The Clackity

Reminiscent of Doll Bones and Small Spaces, this “delightfully eerie” (Erin A. Craig, New York Times bestselling author of House of Salt and Sorrows) middle grade novel tells the story of a girl who must rescue her aunt by entering a world of ghosts, witches, and monsters to play a game with deadly consequences.

Evie Von Rathe lives in Blight Harbor—the seventh-most haunted town in America���with her Aunt Desdemona, the local paranormal expert. Des doesn’t have many rules except one: Stay out of the abandoned slaughterhouse at the edge of town. But when her aunt disappears into the building, Evie goes searching for her.

There she meets The Clackity, a creature who lives in the shadows and seams of the slaughterhouse. The Clackity makes a deal with Evie to help get Des back in exchange for the ghost of John Jeffrey Pope, a serial killer who stalked Blight Harbor a hundred years earlier. Evie reluctantly embarks on a journey into a strange otherworld filled with hungry witches, penny-eyed ghosts, and a memory-thief, all while being pursued by a dead man whose only goal is to add Evie to his collection of lost souls. Will she ever find Des, or is The Clackity planning something far more sinister?


Genre: Children's Fiction

"Delightfully eerie, The Clackity is full of chills aplenty and so much heart. I fell in love with Blight Harbor and Evie, even as they gave me goosebumps!" - Erin A Craig

"A charming and delightfully spooky tale with just the right balance of chills, mystery, and heart. Evie Von Rathe's courage to confront her own demons, as well as otherworldly ones, will no doubt inspire young readers as much as it inspired me. This one's a gem." - Gregory Funaro

"A wonderfully surreal and sinister journey, perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman's Coraline." - Kurt Kirchmeier

"The Clackity is a spooky story with a charming main character and a cast full of ghosts, witches, strange houses, and some villains you will not be able to forget. An empowering story about overcoming grief, fear, doubt, and finally learning to trust yourself, wrapped in a chilling tale with some strong Coraline vibes. Senf has crafted what is sure to become a modern classic with Evie's empowering and triumphant adventure." - Ally Malinenko

"If Neil Gaiman, John Bellairs, and Eva Ibbotson had collaborated on a creepy tome for kids, it would have read exactly like The Clackity. I never realized a story could make me feel simultaneously terrified and comforted until I read this book. Like the most unsettling of fairy tales and fables, Senf's writing is loaded with ideas of grief, love, wisdom, and magic, as well as heaps of heebie-jeebies. The Clackity feels like a brand-new classic of scary kids' lit. I adored the strong and colorful characters, even the ones who wished to eat the others! This is the kind of adventurous and frightening tale--filled with monstrous imaginings, guaranteed to make your skin crawl--that young folks will want to race through, then flip back to the start and begin again." - Dan Poblocki