David Almond and Dave McKean together again, with a dark, powerful and moving short story.

Joe Quinn tells everyone about the poltergeist in his house, but no one believes him.

No one that is, except for Davey. He’s felt the inexplicable presence in the rooms, he’s seen random objects fly through the air.

And there’s something else … a memory of his beloved sister, and a feeling deep down that somehow it might be possible for ghosts to exist.

Nominated for the 2020 CILIP Kate Greenaway Award.

"Blurring the boundaries between text and image, child and adult, life and afterlife, Almond and McKean create a sense of the meeting point between the human and sublime."

The Guardian

"The art amplifies the characteristically dark, rich tones of Almond’s prose all the way to a final Dylan Thomas-style promise that “the world and all that’s in it will continue to…hold us in its darkness and its light.”… A keen collaboration moving seamlessly between worlds inner and outer, natural and supernatural."

Kirkus Reviews

"This throws Joe into an existential funk, expertly rendered in McKean’s dark, mixed-media illustrations, where overlapping, scribbled sketches embody confusion and conflict, jarring collages evoke an unsettled atmosphere, and negative space echoes absence and haunting memories. Joe navigates his inner turmoil, including grief and religious confusion, forming earnest revelations about life’s poltergeists (i.e., disruptions) and finding peace."

Booklist

Joe Quinn’s Poltergeist was published on March 7th 2019 by Walker Books; paperback edition now also available.

The US edition was published by Candlewick Press on September 10, 2019.