Help me find a YA/Children's book series

November 28, 2015 8:16 PM

I am trying to remember a series of books I read as a child, as I want to buy some of them for my niece. Can anyone help me find this supernatural, colonial themed book series?

My memory is super fuzzy on this. They were set in a Puritan-like New England town, though it could be otherwise American colonial in setting. My first thought was Braintree but that hasn't helped my search so it could be wrong. They were supernatural and spooky in a Young Goodman Brown kind of way, but for children. I can't remember any specific stories or plots. The covers were stark black and white, maybe stylized as sketches. I remember one with a very spooky tree. I think I read about 4 or 5 of these, so it wasn't a one-off.

posted by coreywilliam to Grab Bag (9 answers total)

When were you a child?
posted by Athanassiel at 8:24 PM on November 28, 2015

Spooky stylized sketches makes me think Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark. You will instantly know by the art.
posted by roger ackroyd at 8:34 PM on November 28, 2015 [1 favorite]

I don't know about Young Goodman Brown, but John Bellairs's novels were spooky and had wonderful sketch-y illustrated covers.
posted by bibliotropic at 8:40 PM on November 28, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Yes, excellent question and a huge oversight. This would have been in the early to mid 90s. I would guess these were published then or a few years earlier in the 80s. Also, I believe these books were all novel length stories.
posted by coreywilliam at 8:47 PM on November 28, 2015

I also thought John Bellairs's Johnny Dixon series. They are set in Durston Heights, Massachusetts, but during the 1950s--not sure if you meant the series was actually set in colonial times or just in a New England town. The covers were drawn by Edward Gorey.
posted by Violet Hour at 9:00 PM on November 28, 2015 [3 favorites]

Yes, can you please clarify the time frame of the setting? Were these library books? Or maybe something from a Scholastic book fair?
posted by MonkeyToes at 4:57 AM on November 29, 2015

This is a long shot but since other people are guessing non-colonial settings - it isn't by any chance Richard Peck's Blossom Culp series - I'm thinking particularly of the novel, The Ghost Belonged To Me?
posted by pretentious illiterate at 5:12 AM on November 29, 2015

Best answer: Is it Bill Brittain's "Coven Tree" series? The Wish Giver, Devil's Donkey, and Dr Dredd's Wagon of Wonders? (He may have written more, but I had left elementary school by that point.) I remember a very New-England supernatural vibe from these...
posted by Pickman's Next Top Model at 6:33 AM on December 1, 2015

Wow, Pickman's Next Top Model, the cover of "The Wish Giver" sure checks for "stark black and white, maybe stylized as sketches."
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:41 AM on December 1, 2015