If only Jess hadn’t let her best friend Tina play football in her bedroom!
How on earth is she going to hide the big muddy mark the football leaves when Tina kicks it against the wall? If only Jess hadn’t used up the last of her pocket money she would be able to buy some paint.
Luckily for Jess she finds a painting in the charity shop which is exactly the right size to hide the mark and even luckier, is given it for free as it has already been returned to the shop twice.
Soon enough Jess discovers there’s something distinctly odd about the portrait, how can it be that when different people look at it, the girl in the painting appears to be a different age?
It doesn’t stop there, at night alone in her bed, Jess hears a chuckle and this time when she looks, the smile on the girl in the picture is not the nice one of earlier, it is distinctly nasty!
Jess begins to be tormented by nightmares featuring the girl in the portrait and disturbed by the presence of the strange smell of violets,
Is it too much to be believed? As Tina stays for a sleepover will she be able to smell the violets and see the change in the portrait when dark falls? Will she too suffer from terrible nightmares?
How will Jess persuade her mother all is not how it seems?
A short story from a master of the craft, Creepy Araminta will have you checking the paintings on your own walls!
Perfect for Halloween, don’t let this super creepy book give you nightmares!
I loved the accompanying illustrations by Emily Jones – particularly the fabulous facial expressions.
For readers of 9+ with a reading age of 7, this book is pitched for emergent and reluctant readers.
Thank you to Barrington Stoke Publishers for the review copy.
Leave a Reply