Annal:2004 Bram Stoker Award for Work for Young Readers

Candy Quackenbush’s adventures in the amazing world of the Abarat are getting more strange by the hour. Christopher Carrion, the Lord of Midnight, has sent his henchman to capture her. Why? she wonders. What would Carrion want with a girl from Minnesota? And why is Candy beginning to feel that the world of Abarat is familiar to her? Why can she speak words of magic she doesn’t even remember learning?

There is a mystery here. And Carrion, along with his fiendish grandmother Mater Motley, suspects that whatever Candy is, she could spoil their plans to take control of the Abarat.

Now Candy’s companions must race against time to save her from the clutches of Carrion, and she must solve the mystery of her past before the forces of Night and Day clash and Absolute Midnight descends upon the islands.

A final war is about to begin. And Candy is going to need to make some choices that will change her life forever…

More Creepers for Classrooms, Campfires, Car Trips. Sequel to Odd Lot: Stories to Chill the Heart (Ben Franklin Award silver for Best Mystery/Suspense Book) and Even Odder: More Stories to Chill the Heart (Nominee/Finalist for Bram Stoker Award for Young Readers).

Dean Koontz kicks the holiday season into high gear with a wildly inventive and wickedly funny sequel to his perennial Christmas bestseller Santa’s Twin.

The Claus family’s bad seed, Bob, is back and dishing out a second helping of holiday havoc and headaches for his twin brother, Santa. Exactly a year has passed since Bob kidnapped Santa and visited Charlotte and Emily in his stead, bearing gifts of mud pies, cat poop, and broccoli. After his defeat at the hands of the two brave sisters, Bob has worked hard to redeem himself in Santa’s eyes. Unfortunately Bob’s spare time has been spent secretly building a robot Santa Claus. Super Santa One was designed to help Santa halve his delivery time, but Bob has left a screw loose on his creation (several screws, actually), and this Christmas Eve, a badly malfunctioning robot Santa Claus is coming to town.

Kerry Proffitt and her friends, who shared a summerhouse on the California coast during the summer, are forced back to their own realities as fall approaches. Now that Daniel is dead and the evil witch, Season, is gone, the friends split up but agree to keep an eye out for Season.