Darkness at Dreamer Mountain

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Pub Date Apr 01 2025 | Archive Date Mar 31 2025

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Description

HI/LO novel written in verse format.

Is there a more exciting place to spend winter break than a haunted theme park? Thirteen-year-old Teddy’s uncle hosts a paranormal TV show called Shiver Search. He lets his nephew tag along with the crew for a special shoot. Dreamer Mountain is a long-abandoned amusement park with rust-covered rides and snow-steeped carnival stands. Yet some say they hear sounds rising up from the site at night.

When the crew enters, what they encounter proves more mind-melting than they ever expected. Teddy finds a force that seems to know his personal hopes and fears, something that can warp and transform space and time. Can he survive the cosmic power that has taken hold of Dreamer Mountain?

Available in paperback, hardcover, and eBook. 

HI/LO novel written in verse format.

Is there a more exciting place to spend winter break than a haunted theme park? Thirteen-year-old Teddy’s uncle hosts a paranormal TV show called Shiver Search...


Available Editions

EDITION Hardcover
ISBN 9781978597822
PRICE $25.80 (USD)
PAGES 160

Available on NetGalley

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Average rating from 12 members


Featured Reviews

A young boy named Teddy goes with his uncle to a haunted amusement park.
His uncle is a paranormal investigator.
Teddy has always wanted to help with the show, and ends up being part of the team.
Mysterious noises are heard, so begins the search.
In reality they have all entered the park but the twist is a clever one.
It's written in poetry style. So the pages aren't very long.
I read it in one sitting and thoroughly enjoyed it.

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A great starting foray for young readers wanting to begin their novels-in-verse journey.

Darkness at Dreamer Mountain follows the Shiver Searchers, a paranormal hunting group, as they head into the abandoned amusement park, Dreamer Mountain. The characters find themselves confronting by their deepest fears in Dreamer Mountain and can’t get back out again until they face them.

A junior fiction novel, written in verse, Darkness at Dreamer Mountain gives young readers a taste of a more enjoyable side of poetry. In my experience, poetry taught in schools focuses so much on parsing through to find meaning, dissecting poems for meter or rhyme schemes, that the enjoyability of them often gets lost. This novel can be a great way to re-engage with younger readers with just enough spooks to really get them immersed.

Each poem moves smoothly from one to the next, the ending lines pulling a lot of weight in keeping the interest there for the next one. There’s a couple of complimentary pictures scattered throughout, and while the poems themselves are long, the lines are short and engaging.
I would have like to see a bit more variety in the poems’ structures, but as I’ve said, this is a nice introductory piece before students move up to more challenging reads. The poems are easy to digest and focus a lot on imagery.

I look forward to adding this to our library’s collection to give our young readers more variety in their poetry options.

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Ryan Wolf's "Darkness at Dreamer Mountain" is a surprising little read. Told in verse, I wasn't expecting the story to be terribly vivid, but Wolf managed to conjure up plenty of vivid descriptions to make younger audiences truly feel like they're in this spooky park. It's a fast-paced read, which I know will make younger readers want to continue chapter after chapter. A quick, yet highly effective, middle grade supernatural novel that I thought was well worth the read.

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I think this is a perfect middle grade book for your kiddos that love a little spooky story. This story was told in poetic form as well. The pages flew by because the content was interesting and the words per page small.

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Thank you to NetGalley, Rosen Publishing Group, West 44 Books, and Ryan Wolf for the opportunity to read Darkness at Dreamer Mountain in exchange for an honest review.

Ryan Wolf does it again! Darkness at Dreamer Mountain is another fun-filled middle grade HiLo adventure in verse! This one was exceptionally fun because it triggered my nostalgia in ways. It reminded me of the TV show Are You Afraid of the Dark, the young adult novel Full Tilt by Neal Shusterman, the video game Alan Wake II, and Hide by Kiersten White (though for a younger audience). It's a nice blend of what is already out there while also maintaining its own uniqueness.

The story follows Teddy as he accompanies his uncle and crew to a haunted theme park, where they are to film the next episode of his uncle's paranormal TV show. While supposedly abandoned, rumor has it sounds can be heard of the park, and it's not just the wind.

