Saving Hascal's Horrors

by Laura Smith

Mike Hascal can't wait for the day when he grows up and gets to take over his family's horror shop. He and his friends go to Hascal's Horrors every day after school where Mike's sister, Julie, has run the store ever since their father died. However, a tragedy seven years ago forced the shop to close to the public. A boy, Shawn Mackey, went into the woods to try to take a picture of a ghost for a contest the shop was holding, and he never made it out. The Mackey family then forced the Hascal family to take customers by appointment only and never let any kids into the store. When business, gets slow and a woman complains about her grandson, Freddy, hanging out at the store, Julie is forced to ban Mike and his friends from the shop. To save his store, Mike and his friends decide to solve the mystery of what happened to the missing boy, hoping that the Mackey family will let them reopen the shop to the public. Using their knowledge of horror movies, Freddy's help, and Mike's family's supernatural powers, they go on an adventure to save the family's shop and bring Shawn Mackey's family peace.

ISBN-13: 978-1495345616 (CreateSpace-Assigned)
ISBN-10: 1495345610
Alternate Cover Edition

255 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 10, 2014

About the author

Laura Smith earned her B.A. in Creative Writing from Carlow University in 2007. Since then, she has self-published three middle grade books with a fourth to be traditionally published in the spring of 2022. She also runs a blog, Laura's Books and Blogs, where she reviews indie books, interviews authors, features guest posts by other writers, and posts tips, resources, and essays about writing. She lives in Pittsburgh, PA.

Reviews

[Charissa Wilkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as part of the Goodreads First Reads Program for the purpose of a fair review.

Overview: Mike wants to run Hascal’s Horrors. There are just a few little hurdles standing in his way. One, he is still in the fifth grade. Two, one of the teachers of his school hates the shop. And three, one of his friend’s grandmother might be joining in on the “close Hascal’s Horrors” bandwagon. Maybe finding out what happened to a missing teen, Sean Mackey, might just save not only Mike’s dream, but the family business as well.

Likes: Most of the employees at Hascal’s Horrors were people who brought out the best in those around them. Julie and Mr. Mackey wanted the best for all those around them

Dislikes: I got an early edition of this novel, so bear with me. What I grouse about might just have been fixed. I thought that Mr. Mackey was written in a disjointed fashion. On the one hand we have a bully-teacher. And on the other, we get a sympathetic person mourning the lost of his son. These ideas just didn’t work well as a single person.

And then we get to Tim’s views on horror and children. Some can handle scary stuff pretty well. Others need to grow up a bit before they can handle it. Nothing really is a one size fits all. You have to take each child as an individual, as you do with all people.

Conclusion: This is a good book to enjoy with Hallowe’en coming up. Have fun with your middle-graders.

[Ann Andrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was a little nervous when I started reading this book. I was anticipating that the store was about to be shut down and a group of kids or teenagers were setting out to try to save it. There are nothing wrong with those books, they just give me a lot of anxiety and I've seen too many of them.

So I was pleasantly surprised when that was not the direction Laura Smith took.

The main character Mike is delightfully likable and I enjoyed seeing him mature a little through the book and learn more about his friends, family, and his father's shop.

Very cute book. It was a very nice break from some of the heavier reading I've been doing lately.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great ghost story for younger readers. The first third needs to be tightened up considerably, as it really dragged. The last third was thrilling, even for a mature reader. The main characters are all quite well-developed, and there is a strong sense of the importance of family ties and loyalty.

[J.B. Richards · Rating 5 out of 5]

10-year old Mike Hascal loves horror movies, and it just so happens that his family owns a horror-themed shop—Hascal’s Horrors. Before his Dad’s death, the shop held a contest to see who could take a photograph of a real live ghost. Two teen boys entered the forest, where the ghost was purported to be, but only one returned. Will the ghost of Shawn MacKay seek revenge on Mike and his friends who are now out searching the woods for his body?

This story has turned out to be one of my all-time favorite preteen/teen reads! Smith touches on all the classic hallmarks of middle-school life as her characters deal with peer pressure, bullying, food fights, puppy love, and everything in between. Her main character, Mike, is an average 10-year-old, wondering about the usual things that 10-year-old boys wonder about. He’s an endearing character that shows a good deal of soul and dimension as he learns that you can’t judge everyone can by first appearances and their initial behavior.

“Saving Hascal’s Horrors” is a remarkable coming-of-age/horror story with just a small touch of magic. The tale is quite reminiscent of the popular cult movie “The Goonies”, and it and will likewise take readers along on a grand and noble quest, treating the macabre with wonder and humor as it appeals to the curiosity of preteens and the young-at-heart everywhere.

[Sea Caummisar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! I actually enjoyed a story about a group of ten year old kids! The horror shop was such a cool idea for a book. Throwing in a ghost just made it even better. There's all kinds of mentions of horror stuff for movie buffs. For example, newspaper articles are written by reporters named John Carpenter and Wesley Craven. There's even discussions about which horror movie has the scariest music. Besides all that, there's a good plot.

[Tabatha Shipley · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I Did Like:
-The falling action. The second half of this one kicks up the excitement and the intensity. It gave me sort of a Goonies vibe through the second half, which I loved.
-The kids. They have a cute, yet realistic, little friend group. I liked that they weren’t completely perfect, but had struggles and moments were they fought.
-The ghost stuff was well handled. It wasn’t overly scary, but it was enough to pull you in. I liked that.

