An Eyeball in my Garden (and other spine-tingling poems)

The weather may be a bit warm to inspire thoughts of Halloween, but turn a few pages of An Eyeball in my Garden (Marshall Cavendish, 2010) and the goose-bumps raised might make you start hearing skittering leaves and a whistling wind knocking at your window pane.

This collection of "spine-tingling" poems (selected and edited by Jennifer Cole Judd and Laura Wynkoop) certainly lives up to its name. Haunting and horrific — with a pinch of tongue-in-cheek tossed into the cauldron for good measure — young readers with a taste for the macabre will enjoy every creepy, crawly page.

While Johan Olander's dark and twisted illustrations may be a bit much for some younger kids, no doubt many will adore his monstrous creations.

Whether it's October, or just any night that you feel like getting your hackles up, take a stroll through the misty graveyard Judd and Wynkoop have created. But don't be surprised if you end up sleeping with at least one extra light on. You've been warned.