Nightmare in the Backyard

Eek! #2

by Jeff Strand

When the scratching starts on the tent, a backyard camping trip turns terrifying for three friends. Prepare to be scared silly in this creepy middle-grade novel for fans of R.L. Stine, Dan Poblocki, and Mary Downing Hahn. Chloe, Avery, and Madison can't wait to spend the night camping in the backyard. Smores! Spooky stories! Trading secrets! It's going to be awesome. Sure, Elijah the kid next door keeps trying to prank them, but it's all in good fun. Who doesn't like a little scare after the sun has set and the moonlight casts creepy shadows everywhere? Then the scratching starts on the tent fabric. The girls think it must be Elijah again, but there's no one outside. As the scratching gets more insistent, the girls may need to start asking WHAT is making that noise rather than WHO. Can they make it through the night?

Genres: Horror, Middle Grade, Fiction, Childrens, Horror Thriller

224 pages, Paperback

First published August 6, 2024

About the author

Bram Stoker Award-winning author of a bunch of demented books, including PRESSURE, DWELLER, CLOWNS VS. SPIDERS, AUTUMN BLEEDS INTO WINTER, MY PRETTIES, the official novelization of ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES, and lots of others!

Reviews

[Panic!_at_the_Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book Nightmare in the Backyard has interesting, albeit, sometimes annoying, characters and a very mysterious plot. Tentacles arrive in one of the characters’ backyards. Unfortunately, three young girls are camping in the backyard when the tentacled creature begins its attack.

All three of the girls are fighters; they even go so far as to save an uninspired next-door neighbor, who was trying to scare them (classic boy next door needs to scare girls in a tent 🙄). I don’t want to spoil the rest for any future readers, so I’m just laying out the basics here.

My kids really enjoyed this novel, so it seems like a good read for the target audience. I thought it was entertaining for a middle-grade novel.

An important lesson I learned from reading this as a NetGalley reader is that users of the platform must download their approved books immediately. Without warning and within days of getting approved for this book, the book was archived and, so as not to ruin my NetGalley score, I had to wait for this book to become available at my public library. Ever since this has occurred, I’ve started downloading the books as soon as I get my approval email. Other publishers have sent an email notification when archiving their titles so reviewers can grab it, so I was surprised when this book was archived right after I was approved and with no warning. Just an FYI, for other NetGalley users.

Thanks to my library for ordering this look upon my request.

[megs_bookrack · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was cute as heck. It had Lovecraftian-type creatures, perfect for a new generation of Horror Readers!



I loved the first book in this new Eek! series, It Watches in the Dark, by veteran Horror author, Jeff Strand, so I've been anticipating this release.

This has a classic set-up, with three girls, Chloe, Avery and Madison, doing a little backyard camping. It's the best way to have a sleepover, IMO.

The girls are just settling in when the neighbor, Elijah, stops by to say hi. They just know he'll be back later too, trying to prank them. Typical boy behavior.



Sure enough, they hear scratching on the outside of their tent later in the evening. Fully expecting to catch Elijah red-handed, they rush to open the tent flap and look out, but it appears there's no one there.

A little creeped out, they retreat back into their tent, but not long after the scratching noises return.

Getting more freaked out by the second, the girls desperately want to figure out the source of the scratching, but the truth turns out to be much worse than the girls could've dreamed of, even in their worst nightmares.



Nightmare in the Backyard is a wildly-entertaining Middle Grade Horror story reminiscent of the Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark stories of the olden' days.

I had the privilege of listening to the audiobook and feel that the narration is perfect for this age category. The narrator brought these characters and the insane circumstances they found themselves in to life. I def recommend that format.



I loved how fast-paced this story was and how the kids really worked well together trying to figure out exactly what was happening in the backyard. It was a lot. Wild, crazy and zany enough to keep Young Readers thoroughly entertained.

Also, I do want to note that these books can be read in any order. Just like the Goosebumps series, these books aren't really related. It's all new characters and circumstances.

