A reader takes matters into her own hands after she discovers her favorite author is stealing his terrifying tales.Tanya is beyond excited to meet Joel Southland. His scary stories are so relatable, and she treasures the signed bookmark he gives her when he visits her school…until late one night, when the ink from the signature appears to come to life. When a new Southland story feels entirely too familiar, Tanya begins to piece together the clues about where he's getting his ideas, and she patiently develops a plan to turn the tables. Interwoven with Tanya's journey to stop Southland are many of the short stories he's credited with having written, creating a story within a story, all told in very short pieces. Particularly dark imagery (both written and illustrated) will be a strong draw for the intended age range. The contemporary relevance of the opening tale, which involves mask-wearing, will serve as a hook for young readers, and insertion of other pieces of short fiction results in the cliffhangers that heighten the suspense. This well-paced, rather disturbing, and very creepy collection will appeal to a wide variety of readers. Physical descriptions are minimal in the text, but Tanya presents white in the illustrations.Nightmarish short stories threaded together by an intrepid reader's determination. (Horror. 9-12)

Gr 4–7— A collection of scary short stories that run the horror gamut. The first story, "Masks," lets readers know these tales will not have happy endings. "Tanya and the Ink" is a throughline narrative of a young horror fan trying to solve nefarious mysteries, told in five parts throughout. Some entries are stronger than others; "Words on the Wall" centers a young boy who sees words of warning written on walls of his school, but his friend doesn't believe they are there. "Baby Eyes" is one of the more unique stories and is about a girl who loses her "baby eye." This collection's spectrum of horror makes it a challenging one to recommend for a specific age group or audience. The levels of scary run at opposite ends, so true horror fans will find some not scary at all, but the tales may be too intense for younger readers. The entries do get a little repetitive, and "Tanya and the Ink" would be stronger as a single entry; some of the later parts feel like they could be skipped. VERDICT An additional purchase where Josh Allen's horror collections are popular.— Michelle Lettus