More great reads: the best books for 9 year olds
"Packed with intriguing material from the top-secret DARKIVE database of the strange and unexplained, this scary school trip story injects middle grade horror with immersive edge."
October 2026 Book of the Month
Part of the Fear File series (think Goosebumps meets The X Files, thanks to its fascinating, well-designed DARKIVE database documents), Christopher Edge’s A Trick of the Light is perfectly pitched for 9+ year-olds who adore scary stories, spooky movies and ghoulish games, and paranormal enthusiasts.
Ten-year-old Hazel isn’t having the best time of it on a residential school trip. Ostensibly an opportunity for pupils to “break down barriers and forge new friendships”, Hazel overhears unpleasant Imogen instructing her clique to ostracise her: "We ghost her....Let's all pretend that she doesn’t exist. Nobody talk to her. Nobody listen to her. If everyone ignores her, maybe she’ll get the message that she’s not wanted here”.
Into this hostile environment, in the unsettling surroundings of a creepy, creaky manor, Imogen’s plan to ghost Hazel comes back to haunt her (quite literally) when Hazel sets about getting her own back on the gang with help from Alice, a girl from another school. But when the duo devise a story about the manor’s resident ghost and start pranking Imogen and co, it’s not long before Hazel starts to wonder whether things are getting out of hand, and whether there might be more to the manor than meets the eye.
Throughout, the thrust of Hazel’s first-person narrative is supplemented by case notes from the DARKIVE database, which include agent’s notes, encyclopaedia entries, top secret disclosures, stills from video footage of ghostly goings-on, and diary entries in which the writer purports to have encountered ghosts. At once a spine-tingling page-turner and an opportunity for readers to unleash their inner paranormal secret agent, A Trick of the Light is middle grade horror, folks, but not as you know it!
A school trip turns spooky in this spine-tingling adventure from award-winning author Christopher Edge, perfect for 9+ fans of Goosebumps.
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A school trip turns spooky in this spine-tingling adventure from award-winning author Christopher Edge, perfect for 9+ fans of Goosebumps.Feeling ignored by her friends on a school residential trip at a creepy old manor house, ten-year-old Hazel meets a girl called Alice from another school, who is also on residential and feeling a bit lonely. Together they hatch a plan to get their own back, inventing a legend about a resident ghost who haunts the house to fool their friends.
The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed A Trick of the Light and determined it is suitable for children aged 9-12 years old
A Trick of the Light features in the following genres: Featured Books for 9+ readers, Featured Books for 11+ readers, Books of the Month, Recommendations, Adventure Stories, Horror & Ghost Stories, Thrillers, Mystery / Mythology, Children's and Young Adult Fiction, Children’s, Teenage and Educational, Children’s / Teenage: General interest
Paperback. £8.99, down from the £9.99 cover price. In Stock.
A Trick of the Light was written by Christopher Edge and published by Walker Books Ltd an imprint of Walker Books
A Trick of the Light has 158 pages
Yes it is part of Fear Files series
£8.99, reduced from £9.99. In Stock.
