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Something Wicked This Way Comes

Ray Bradbury

Ages 12–17

Readers rate it 3.8 (528 on Hardcover)

293 pages · Released Mar 1, 1998

Content report card

Something Wicked This Way Comes parent’s guide: what’s inside

High confidence

Violence

Sexual content

LGBTQ+ themes

Substance use

What it offers

Educational value

A note for parents

Bradbury's literary classic weaves dark fantasy and psychological horror around two boys confronting a sinister carnival, creating dread and mature themes rather than graphic action. The atmosphere is intentionally eerie with supernatural danger and moral peril, but violence is not explicit and the story ultimately celebrates friendship, courage, and resistance to corruption. This is sophisticated, literary horror meant for older middle-grade and young teen readers comfortable with sustained creepiness and existential stakes.

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From the publisher

Few American novels written this century have endured in the heart and memory as has Ray Bradbury's unparalleled literary classic SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES. For those who still dream and remember, for those yet to experience the hypnotic power of its dark poetry, step inside. The show is about to begin. The ca... Few American novels written this century have endured in the heart and memory as has Ray Bradbury's unparalleled literary classic SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES. For those who still dream and remember, for those yet to experience the hypnotic power of its dark poetry, step inside. The show is about to begin. The carnival rolls in sometime after midnight, ushering in Halloween a week early. The shrill siren song of a calliope beckons to all with a seductive promise of dreams and youth regained. In this season of dying, Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show has come to Green Town, Illinois, to destroy every life touched by its strange and sinister mystery. And two boys will discover the secret of its smoke, mazes, and mirrors; two friends who will soon know all too well the heavy cost of wishes. . .and the stuff of nightmare.

Shelved under

  • Boys
  • Fiction
  • Male friendship
  • Fathers and sons
  • Carnival
  • Fiction in English
  • sci-fi
  • Social life and customs
  • Fantasy
  • Fantasy fiction
  • Horror
  • Carnivals

Books in the Green Town series

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ISBN 9780380729401 · Avon Books

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