The Nightmares of Finnegan Quick

What if your nightmares came true? What if you dreamed something terrible, then woke up and it had happened in real life?

This happens to Finn. A monster has taken his parents away, and now his gran is being threatened. But then a girl, Cass, appears in his dreams, fighting the monsters – and she turns up at school in real life!

Slowly, Finn begins to hope he can overcome his fears and battle the monsters with Cass and his best friend Squid by his side. But what exactly is Cass hiding? 

This has a good balance of horror and normal life, while Finn is awake. It has both creeping horror tension and gory action scenes, featuring goblins and zombie-like creatures. Larry Hayes has won the Lollies Award for funny writing, and the dialogue and interaction between the three children zips along.

Finn is a normal kid trying to deal with his outlandish life, and the reader will have much sympathy for him. Good for upper primary school children. 

Note: parental death is key to the plot.