From the author of The Doll Graveyard comes a classic ghost story for fans of Wait Till Helen Comes and The Dollhouse Murders! Nightshade can be deadly.Hannah and Scooter's sprawling, ramshackle house is named for the lethal plant that grows in the dark woods behind it. Hannah knows she's not supposed to explore the forest or nearby Moonlight Lake. But she's feeling lonely and desperate for an adventure. And there Hannah meets Cady, a mysterious girl who promises everything Hannah's been missing. Only Cady has a secret: Cady wants Hannah all to herself.Soon Cady is copying Hannah's style so they can be more alike. She lies to Hannah's friends, insults Scooter, and begs Hannah to break her parents' rules and sneak out for a midnight swim. Hannah wants to believe Cady's just a little insecure. But when she discovers a cemetery beyond the lake with an eerily familiar headstone, she must decide whether to trust her new friend or dig for answers that may lead her to a watery grave . . . Praise for The Doll Graveyard:"Perfect for fans of classic spooky stories." --Booklist"An effectively spooky, poignant ghost story." -- Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Lois Ruby is the author of several books for middle graders and teens, including The Doll Graveyard, Rebel Spirits, Steal Away Home, The Secret of Laurel Oaks, and Strike! Mother Jones and the Colorado Coal Field War. While traveling, Lois explores ghostly locations in Kansas, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, and even a few spots in Australia, Spain, and Thailand. No spirits have tapped her on the shoulder yet, but she's ready for that to happen any time now. Lois and her husband divide their time between Albuquerque, New Mexico and Chicago, Illinois. Please visit Lois at loisruby.com. The low growth is thickyou can barely get a foot between the bushes. I shove one aside, hearing the crunching of broken branches as I slide through the thorny hedgerow. Beyond it is a large open field with tall grass waving like wheat in the gentle wind. Parting the grass, I keep walking. There's nothing and no one over here. Very curious. I expected to see a circle of houses where Cady's friends live, in a small village with a grocery store and a computer repair shop and an outdoor café, all of it shaded by huge, leafy trees -- cottonwoods and magnolias with ancient, knotty trunks.There's none of that. What I see instead is flat, bare land. Beyond the tall grass is more grass cropped close to the ground, as if it's been grazed by a hundred starving goats and cows, but there's not an animal in sight.I keep walking, half of me quivering with the excitement of discovery, and the other half aware that I'm farther and farther from home, as though I've stepped through some portal into another world. It's a huge relief to see a plane as small as a crop duster circling overhead. The pilot waves to me and put-putters away. Besides him, there's no sign of life.Off in the distance, beyond a circle of low, leafy bushes are several short stone outcroppings, reminding me of something mystical like Stonehenge. They're not lined up neatly -- no, they're stuck in the ground, facing every which way. Getting closer, my heart starts to pound. Why should these small monuments fill me with such dread? Something's so wrong here. Those stones are menacing because . . . because . . . now I'm close enough to see what they are.Tombstones.Some are old markers, pitted, chipped and crumbling, that look like they've been around since the beginning of time. Then there are some newish shiny, pink marble ones.This is a cemetery. Praise for The Doll Graveyard:"Perfect for fans of classic spooky stories." --Booklist"An effectively spooky, poignant ghost story." -- Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

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