It might be Dave McKean’s artwork, which is, in fact, the creepiest thing in the book, but it looked way too similar to Coraline. I had a teacher in high school who, whenever someone would say something to the effect of “well they say that…”, would ask “who is ‘they’? This book is about a girl named Lucy who lives with her mother and father and her little brother, but one day she hears some scratching on the walls.

Family are focused on material belongings and hobbies rather than listening and believing their daughter/sibling. This is a challenging text, as it covers the issue of nightmares but it really engages the boys in my class.It also has been adapted into an interactive movie where, as Lucy’s imaginary friend in addition to Pig-Puppet, you can help her find clues and battle the wolves. Lucy, having forgotten her favorite pig toy in the room, sneaks into the house inside the walls and takes it. Many of the illustrations look as though they have been sketched straight onto handmade paper, while others look as though they have been digitally altered. In October 2007 it was staged in New York, off Broadway at the New Victory Theater, for a two-week run.

It is pure imagination expressed in picture book form, being both whimsical and frightening and written in a way that feels like an old fairy tale you think you should already know. When the wolves finally take over the house and Lucy and her family are evicted to live in the garden, her parents realise perhaps they should have listened. Lucy is the first to go back into the house and save her pig-puppet, while the rest of her family is too afraid of the wolves. After I had written my review for that one, a friend even suggested, I needed to read this, too, so here we are.

Lucy believes that there are wolves living in the walls of her house, but her family doesn’t believe her! But it’s the wolves themselves – with their glinting eyes and piercing howls – that make the strongest impression.

The family does just that, seeing what the wolves are doing in the house (they watch TV at full volume, eat jam, throwing leftovers everywhere, dance). It is just the kind of story that should be read aloud, too, full of the rhythms and repeated refrains that fit with oral story telling. When Lucy confronts her parents about the sounds, they scare her by repeating the saying, “If the wolves come out of the walls, then it’s all over. Then, when the family is in danger of moving away, Lucy has the courage to save their house from the wolves, despite her family’s objections, making her the heroine of the story.Sign up to unlock our digital magazines and also receive the latest news, events, offers and partner promotions.