Title: A Cemetery Stroll

Author: Elford Alley

Release date: September 25th, 2023

If you’ve followed along on any of my social media pages, you’ll know that my seven-year-old son really enjoys the darker stuff for art, movies, and books. We love to read together – a wide variety of different things – but ultimately, we’ll always nudge back towards the world’s where things go bump in the night and something may or may not be lurking in the closet.

When I saw that Elford Alley had released this young reader’s book, I was really excited and once it arrived, it was apparent that Cemetery Gates Media – the publisher – had put a lot of love and care into packaging this quick and engaging kids book.

What I liked: The book arrived yesterday (October 5th, 2023) and we zipped through it before bed. The story follows Hazel, the only kid in her school who hasn’t taken the dare and walked across the cemetery in October. The problem for her, is that she only has this one last night to accomplish this task and wouldn’t you know it – it’s Halloween!

As Hazel tentatively makes her way across the space, she finds notes that tell a spooky story about different little creatures/monsters and it’s in these that Elford really shines. We get some light humor and some chills in the poems that make up the stories and when we’d finished, my son and I spent a solid five minutes discussing each of the stories and deciding on which of them were our individual favorites.

The story wraps up with a great moment and a really solid sentiment that brings everything together.

What I didn’t like: It should be noted that this is for young readers. So, if you’re grabbing this thinking there will be some gore or descriptive passages, look elsewhere. I really loved how introductory to dark themes this was without worrying that it might frighten my son.

Why you should buy this: If you have a young reader in your home that likes to giggle along to the spooky parts of life, Elford has really delivered here. Hazel leads us through a wonderful world of spooks and ‘things’ and the illustrations that accompany the stories were really great.

My personal favorite story was ‘The Thing That Followed Me Home,’ while my son’s was ‘The Circling Bird.’

Tons of fun for young kids and the adults who’ll be reading along with them!

5/5