Pumpkin Guts: The Perfect Read for Halloween
Winner, 2025 North Street Book Prize, Graphic Novel & Memoir
This Halloween horror adventure is perfect for those who are passionate about the holiday and all things spooky! It tells the tale of Nancy and the Ravens, a gang of rambunctious friends who just want to have some fun on Halloween night.
The Ravens do what any teenagers would do—decide to attend a mysterious local Halloween festival. The fear gets real when Lord Hallow'en, an ancient evil sorcerer tied to Halloween's past, wreaks havoc on the festivalgoers. Using a magical ember, Lord Hallow'en transforms the carnival's costumed actors and guests into an army of hideous demons who kidnap Nancy's closest friend, Katrina. To save her, the Ravens must battle ghouls, spooks, and their worst nightmares.
As a bloody dawn looms, the Ravens race to save Katrina's soul. Can they thwart Lord Hallow'en? Will anyone even make it out alive? It's an epic Halloween adventure, a 300-page masterpiece that puts the graphic in graphic novel, the monstrous fruit of ten years' devotion by author Jacoby Matott!
"...a colorfully grotesque graphic novel that pays homage to teen slasher movies, with sassy characters who crack jokes about the tropes that they're reenacting...
"The plot is straight out of pulp fiction, yet the story has emotional weight for the same reason as a good Stephen King gore-fest: likeable characters with relatable stakes. A close-knit high school friend group, banned from the Halloween dance by their grouchy teacher (Breakfast Club vibes!), try to have a special evening together at the carnival, knowing that graduation will soon separate them. One of them, Nancy, is also grieving her grandfather's recent death. Halloween was their special holiday. Meanwhile, a homicidal escaped convict is on the loose, seeking an artifact that will turn him back into the immortal Lord Hallow'en, an evil sorcerer with links to the holiday's origins."
From the critique by Jendi Reiter, final judge of the North Street Book Prize
Read an excerpt from Pumpkin Guts.