Thank you to the publisher, Sourcebooks Kids and Tantor Media, for providing me copies to read and review. I'm not sure how many installments are slated for this series, but I will be reading them all, I can assure you of that!

[Reading_ Tamishly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you, SOURCEBOOKS KIDS, for the advance reading copy.

This one is quite terrifying given that the kids are trapped in a place with a scary creature in a universe where the adults cannot hear them!

I find the cover quite related to the plot and the characters.

The characters are developed well. The plot is good. The writing has good humour! I wasn’t expecting that.

When it comes to the ending, I would sum it up with “all’s well that ends well”!.

[Paul (Life In The Slow Lane) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Geez! These tentacles growing out of the ground make the lawn hard to mow.

A bunch of girly girls and one token girly boy camp in their backyard only to be accosted by a huge number of thorny tentacles suddenly springing up from underground. It's a bit silly, I know but it is a YA novel...I think. Maybe it's supposed to be Mr Strand's attempt at a H.P. Lovecraft style story.

Anyway, not Mr Strand's best writing and not worthy of a Boy Scout patch but maybe 3 stars and still quite readable.

[Mikala · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had such high expectations for this because of how phenomenal Jeff Strand's previous middle grade horror book was called "It Watches in the Dark". It was tense, claustrophobic, and scarier than most adult horror novels! I loved the two siblings and was absolutely terrified for them!

"Nightmare in the Backyard" was a complete letdown. It didn't even reasonably meet my expectations of what I thought would come from this author next!

It follows a group of girls who go camping in the back yard and over the course of the night have to fend off giant tentacles that sprout from the dirt. The concept didn't evoke one ounce of fear in me. While this is intended for a younger audience everything about it just felt silly!

Being a Goosebumps fan, this kind of reminds me of how a lot of them are genuinely scary but there's also some ultra silly installments like Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes or Egg Monsters from Mars. But to be fair there were mostly hits for the first 15 or so before we started to get some flops ...and "Nightmare in the Backyard" is only the second book in the Eek series!

Unlike "It Watches in the Dark", which had a creeping slow dread, this one punches the reader immediately in the face with the monster reveal, leaving the remaining 200 pages to feel redundant. There was the same scene playing out over and over again where the children try and escape the yard / fight the tentacles. This repetitive storytelling made it a slow, grueling journey to the finish.

One thing I did like was seeing the kids trying to problem solve! I liked how they kept coming up with different and smart ideas to try and help their situation. However this was often overshadowed by the cringey dialouge and try-hard humor.

Also the ending was super rushed and there were things that didn't make sense by the end. Like how/why did the monster end up in their backyard?

"Nightmare in the Backyard" was a let down but I'd be willing to give a try to Jeff Strand's future books in this horror middle grade series. With having loved previous works from the author I know there is still the potential for future favorites!
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reading notes:

42% REPETITIVE

53% these audiobook voices are insufferable

95% there's no way these parents would allow all the kids to drive the car alone into the monster while they just watch

The humor is bad.

The casual way they're all just chatting about camping and planning for hanging out ... just bizarre after everything they've been through. Wouldn't they be traumatized? I guess a middle grade has to end on a light-hearted note but this has me rolling my eyes.

[Join the Penguin Resistance! · Rating 5 out of 5]

Second in Jeff Strand's new EEK! middle grade Series, NIGHTMARE IN THE BACK YARD turns a simple backyard sleepover camp-out into a night of inexplicable unending Cryptid Creature Horror for 3 girls when the back yard erupts with....tentacles! All their resilience and ingenuity is tested as they discover their fully charged cell phones are dead, their voices can't be heard by anyone, and the tentacles won't allow them to reach their house! This is well-written Implacable Horror, with a set of endearing, determined, intrepid characters, stranded in a bizarre unaccountable situation, and only they can save themselves. Or can they? Read and find out!