After entering, Teddy, his uncle, and the crew are faced with haunts they never would have expected, exploring aspects of the self regarding both hopes and fears, a trial they never expected to face. Hopefully they can have some fun on rides in the process, as well as maybe get the best episode footage ever!

One aspect about this novel I appreciate is the images. I am a firm believer that all books should have illustrations sprinkled throughout. It add more flare to the fun. The images were a nice touch to the haunting allure of the theme park, as well as some of the more obscure things Teddy witnessed or thought about. The covers of these books (West 44 Books in general) really just keep getting better and better too! This cover is so perfect! You have thirteen-year-old Teddy with a nice expression of fear, with some anxiety, and the haunting, snow-covered theme park in the background. Love it!

This is such a fun novel. More than Middle Grade readers are sure to enjoy this wild ride!

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A fun, fast-paced read filled with twists and turns. It reminded me of an episode of The Twilight Zone. A book that middle graders will enjoy year-round. Lots of emotions and contemplation in such few words.

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Thank you so much to Rosen Publishing / West 44 Books and Netgalley for the ebook to read and review.

Teddy is helping his Uncle Kyle and his film crew to find spirits in a haunted theme park, together they all share their biggest fears and soon they come to fruition. The park chases them, attacks them and tests them. But was any of it real or was it all just a dream?

Creepy and eerie, a really well crafted middle grade horror. I really enjoyed the topic in this one, abandoned theme parks always have the most utterly creepy vibe to them and this book really grasps at that and draws you into its evil. I very much loved the hauntedness of the theme park, the fears and trickery at every turn.

It was such a roller coaster of events that unfurled through the story and as each fear became a glimpse at reality it was really intriguing at exactly what they would do about it, how they would over come it all. I really liked seeing each ones different reaction as things just kept happening and how the park didn’t stop until it was ready to be done.

This is such a great middle grade horror it’s just got the right scare to it for younger horror fans, but isn’t scary enough to provide major nightmare to those a little more susceptible to scary things. It’s a fun ride reading this story and the setting is what really make it for me.

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Thirteen-year-old Teddy joins his Uncle to film an abandoned and haunted Theme-park for his paranormal show. Alongside the crew, Teddy soon finds himself trapped inside Dreamer Mountain, and it will not let them go until fears are faced, and nightmares are confronted.

Review:
What a unique middle-grade book! For those searching for something a little different, this was a breath of fresh air. The entire book is written in verse, with each page having only 60(ish) words, accompanied by illustrations that add to the spooky atmosphere.

I enjoyed the topics covered in this story, such as Teddy’s baby sister who has yet to be born, his concerns of being an older bother, and his worries of being pushed aside as he’s no longer small and cute in his parents eyes, with his mother’s attention now focussed on the new baby.

Other characters also had their horrors faced, a particular highlight being the scary Mr Pangolin who was terrifying!
I’ve yet to come across many middle grade reads that are like this one, it’s perfect for older kids who want a fun story that can be enjoyed in one sitting.

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I think this is perfect for the kids who can’t handle anything spooky/scary such as scary stories we tell in the dark. Only gripe I have with it is the layout of the pages, it couldn’t keep my attention without my eyes wandering sometimes (though very quick and easy read for an adult audience so that’s not the issue) so it does make me worried for the kids that get just as easily distracted when there’s not more on a page. The story was fast paced but not too fast to the point it lost itself.

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Dreamer Mountain is a haunted theme park. Teddy accompanies his uncle and crew to it, where they are to film the next episode of his uncle’s paranormal TV show., Shiver Search. While supposedly abandoned, rumor has it sounds can be heard at the park. After entering, Teddy, his uncle, and the crew are faced with haunts they never would have expected. They end up exploring aspects of the self regarding both hopes and fears,. Teddy’s uncle tries to touch the ghost but his hand just goes through the ghosts. Teddy and his uncle go on a roller coaster that they won’t forget.

The author has written this scary story in verse. It’s pulse-pounding. The vivid descriptions made me feel like I was there in the park with them. I must admit that I don’t really like a story in verse but this the exception for me.

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