It’s that time of the year again – the time when horror films are aplenty, pumpkin spice lattes are back on the menu, and you feel a sudden desire to string fake cobwebs across your bookshelves. Ahh, Halloween. How we’ve missed you.
Because Halloween is one of our absolute favourite times of the year (shh, don’t tell the other holidays), we’ve decided to celebrate it in style this year with all of you! We have so many epic things lined up for the month of October. We can barely contain our excitement!
Hands up if you’re excited too!
Book of the Month
We’re so thrilled to be reading None Shall Sleep by Ellie Marney with all of you during October!
None Shall Sleep
The Silence of the Lambs meets Sadie in this riveting psychological thriller about two teenagers teaming up with the FBI to track down juvenile serial killers.
In 1982, two teenagers—serial killer survivor Emma Lewis and US Marshal candidate Travis Bell—are recruited by the FBI to interview convicted juvenile killers and provide insight and advice on cold cases. From the start, Emma and Travis develop a quick friendship, gaining information from juvenile murderers that even the FBI can’t crack. But when the team is called in to give advice on an active case—a serial killer who exclusively hunts teenagers—things begin to unravel. Working against the clock, they must turn to one of the country’s most notorious incarcerated murderers for help: teenage sociopath Simon Gutmunsson. Despite Travis’s objections, Emma becomes the conduit between Simon and the FBI team. But while Simon seems to be giving them the information they need to save lives, he’s an expert manipulator playing a very long game…and he has his sights set on Emma.
Captivating, harrowing, and chilling, None Shall Sleep is an all-too-timely exploration of not only the monsters that live among us, but also the monsters that live inside us.
Onto the activities…
First up, we have…
Bingo!
Bingo is back, baby! And this year, it’s spookier than ever. From carving pumpkins to reading a book with a ghost in it, there’s a variety of Halloween-themed activities to check off your list!
Not only does completing five tasks in a row (horizontal, vertical or diagonal) give you major bragging rights, we’ll also be giving you the chance to win a book of your choice (up to $25AUD) in our giveaway! There’s one prize for people who complete one row and another prize for all you high-achievers who complete the entire board. You got this!
All you have to do is complete the tasks you want to complete, post about it on social media, and use the hashtag #YASpookRoom! We can’t wait to see all the spooky challenges you accept in October.
The only rule is that you have to read / watch different things for different tasks! No doubling up! We’ll be posting recommendations all throughout the month, so make sure you follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook if you’re in need of some spooky inspiration.
The giveaway is open internationally and will be drawn in the first week of November. Time to get spooky, YA Roomies!
Here are all the prompts from the above graphic, in order of horizontal rows, with prompts from left to right.
ROW ONE: share a spooky story, dress as a book character for a day, read a queer spooky story, watch a foreign language horror film, read a book with murder in it.
ROW TWO: set up Halloween decorations, join a YA Room movie night, watch a horror film with a female protag, read a book with fog on the cover, (virtually) visit someplace haunted.
ROW THREE: read a spooky #LoveOzYA book, watch a spooky horror film from your childhood, read None Shall Sleep, carve a pumpkin, share a spooky shelfie.
ROW FOUR: watch a classic horror film, read a book with a black cover, wear a costume, eat Halloween-themed food, read / watch something with a ghost in it.
ROW FIVE: read a spooky short story, spell your name with spooky book titles, share your top 5 spooky movie recs, read a spooky 2020 YA release, recreate a spooky book cover.
We’ll also be hosting a ton of…
Netflix Parties!
We’ve been loving all our Netflix Parties every Friday night since lockdown began. This October, we’ll be watching a spooky film each week and talking all about them! Some of them are brand new, others are older, but we can’t wait to watch them with you.
If you haven’t joined a Netflix Party before, it’s really easy to use! All you need to do is download the free Netflix Party extension on Chrome, restart your browser, and then click the link to the viewing session we’ll be sharing before each film. Keep an eye out on our social media 10 minutes before the start time of each film to get the link and join the stream! There’ll be a chat bar at the side of your screen so we can all converse during the film.