[Ashley (gotbookcitement) · Rating 4 out of 5]

BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 3.5/5
Source: Physical Copy Borrowed from Library/Electronic Review Copy through Netgalley



I was so excited to read the second installment in the Eek! Series. This one is about a trio of girls who go camping in the backyard. Things quickly go wrong when something starts popping out of the ground. A simple backyard campout turns into so much more.
I really enjoyed the first book in the series (It Watches At Night) because it had this really great mix of humor and horror. I enjoyed Nightmare in the Backyard, but I didn't get to laugh as much as I did in the first book, which I was missing.
Our trio of girls really have a tough time on this camp out. We have Chloe, Avery, and Madison. There were times that I had to remember which girl was which.
I enjoyed the craziness of the tentacles popping up everywhere and the girls trying to figure out how to escape the backyard.
The twist ending was all right. Probably not the most believable of things, but hey, they are being terrorized by monster tentacles.
I'm definitely going to read more from this series. Middle grade horror is such a fun thing to add to my reading rotation. I don't think you can go wrong with Middle Grade Horror.

[Kay Oliver · Rating 4 out of 5]

"'He was born with two arms, two legs, and one head, but the luxury of having a head wouldn't last forever.'"

Chloe and her best friend Avery are camping out in the backyard. And Chloe's annoying cousin is tagging along. The night starts out as fun (nostalgic for me) until things take a sudden turn to weird and scary.

This was a fun read. Would recommend for fans of Goosebumps.

[Melanie Dulaney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jeff Strand, writer of the genuinely creepy IT WATCHES IN THE DARK, adds another to his EEK! series from Scholastic with NIGHTMARE IN THE BACKYARD. This one features three girls who are likely 12ish having a backyard sleepover that goes horribly wrong. Best friends Chloe and Avery plus Chloe’s cousin Madison begin with the usual marshmallows and scary stories when tentacles begin popping up and attempting to draw them below ground. No one seems to hear them scream and no one comes to check on all the commotion in the yard. A retreat into Chloe’s aging and rickety treehouse gives them a brief respite until next door neighbor Elijah decides to creep over to scare them and doesn’t seem to notice anything is wrong until he steps into the backyard chaos and is also attacked by tentacles. The attacks continue, along with more nightmarish things, and like most middle grade horror, things do end up OK for all involved in the monster attack.

Readers in grades 4-6 may find this one ghoulish and exciting but as an adult, the monster and the solution seemed very contrived and the conclusion quite rushed. I also found the back and forth insults and attempts at humor between Chloe and Avery to be unlikely between two middle grade girls and more of a time filler than part of character development. I was bothered by an editorial miss at the beginning of chapter 11 when Elijah wonders what’s taking Chloe’s mom so long to come check on them and Chloe responds with, “Aunt Sandy likes to talk.” But they watched Aunt Sandy be pulled underground. Many of the horror readers in my middle grade libraries would scratch their heads at that mistake as I did.

Looking for horror for your middle grade reader(s)? Definitely consider Strand’s IT WATCHES IN THE DARK. If you have a healthy budget and just can’t keep enough scary books on your shelves, this one is fast-paced and will keep many on the edge of their seats.

[Sonny Vandetty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think that this book was great and had great, descriptive words. I love the space between each chapter and the amount words on each page. Not too long, and not too short. Perfect for 10 year olds and would definitely recommend to anyone who likes scary books, that aren’t too scary. I love this book in my opinion. And if you read it I hope you enjoy it too!

[Ardie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nightmare in the Backyard was so much fun! I had a 5 hour road trip with 2 nephews (ages 14 and 27), and I forced them to listen to it with me. At first they acted disinterested, but it wasn’t long before I heard them laughing along with the story.
Yes, this book is a middle grade horror, but it’s also super funny. I won’t hesitate to recommend it to my young emerging horror readers.
Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC of this book! My opinion remains my own!

It’s the end of summer and the end of a long year without her missing father, and Chloe is just looking forward to having a fun backyard campout complete with s’mores, spooky stories, and maybe a little gossip about boys with her best friend Avery to distract her from reality. Things start going wrong from the start, from a tent that just does not want to be put up easily to her mother’s announcement that her annoying cousin, Madison, will be joining in. Later, the even more annoying (and lazy) boy next door, Elijah, decides to start pranking them.

