When Cooger and Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show carnival tents roll in to town a week before Halloween, two boys are caught up in a dark magical maelstrom. There is a carousel that promises eternal life in exchange for your soul, a Hall of Mirrors that steals wishes, and a sideshow freak, the Illustrated Man, whose body is covered with tattoos and lives off the misery of others.  Only two boys in the town know of the evil magic at work and they’ve got to stop it before it kills them.  Ray Bradbury’s masterfully dark story is beautifully reinvigorated in dark black and white graphic artwork of Ron Wimberly in this terrific, authorized adaptation of a horror classic. Not for the young or faint of heart, this is a real-deal horror story, beautifully adapted to graphic format.

Recommended by Craig Seasholes, Librarian, Washington, USA