Becky Citra
Coteau Books, Ages 8-12
THE GRIFFIN OF DARKWOOD is an exciting, fanciful story filled with magical phenomena and gothic horror. Will Poppy loves to write stories, but when his mother dies, leaving him an orphan, he bitterly vows never to write again. This proves difficult when he is taken by his horrible Aunt Mauve to live in a big spooky castle, where ideas for stories pop up every time he turns his head: a menacing butler, a secret passage, a magic tapestry, a cat whose eyes change colour. Will soon discovers that the castle holds the key to a centuries-old mystery, and he is the only one who can solve it.