So when weird things start happening, the girls first suspect Elijah is playing another prank. But then their phones aren’t working. Their mothers can’t hear them screaming from the backyard to the house. And then before you know it, there are aggressive tentacles attacking them from every which way.

This book is a relatively short, fast-paced, action packed monster fest of a book that will delight and thrill those horror fanatics who are ready to move up into chapter books or who have already exhausted the selection of Goosebumps available. I’m looking forward to adding this to my list of books that I can recommend when I am inevitably asked for “the scary books.”

Normally when I review and rate books, my own opinion and my opinion for what would be a good fit for my students and library are one and the same (I genuinely love reading middle grade and young adult books!). In this case, though, my review and rating are going to be premised more on the viewpoint of my students. This particular book did not appeal to me as much, but I think that is more because this is a book that definitely focuses more on having an action-packed plot rather than thorough character development. I’m not this book’s particular audience, but the important part is that there are many many kids who are and this will definitely be an asset in any library collection, including my own.

[Brendan Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok This book was a real disappointment for me. I was hooked with the first Eek! book. It Watches In The Dark felt like a modern Goosebumps to me so I was hooked. Nightmare in the Backyard just didn’t capture that same feeling as the first one. I felt like the characters were a little too one-note and the book spends very little time introducing them before the monster shows up. Speaking of the monster, the twist around that and the whole subplot with the father felt really underwhelming. I loved the mystery of It Watches so that was a big let down for me.

Despite my issues, I do think this was an enjoyable juvenile horror book and I can definitely see children enjoying it. There’s a lot of action and suspense that moves the book along at a steady pace.

[Ms. Yingling · Rating 4 out of 5]

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Avery is super excited to have a sleepover at Chloe's house; the two are inseperable and looking forward to sleeping in a tent, eating lots of s'mores, and talking through the night. It helps distract Chloe, who has been struggling since the disappearance of her father. The girls aren't happy when Chloe's mom announces that her Aunt Sandy and cousin Madison will be coming over; Madison only cares about boys and clothes and can be rather annoying. The group is telling ghost stories when next door neighbor Elijah scares them; Avery and Chloe are just irritated, but Madison thinks he's cute. These problems pale in comparison when the girls settle down to sleep for the night and realizes that the lumps that have been moving under their sleeping bags are probably snakes... and all their phones are mysteriously dead! When Chloe and Avery's moms pop their head out, but don't seem to hear the girls, they decide to make a run for it, and giant, murderous tentacles burst from the lawn and attack the girls. Beating the tentacles with Madison's cot and the tent spikes seems to make the creature scream, and the girls make a panicked retreat to the tent. This doesn't last long, because soon the tentacles are tearing through the nylon and grabbing the frightened campers. They manage to escape to Chloe's weather beaten treehouse. Elijah emerges from his house, but it isn't until he is on Chloe's yard that he sees the monsters. They attack him, and soon he is fleeing for the safety of the treehouse as well. He tells the girls that from his yard, it looked like the tent was still standing, and was illuminated by a glow that seemed like the girls were on their cell phones. When the mothers pop their heads out the next time, Aunt Sandy is dragged down into the year by tentacles and disappears! Avery manages to make it to Elijah's house, but when the others overhear her talking to Mrs. Duncan, it's clear that she has no memory of the monsters. THEN THE TREEHOUSE EXPLODES! Elijah tries to run but is dragged under! Chloe's mom comes out of the house and gets dragged underground! Chloe has had it! She thinks about the disappearance of her dad, and channels her anger into smashing the tentacles with the boards from the treehouse. She and Madison write notes to themselves about what is going on and tuck them in their mouths in case they forget what's going on. Avery comes back, and the girls try to use an axe to chop away at the tentacles, but AVERY AND MADISON GET DRAGGED TO THE DEPTHS! Exhausted and terrified, Chloe realizes that she is alone. When she also drops into the lair of the tentacled monsters, she is resigned, but will she be able to gather her strength and save the world? (Don't want to spoil the ending!)
Strengths: Who doesn't like a sleepover where entire bags of marshmallows are eaten, neighbor boys are dismissed, and GIANT TENTACLES EMERGE FROM THE GROUND AND TRY TO KILL EVERYONE!!! You will notice that I am not usually given to using all caps, but boy, does this book need them to adequately describe the action! It's nonstop and pell mell, with the tiniest amount of breathing room before we are flung right back into the action. The biggest complaint I hear from readers is that "nothing happens" in books, so I am always surprised that there aren't more books like this one where the characters meet one horrifyingly exciting challenge after another. For the adults in the room, we do get some backstory of Chloe and her father's disappearance, as well as good examples of the kids working well together, but the whole point of this book is TO SMASH THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF THE TENTACLES!!! There is a satisfying ending, with the kids saving the day in a way that tweens will really enjoy, and everyone is happy. It doesn't get any better than that in an exciting and vaguely terrifying middle grade novel.
Weaknesses: The ending is a bit deus ex machina, but this means that we don't have to wait for a second novel to resolve everything. I had some questions about the state of the backyard. I grew up in an area where there were sinkholes caused by old mines, so I'd be super careful of Chloe's backyard going forward. Also, why are these girls not playing lacrosse? Clearly, they've got some excess energy that could be productively channeled!
What I really think: I'm afraid that this is a book that adult will read and dismiss out of hand because it is so unlikely. This is really too bad, because actual middle grade readers will LOVE this one. Part of me wishes that the main characters had been boys, because they tend to like the smash-and-grab writing style a little more, but the cover is neutral, and my readers have gotten much better about focusing on content rather than worrying about being seen with "girl books". There are just not enough books with NONSTOP ACTION. Klavan's If We Survive (2012), Cole's Z-Rex (2010), and Mbalia, and Makonnen's Last Gate of the Emperor (2022) are some of the few I can think of. This reminded me a tiny bit of Ockler's The Smashed Man of Dread End, and this goes well with the other Eek! book by Strand, It Watches in the Dark. I had never heard the term "implacable horror" until I read another review of this title, but it's a trope I've definitely going to look for now!

