's smarts to try to trap it...or else she might be trapped herself.
Woven into the main story are other nightmares the ink has been collecting, including a story of a boy haunted by the long hair clogging a drain, two friends hoping to get famous by livestreaming their hot-pepper-eating challenge, and Gory Gary, a gruesome ghoul who pops up instead of Bloody Mary because he's bored. It's a mix of frights and chills and laughs, perfect for middle-grade readers.
Publication date
September 16, 2025
Genre
Fiction
Page Count
192
ISBN-13
9781459840591
Lexile Measure
650
Publisher
Orca Book Publishers
Series
The Book of Screams
BISAC categories
JUV058000 - Juvenile Fiction | Paranormal, Occult & Supernatural
JUV018000 - Juvenile Fiction | Horror
JUV038000 - Juvenile Fiction | Short Stories
JUV018000 - Juvenile Fiction | Horror
JUV038000 - Juvenile Fiction | Short Stories
School Library Journal
Gr 3-7-- Ink of Nightmares consists of unrelated short horror stories loosely tied together by a central narrative. The structure is reminiscent of classic horror anthologies like Tales from the Crypt or Tales from the Darkside. The central story is about a successful horror author (á la Stephen King) who gets his stories from stealing the nightmares of others. Unfortunately, this central tale is the weakest of the bunch. The rest are mostly spooky stories well told. Some are spins on urban legends, like Bloody Mary. The strongest are those that feel wholly original and suspended in the logic of bad dreams, like the opening story about the creepy consequences of a boy counting to infinity. Many are cyclical: the horror wins and survives to haunt again. The book is peppered with fun easter eggs, like notes in the margins that relate to the stories, making it an eerie joy to explore. The illustrations fail to match those of Stephen Gammell's, and some of them are amateurishly composed. The illustrator is best at capturing the grotesque and the weird. VERDICT Sure to grab the attention of any horror fan.
Copyright 2025 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Kirkus
As icky and unsettling as it gets: a solid ending to a very fun series.
Jeff Szpirglas
Jeff Szpirglas is the author of several works for young people, including the horror collections Tales from Beyond the Brain and Tales from the Fringes of Fear. He is also the co-author, with Danielle Saint-Onge, of a number of Orca Echoes titles, including Shark Bait!, X Marks the Spot! and Messy Miranda. Jeff has worked at CTV and was an editor at Chirp, Chickadee and Owl magazines. In his spare time, he teaches grade school. Jeff lives with his family in Kitchener, Ontario.
Steven P. Hughes is an award-winning Canadian illustrator whose clients include the Globe and Mail, Reader's Digest and Scientific American. He graduated from Sheridan College with a BAA in illustration. He lives in Bolton, Ontario.
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