Editorial Review

“‘Draw the Dark’ is one of four books launching Minneapolis-based Carolrhoda’s new line of distinctive fiction that the publisher says ‘offers YA authors and their readers an opportunity to explore and experiment with the full range of adolescent triumph and tragedy.’ In the book, Christian is a teen who loves to draw, but his talent scares him. He has sketched a door on his bedroom wall that changes locations during the night, and he somehow knows that if he draws a doorknob, he might find his dead mother on the other side. When he’s accused of painting swastikas on the old barn owned by the town’s mean rich guy, people think he’s even odder than they supposed. Christian is haunted by the idea that he can draw people’s deepest fears, causing them to die. When he’s sentenced to do community service at a nursing home, he’s drawn to a mute old man who had been a painter and harbors a secret. This is psychological horror at its best.” —Pioneer Press