# The House at the End of Hollow Lane

Everyone on Hollow Lane says the tall dark house at the end of the street is haunted. On Halloween night, Nell and her best friend finally dare each other to knock on the door.

Ages 6–10. 6 chapters, about 35 minutes.

## What happens

Everyone on Hollow Lane knows the tall house at the end of the street is haunted. The shutters bang with no wind, a green light glows in the tower, and strange music drifts out at night. On Halloween, Nell and her best friend Omar dare each other to knock on the door, and Nell's little brother Bo tags along in his dinosaur costume.

What they find is not a ghost. It is a retired theater prop maker with a black cat, a house full of clocks and wooden birds, and a very good reason for every spooky thing the neighborhood has whispered about. By the end of the night, the whole street is at her door.

## From Chapter 1

> "Nobody goes to the last house," said Omar. "Nobody. Ever."
>
> He said it the way he said everything on Halloween, which was loudly, with his plastic vampire teeth clicking in the middle of every word.
>
> Nell sat on the curb with her pillowcase in her lap. It was a quarter to six on the best night of the year. The sky over Hollow Lane was turning the color of a plum, and orange lights glowed in almost every window. Pumpkins grinned from every porch step.
>
> Every porch but one.
>
> At the very end of the street, where the sidewalk gave up and the road bent into a dead end, stood a tall, thin house with a pointed tower. It was gray and crooked and taller than all the others. Its shutters hung at odd angles. Its yard was full of tangled bushes. There was no pumpkin on the steps. There was no light on the porch.

## Chapters

1. The Dare
2. Candy and Courage
3. The Sounds in the Dark
4. The Door Opens
5. Mrs. Fenwick's Workshop
6. The Best Halloween Ever