• Age: 9 to 12
• Grade: 4 to 7
• Reading age: 9 to 12

2017 Silver Birch Express Award Honour Book • 2017 Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award — Shortlisted • 2017 Diamond Willow Award — Shortlisted

The second instalment in a series of scary tall tales from acclaimed children’s novelist Philippa Dowding.

I will never leave this car, the back seat reeks of everything my little brother has ever eaten, and that thing is still out there …

Myles and his family have been driving for four days. It’s their final night on the road, but Myles knows they will never arrive at their new house. It will never stop raining. And even if they do get there (which is doubtful), he knows he will never have friends again.

He also knows that something is following them in the dark, rainy fields outside their car. Something monstrous.

Once the monster arrives, things go very wrong. Myles and his family get lost, their car keeps breaking down, and a strange old man and his dog turn up, again and again. Then things get really weird. Myles is pretty sure it’s all his fault: he’s the only one who can see the monster. He’s the only one who can hear the monster.

And hardest of all? He’s the only one who can make it go away.

Philippa Dowding is a children’s author, poet, musician and copywriter. She has won many industry awards and has had poetry and short fiction published in journals across North America. Her children’s books have been nominated for numerous literary awards in Canada and abroad, including the SYRCA Diamond Willow, OLA Silver Birch, OLA Red Maple, Hackmatack and White Raven awards. In 2017, Myles and the Monster Outside was an OLA Silver Birch Express Honour Book and her 2021 novel, Firefly, won a Governor General’s Literary Award in the Children’s Literature – Text category. Philippa Dowding currently lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Philippa Dowding's profile page

• Short-listed, Diamond Willow Award
• Runner-up, Silver Birch Express Award Honour Book
• Short-listed, Hackmatack Children's Choice Book Award

The “Weird Stories Gone Wrong” series is a good series for reluctant readers. They are the book equivalent of a tame campfire ghost story, with vivid imagery, simple presentation and fast pacing.

Canadian Materials

A ghost dog (and owner), a monster made of fog, and a desolate stretch of road on a dark and stormy night are good set ups for some genuinely spooky storytelling.

Quill & Quire

Dowding’s second Weird Stories Gone Wrong is a . . . carefully written Goosebumps from north of the border.

Kirkus Reviews

This book is a delicious, spine-chilling treat for middle grade readers.

Canadian Children's Book News

An effective bridge for readers who are new to the genre or who aren’t yet ready to transition to the wider body of supernatural and speculative fiction.

Resource Links

Mixing colourful, descriptive imagery with plentiful dialogue, Dowding creates an excitingly spooky tale. Add Daigle's ghostly drawings, and readers will be enthralled with this second novel in the Weird Stories Gone Wrong series.

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