- Shaun of the Dead, Friday 2 October, 8pm AEST
- Hubie Halloween, Friday 9 October, 8pm AEDT
- A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting, Friday 16 October, 8pm AEDT
- Rebecca, Friday 23 October, 8pm AEDT
- DOUBLE FEATURE! A Quiet Place @ 7.30pm, followed by Bird Box @ 9.30pm AEST, Friday 30 October
We’re also lucky to be hosting a…
YA Spooktacular!
Hear Astrid Scholte, Michael Pryor and Anna Morgan talk all about their work and share their favourite Halloween memories on Zoom on Saturday 17 October from 7 – 8pm AEDT!
We’ll be discussing the dark and creepy aspects of their work, hear a little bit about what they’re currently writing, and learn how they get in the mood for writing all of the spookiest scenes.
Tickets now available! Click here to register.
Letter to a Villain
This month we’re (un)lucky enough to be joined by four literary villains, ready and waiting to answer your burning questions! Have you ever wondered where Count Olaf does his costume shopping? Or maybe you’d like some tips from Jadis the White Witch on garden ornaments?
Send your questions for Count Olaf, Jadis, the Queen of Hearts, and Smaug to theyaroom[at]gmail[dot]com or use the below form for a chance to have your question answered! We’ll be posting one question and answer from a villain each week on our social media.
And finally, we’ll be having a…
Halloween Zoom Chat!
Join us (AND ELLIE MARNEY!) on Saturday 31 October AT 6.30pm AEDT for a spooky Zoom Chat! We’ll be doing a Q&A with Ellie all about her latest novel, None Shall Sleep, and there’ll be plenty of time for you to ask your spine-tingling questions as well.
Following the Q&A, we’ll be having more of an in-depth discussion about our Book of the Month. Make sure you pick up a copy of None Shall Sleep ASAP to join in the fun! We hope to see you there.
Tickets will be released in the middle of October, so keep an eye out on our social media!
We hope you’re as excited for Spooktober as we are!
Don’t forget to use the hashtag #YASpookRoom and tag us in all your social media posts! You can find us on Twitter @ TheYARoom_MELB, Instagram @ theyaroom, and Facebook @ facebook.com/theyaroom.
Stay spooky, YA Roomies!
Sarah Epstein is an author, illustrator and designer who grew up in suburban Sydney and now lives in Melbourne with her husband, two sons and a doggo called Luna.
Anna Snoekstra was born in Canberra, Australia to two civil servants. At the age of seventeen, she decided to avoid a full-time job and a steady wage to move to Melbourne and become a writer. She studied Creative Writing and Cinema at The University of Melbourne, followed by Screenwriting at RMIT University.
Chami is an twenty year-old BookTuber at ‘ReadLikeWildFire’ (Soon to be called ‘IsThatChami’) who spends most of her time in a small little corner of the internet, harbouring copious amounts of books and unhealthy reading habits. After all the whining and crying about fictional characters that happened in her youth, Chami decided in late 2014 that enough was enough. So she looked to the joys of YouTube for people who understood her pain and immense love for literature, and alas, she found a home.
Piéra Forde is a BookTuber, actor and animal enthusiast who is known for her honest, quirky book reviews and book to screen adaptations of some popular YA books.
Anisha is a 17 year old bookish person obsessed with – wait for it – reading (wow, who would have thought?).
Catriona is has been making bookish videos on her BookTube channel, Little Book Owl, for over six years.
Danielle Binks is a writer and reviewer, with a particular interest in youth literature. In 2016 she joined literary agency, Jacinta di Mase Management, as ‘Agent-at-Large’ – seeking authors of Young Adult (YA) and Middle Grade (MG) fiction works.
For the millions who log in every day, Warcross isn’t just a game—it’s a way of life. The obsession started ten years ago and its fan base now spans the globe, some eager to escape from reality and others hoping to make a profit. Struggling to make ends meet, teenage hacker Emika Chen works as a bounty hunter, tracking down players who bet on the game illegally. But the bounty hunting world is a competitive one, and survival has not been easy. Needing to make some quick cash, Emika takes a risk and hacks into the opening game of the international Warcross Championships—only to accidentally glitch herself into the action and become an overnight sensation.
The YA Room 