John Wilson's 2004 essay in Quill and Quire, "Eviscerating Noddy" (which I always wrongly remember as "Exploding Noddy"), explains why Strand's style in this book will make it so popular with readers!
https://johnwilsonauthor.com/thoughts...

[Robin Dickert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Avery held up her perfectly toasted marshmallow. “Are you ready for a tale… of terror?”'

I'm a fan of Jeff Strand. I love spooky middle grade. But this particular book did not work for me. The humor fell flat, and the ending felt off and out of left field. I don't like talking down books, but even my goofy inner eight year old was rolling her eyes. On the plus side, it is fast-paced and has a fun backyard campout atmosphere.

'Chloe didn’t believe this was the end of the world. It was just a really bizarre event.'

[Alejandro Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ‘Eek!’ series had a STRONG start with It Watches in the Dark, so it doesn’t surprise me this didn’t live up to that. But this is still good, and a great entry in this series so far—if you don’t mind how boring this can get, which I can’t for the most part. The first big positive is the characters: Avery and Chloe are a good set of friends, with Madison initially sounding like a typical annoying family member character turning into one of the gang. Elijah is good, too, and all the character really made up the entertainment value of this story. There’s also an intriguing mystery of the vanishing of Chloe’s father a year before the story that potentially gets answered here, which is neat and adds something to expect and anticipate since it was clear this was going somewhere. There’s some nice Sci Fi elements here and the monster is relatively good, and the ending is just a great feel-good conclusion that puts a smile on my face. However, as enjoyable as things in this book are, I have my gripes with the damn pacing. This thing has roughly 80 pages of extra fat that could’ve been trimmed down immensely. In fact, 150 pages of this whole book—I kid you fucking not—is one giant scene with no interruptions. And it’s no even progressive for a while; a lot of thing that happen don’t elevate the plot or don’t add much in the long run. There’s also a time-bomb element with the villain potentially unsafe-ing a safe area for the heroes, and guess what? When they unsafe the safe area, it does absolutely nothing and they’re still safe there. Talk about uses less tension. So yeah, whilst the characters and nice writing and moments make up for a bit of how little happens for 150 pages, it’s still, well, one giant slow scene about fighting a monster. And it’s pretty boring at times, and I didn’t even mention how repetitive this thing gets with the constant battle sequences. I believe there were six, and they all felt the same. Pretty much just filler with those. Overall, 7.5/10. This was still a good book in a lot of regards but I was still ticked off with how much time felt wasted here for a nearly 200 page book. But at least there truly was a Nightmare in this Backyard teehee.

[Noelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well that was fun!
These characters are fully formed and realistic. They felt like real kids experiencing an exciting and terrifying backyard camping trip.
The creature is equal parts silly and cool and I liked the explanation in the end. There’s also a nice lesson about controlling fear.
For a kid, this story is probably actually scary. It’s definitely a great introduction to horror for younger readers.

Chloe and her bff Avery are getting ready to have the best camp out in the backyard. But at the last minute Chloe’s cousin Madison joins in. She doesn’t really fit in with the group but they make the best of it. As the girls are getting ready to sleep they feel something moving under the tent. It feels like a snake slithering around. If that wasn’t scary enough, when they look out the tent flap, there are giant purple tentacles with thorns thrashing around.

The rest of the summary contains spoilers
No one can hear them scream and all of their cell phones have dead batteries. The tentacles are multiplying in number and they mean business dragging the kids around the yard.

They make it to a tree house to hid out and formulate some new plans. The neighbor kid has joined them now too. He came over to the yard to play a prank on them but got sucked up into the nightmare.

Unless you’re standing in the yard, you can’t see what’s going on; everything looks completely normal. So the grown ups don’t notice anything’s wrong until it’s too late. Aunt Cindy is sucked into the ground by a tentacle and once Avery escapes to the next yard she immediately loses her memory.

More people are sucked into the earth. They finally have a solid plan to defeat the creature. But they all end up underground at some point and lo and behold, Chloe’s dad is there! He’s been missing for the past year.

He admits to the group that he never worked in marketing. He’s actually a scientist studying strange alien monsters and this creature was his project. It thrives off of fear so they all have to calm their nerves to defeat. Which they do.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

Nightmare in the Backyard is a creepily atmospheric middle grade thriller by Jeff Strand. Released 6th Aug 2024 by Sourcebooks on their Young Readers imprint, it's 256 pages and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

This is surprisingly creepy/scary. A backyard sleepover takes a terrifying turn when 3 girls are trapped with a bunch of scary tentacles surrounding their tent. It's action driven and moves along at a fast pace. There's nothing *too* graphic or scary, but it is definitely creepy. About the same level as R.L. Stine and Katherine Arden, this one is scary without being terrifying.

The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 3 hours 58 minutes and is well read by Stacy Gonzales. She has a bright, well modulated, neutral American accent, and does a good job with the characters and settings. Sound and production quality are high throughout the read.

Four stars. Definitely one for fans of middle grade fiction. It would be a great choice for public library acquisition, but might be too scary for school library collections.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

[Corinne’s Chapter Chatter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am thankful to have gotten the audioARC for free from Netgalley and Tantor Audio so I can leave my voluntary review.

Wow! This was such a fun book to listen to! It was action packed all the way through and I think middle grade readers will love it. Usually I listen to audio books at night and fall asleep to them and have them in the background while I sleep and then in the morning go back to when I felt asleep. Well I ended up staying up way too later to keep listening to this!

It’s a short listen and while it’s middle grade it was fun for an adult to listen to as well in a “take me back to childhood” type of way. This is a book I would have loved as a kid.

The FMC was excited to have a sleep over in her backyard to mimic her family camping trips. When her friends came things go sideways and they can’t contact her mother.

It’s also a nice journey of friendship while battling for their lives.

