Welcome to Feral (Frights from Feral #1)

by Mark Fearing (Author)

Reading Level: 4th − 5th Grade

How many kids will go missing before this town admits it's haunted? Find out in this freakily fun new graphic novel series!

Feral has everything a small town should have: Main Street, City Hall, a population just over sixteen thousand . . . But Feral also has secrets. Mysteries. Unexplained disappearances. In five spooky stories, an intrepid young resident invites readers to look a little closer at this scenic rural town. Are you game to investigate what's going on in Feral? If you pay attention, you might notice something where it shouldn't be. Be careful, though. Whatever you do, do not go into the Messner Mansion. Don't say we didn't warn you!

With vibrant art, clever humor, and heaps of unsolved mysteries, animator Mark Fearing conjures a fearsome saga out of small-town terrors. The first entry in this inventive new series is sure to scare young readers silly.

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

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Kirkus Reviews

Thrill-seeking readers will be eager to visit.

Booklist

Fearing's sketchy, full-color cartoon artwork nicely balances the horror of monsters, portals, and ghosts with a kid-friendly style that tones down the scares just enough. . . . A perfect choice for kids who love anything by R. L. Stine, this will thrill kids who like to get a little scared.

School Library Journal

Gr 4 Up--In this wild and weird graphic novel about the supernatural small town of Feral, many a terrifying tale is told as Fearing sets a city-sized stage on which to spin tall tales of youthful demise. A flannel-clad narrator frames stories of sinister playground slides, a soul-sucking sweets seller, and a campfire vampire. Fearing's illustrations are sketchy, infused with the energetic spirit of childhood, and the characters' expressions are almost goofy, so it's something of a surprise when the yarns he weaves nearly all end in protagonists trapped, transformed, or blasted to space. For newcomers to scary stories, it's a slightly discombobulating, and thus perfect, way to introduce the psyche-rocking roots of horror--terrifying concepts, parceled out in manageable morsels for more timid readers. VERDICT An amusing, just-scary-enough graphic novel for young genre fans and perhaps even those hesitant to try spookier fare.--Emilia Packard

Copyright 2022 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes



Mark Fearing
Mark Fearing is the illustrator of Great, Now We've Got Barbarians! by Jason Carter Eaton and the author-illustrator of The Great Thanksgiving Escape, as well as several other books for children. Mark Fearing lives in Oregon.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780823454907
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Holiday House
Publication date
November 20, 2022
Series
Frights from Feral
BISAC categories
JUV018000 - Juvenile Fiction | Horror
JUV008130 - Juvenile Fiction | Comics & Graphic Novels | Paranormal
Library of Congress categories
Graphic novels
Horror stories
Cartoons and comics
Horror comic books, strips, etc
Horror comics

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