Scabbajack

by Peter J. Murray

SIGNED by the author and illustrator.

181 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2010

About the author

Winner of the Stockton Children's Book Award, the Bedfordshire Book of the Year Award and Sheffield Children's Book Award, Peter now visits over 100 schools a year across the globe, spreading an enthusiasm for reading, writing and story-telling.

His remarkable ability to capture the imagination of young people, engaging the most reluctant of readers with his tales of spooky happenings has led to fan mail from students who remember his presentations from ten years ago or more and are off to university, or writing books of their own.

Born and brought up on a council estate in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. Pete left school with few qualifications. Feeling ill suited to an academic lifestyle he followed in the family tradition of working in the dangerous steel works of Sheffield. What happened over the next 30 years is an amazing story...

You can read more at the Fantasy Book Review.

Reviews

[Int'l librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s a lot to be scared about in this book: plenty of scary noises, and dark passages, and haunting faces. On a more direct grisly level, the violence is extreme, especially for younger readers. Murdoch and his cleaver will make it hard for some to sleep.

But this isn’t simply a fright – it’s also a very well-constructed view of 19th century British history. Scabbajack, the good ghost, guides his modern counterpart Zak through an insightful, depressing tour of child labor practices in the textile mills of 100+ years ago. The machinery, the pollution, and the threat of angry bosses were real-life terrors for millions of people, young and old.

The book isn’t perfect: the side story of Zak as a writer clashes with the flow of the story at times. And without giving away too much – the resolution is more bright and sunny than circumstances deserved. But for those who like something to think about with their scares, this book delivers.

[Yami · Rating 4 out of 5]

for such random book I picked, I fell in love with the cover, and I can say it was a fast paced ,thriller little story, and surprisingly was not cheesy ...I did enjoy it

[Chinaa Monroee]

great book

[Jasmine Inglis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one hello of a fast paced, spooky, scary book.

This book gives me the chills. Jack was such an eerie character. I feel like I connected with Zac most due to his love of writing and scary things.

The mill aspect confuse me as I know the mills closed many years ago but in this book ,which was set in the 21st century, the mills had only closed about 2 years ago.

This book grips you and you can't put it down.

I recommend this to anyone who wants a easy but spooky fast paced read