My rating system for Middle Grade and children’s books

⭐️ Significant problems and would never recommend to the audience.
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea but may have some appeal.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ an ok book which I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend but it has some value for young readers
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! I would recommend for the age or reading level appropriate for the book
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Would recommend highly, especially to school programs as a wide spread reading opportunity.

[sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chloe just wants a chill backyard campout with her best friend Avery—ghost stories, marshmallows, the usual. Her cousin Madison tags along, the moms hang out safely inside, and everything feels very cozy childhood memory… until something starts slithering under their sleeping bags. Things escalate fast when tentacles start bursting out of the ground, and the backyard turns into a full-on Lovecraftian nightmare. To make matters worse, Chloe’s neighbor, Elijah, shows up trying to scare them and immediately gets sucked into the chaos. The creepiest part? From outside the yard, everything looks totally normal. Step inside, though, and boom—tentacle monster hellscape. Oh, and on top of all that, Chloe’s dad has been missing for a year, too. Could it get worse for her?

This book is delightfully silly in the best way. It’s clearly aimed at a younger audience, but that doesn’t stop it from being fun, clever, and surprisingly spooky at times. The setup is a horror classic, the kids are genuinely funny, and the monster is just scary enough without tipping into nightmare fuel. There’s a lot of heart here, too, with themes of friendship and family grounding all the chaos. Honestly, I adored it, and kind of wish this existed when I was a kid—tentacles and all— because I would have eaten it right up.

4.5

[Tiffani · Rating 5 out of 5]

From my early Goosebumps days to now sharing spooky tales with my children, especially my daughter, finding the perfect mix of thrills and giggles has been a cherished tradition for us. "Nightmare in the Backyard" was a delightful surprise that had us laughing and shivering with excitement! Picture this: a backyard campout with friends, marshmallows roasting over the fire, and spooky stories filling the air. But when strange scratching noises and tentacles appear, the fun takes a spine-tingling turn! Jeff Strand's storytelling magic kept us glued to the pages, eagerly anticipating what would happen next. Chloe, Avery, and Madison had us cheering them on as they faced down a cryptid creature straight from our wildest dreams. With its perfect blend of humor and heart-pounding suspense, Nightmare in the Backyard delivered an unforgettable adventure that left us screaming for more. It's a must-read for any young thrill-seeker looking for a spooky good time!

Thank you Jeff Strand and Netgalley for sending us this amazing ARC

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.
Avery Chloe, and Madison have planned a sleepover in the backyard and are quite excited; Chloe's dad a disappeared some time ago and the family has been struggling, so a fun campout is just what the doctor ordered. Our night is just beginning when the girls feel something moving under the tent, and all of a sudden giant tentacles burst from all over the yard, attacking the girls. They try to call for help, but their phones are dead, so they escape to Chloe's old treehouse, where they are joined by Elijah, the next door neighbor.
When the mother's come out of the house to see what all the commotion is, they are taken underground by huge tentacles, and Elijah is taken next. Will the girls not only survive the monster in the backyard, but also rescue the mothers and Elijah?

What I liked: The cover is very appealing and will attract readers. In addition, this book is nonstop action condensed in just a little over 100 pages, and will please reluctant readers.
It did end rather abruptly though.
I will purchase.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

In NIGHTMARE IN THE BACKYARD, Chloe’s backyard sleepover goes from nighttime fun to nightmare in an instant! The sleepover seemed to be a great way for Chloe to distract herself from her sadness over her father’s disappearance. Chloe, her bestie Avery, and her annoying cousin Madison settle in for the night, enjoying s’mores and telling spooky stories. When some bumps surface and wiggle beneath their sleeping bags, they dismiss them as snakes. The girls soon realize they’re wrong—and in a big way—when a creature with tentacles bursts through the ground, viciously attacking them. When their phones fail and no one seems to hear their cries for help, they’ll have to band together to figure out a way to save themselves.
I love that the book centers girls and gives them the opportunity to show their strength against the tentacled creature. A fast paced, action-filled scary thriller, NIGHTMARE IN THE BACKYARD will be devoured by readers looking for suspense mixed with humor.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sharing an eARC of the book with me.

