Monster Tree

Ages 10 to 14

Stranger Things meets A Monster Calls in this spine-chilling, emotionally rich middle-grade novel about grief, friendship, and monsters.

Something evil is growing . . .

Linus used to be an artist, like his dad. Now his father is gone, and Linus’s mom has moved them to the other side of the city, hoping for a fresh start. Maybe, for the first time since losing Dad, Linus will even start drawing again.

But there’s something unusual about their neighbor Maude, and something wrong with the grotesque tree in her backyard. At night Linus sees it moving, changing, growing. When increasingly bizarre events plague the neighborhood—massive claw marks appearing on doors and cars, pets going missing, sightings of a red-eyed creature—he suspects Maude and her tree are to blame.

With his neighborhood under threat, Linus teams up with his goofy best friend, Spencer, and no-nonsense new girl Abby to unearth whatever sinister seeds have been planted next door . . . where something truly monstrous is just taking root.

About the Author

Sarah Allen is the author of the middle grade novels What Stars Are Made Of, Breathing Underwater, and The Nightmare House. Born and raised in Utah, she received an MFA in creative writing from Brigham Young University, and now lives in Orlando, fifteen minutes from the Magic Kingdom. She spends her non-writing time watching David Attenborough documentaries and blasting show-tunes. Find her online @sarahallenbooks.