Who Should Read This One:
-Middle grade readers who are interested in ghost stories (but maybe not really scary ones)

My Rating: 3 Stars. This is a good book for middle grade kiddos who like a little mystery and aren’t afraid of ghosts.

For Full Review (including what I didn’t like): https://youtu.be/_HUxsT3F9lM

[Tonja Drecker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hascal's Horrors is a horror shop with all sorts of fun trinkets, scary movies and tons of things which make a little horror fan's heart flutter. My own sons would love to have access to a shop like that, and I have no doubt this alone will make many young readers' dreams take flight.

received a free copy of this book for an honest and open review.

The story is about a boy named Mike. His father owned the store and handed it down to Mike's older sister Julie after his death, but it's always been Mike's biggest dream to run the store himself one day-- a dream to do what he enjoys and not one that will get him money or fame. I appreciate that. Mike isn't alone on his journey. He has a wonderful bunch of friends and family, who despite ups and downs (and a few disagreements) are always there for each other.

Although Mike tries to solve the mystery of a boy's death, which happened years before, in order to save the shop, and even does so with the help of his and his sister's psychic abilities (these are subtle and don't over power the story in any way), this story is mostly about the beautiful relationships between family members and friends. I especially enjoyed the dealings with Freddy, an outsider who came to find acceptance in the group.

There is a constant sense of underlying mystery to this, although the action itself doesn't really start until more than half-way through the book. I would have liked to have seen a little more of this earlier on and believe it would have helped the pacing. But we get to know the characters well--especially Mike gains an amazing realistic feel about him--and the end hunt is thrilling.

Summoned up, this is a book with a wonderful setting and a lovely view into friendship and family. Especially boys can appreciate the thrill of possibly owning their own horror shop and will be able to relate to Mike and his dreams.

[Laura Smith]

My second middle grade book.

[Shawn StJean]

In his famous short essay “Why We Crave Horror Movies,” Stephen King makes a crucial distinction—though he witholds the alienating clinical terminology–between neurosis and psychosis, and explains that horror texts keep most of us on the harmless side of that line. A parallel, critical definition of Gothics—such as Frankenstein— is that they explore the irrational impulses lurking beneath the calm surface of the rational mind.
Without delving into the why of it, King observes that horror has “always been the special province of the young.” One might theorize that, before and during puberty, the id has a clear dominance over the superego, while the ego spends all its time in formation, self-absorbed and aloof from the battle. Simply put, kids have more strongly expressed fears and desires than adults, because they haven’t learned yet to be ashamed of them. In fact, they embrace them, through thrill-seeking: climbing trees, riding roller coasters, skateboarding, flashlight-tag, Truth or Dare.
Laura Smith’s adventure novel for ‘tweens, Saving Hascal’s Horrors, is neither Horror nor Gothic. Yet its conflict does center around the culture of the Horror Shop (think comic-book store, leaning over a cliff’s edge). Hascal’s store has been closed to the public for years, following alleged complicity in the disappearance and death of a local teen.
This navigation around a genre, without indulging in its excesses, is a bit of a neat trick. Smith understands her audience (I‘d say 8-12 years old). Many young children, given the opportunity, revel in the scatology, “sick jokes,” profanity, sexual suggestiveness, and gore of the horror text. Smith leverages none of these cheap elements. Rather, the major conflict resolves around a common, relatable fear: getting lost in the woods. That’s not to say the book is sanitized: it does contain a dead body, for example. But we aren’t asked to witness an autopsy of descriptive (and gross!) detail.
Part Hamlet, part To Kill A Mockingbird, Smith creates a neighborhood of characters in “Salemstown, PA,” in which the real tragedy is one of folks laboring under irrational prejudices against one another: the freaky/geeky boy who can’t fit in, and lacks the social tools to disabuse his tormentors; the mean-seeming old man, who doesn’t care to justify himself. And stripped of the racial dimension of Harper Lee’s novel, Smith’s work might appeal to contemporary parents who would prefer their progeny focus on the more common forms of prejudice. As one of the characters realizes, “Maybe a villain was just a good guy who had something terrible happen to him.”
Supernatural elements do introduce themselves, through a video message by protagonist Mike’s father, from beyond the grave: a mission to reopen the store, in the face of continued financial decline. Further on, Mike discovers an inherited post-cognitive ability. In fact, the book eventually transforms into an actual ghost story. However, like Hamlet’s father, the spirit of the missing boy is not evil, only haunting the forest while it awaits release from purgatory. A preoccupation with death imagery, paraphenalia, verse, and text almost defines the teen audience, and the book thus weaves a sort of unique appeal for so young an audience. The YA bookshelves, of course, are filled with the stuff, but Smith offers a less intense, more fun experience for the neophyte crowd. I especially enjoyed the repartee among Mike, Corey, Jack, Lisa, and Freddy, even amidst imminent danger in the caves.
The extended conclusion is suspenseful, but not designed to frighten, and devoid of terror. In fact, it more often invokes nervous humor during the misadventures of the cohort of 9-11 year olds, in a Goonies-like manner. The book also contains Easter eggs, scattered throughout, for the watchful older reader–if one should happen to be a fan of the horror genre.
Finally, there’s a lot of book for the buck, here. In fact, the novel feels to me about two minor characters (several adults hover in the background,) and forty pages too heavy, with a few scenes that could have been harmlessly dropped, contributing to a tighter organic unity. But nothing so problematic as the “Director’s Cut” that King himself has released of The Stand, all but ruining a good epic with excess material, and proving why editors are needed—even in the labyrinth of the unconscious.
FOUR stars.