[Carla · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book in a new middle grade series. I think young readers will find this book both scary and silly. Chloe, Avery, and Madison planned a backyard sleepover, complete with marshmallows and scary stories. But what they didn’t plan for was an ancient monster with lots of tentacles. The story made me nostalgic for backyard sleepovers from when I was a kid.

I enjoyed all of the different ways the kids tried to defeat the tentacles. They did several clever things, like writing notes and using boards with nails. I loved that the kids came together to save everyone in the end. It did become a bit repetitive, but didn’t detract from my overall enjoyment of the story.

If you are a reader who enjoys fun middle grade scares or knows someone who does, I recommend you read this book.

[BRANDON · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure about reading Nightmare in the Backyard after reading It Watches in the Dark, which I did not particularly enjoy. However, I will admit Nightmare was much better than It Watches. Where It Watches made me cringe with secondhand discomfort more than anything else, Nightmare was much more engrossing. The gradual buildup and growing body count helped build tension throughout the narrative while the dialogue was funny while still feeling completely realistic. Nightmare in the Backyard read very much like a well written creepypasta and I'm not sure if that's a sign of the times or just a coincidence, but I didn't mind. Honestly, it would nice to know that this book was a homage to creepypasta, a nod to a trend that may become it's own distinct genre someday.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Middle grade readers who like suspense, thrills, and scary creatures will enjoy this cosmic horror story. It reminded me of the 90's film, Tremors, and at first I wondered whether the story would advance beyond fighting a creature. As the characters tried new tactics, the threats became stronger, and the stakes were higher as well. I liked the elements of an alternate environment that anyone who is not in the backyard is unaware of. I also liked how the girls saved themselves and were strong protagonists. Tweens and teens won't care that there is no logical explanation for the existence of the tentacled creature or how the story wraps up. It gives just the right amount of adventurous thrills and a good scare factor to make this enjoyable.

[Crimson Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you, NetGalley for an advanced ALC of this book

I got this because the cover gave me goosebump book vibes and sounded so much fun 😁

This is a fast read that keeps you hooked from beginning to end, as a middle-grade book, there are some good things to learn in this book... strong friendship, trying to keep calm in stressful situations, also some good pep talks to each other etc. The book has you smiling and laughing in places but it also surprised me when dealing with a section to talk about a family issue.

I think this is a book a lot of children will enjoy and I am planning to buy this for my mate's little girl when I know it is out

[Ande Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nightmare in the Backyard is a great middle grade horror book about a campout in the backyard that ends with a tentacley monster attacking our protagonists! This book was NON-STOP action. As an adult reader, I would have liked to see the characters built a little bit more, but as a middle grade reader I definitely would have loved the immediate jump into scary fun.

Thanks to NetGalley, Jeff Strand, and Tantor Audio for giving me the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook! The narrator did a fantastic job keeping the tension high and characters' voices unique and enjoyable. My thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes a staycation is just as horrifying as a vacation. Three kids and their neighborhood prankster learn this when they decide to camp in the backyard. Scratches on the wall aren’t scratches. It’s monster tentacles out to get them. The kids get into a tree, and then cant they come down, how come nobody can hear them? Oh my goodness what just happened to their parents. If you want to know this and find out what the tentacles belong to, the best way to do that is to read the book. This was a fun little book. Kids looking for a horror and something that isn’t from R L Stein e are probably going to like it.

[Svea Neitzke · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a review from my 9 year old daughter It's written for children. My husband and I read and enjoyed it! It was a lot of fun!

Her Review: I love Nightmare in the Backyard. It's a great book. I am so thankful to be one of the first readers to read this amazing piece of work. It was so funny and scary at the same time! My favorite character is Chloe because she stands up for her friends and family. My favorite part is when Elijah pulls a prank. He really likes to make jokes. They make me laugh! I also love the tentacle monster because it's cool and creepy.