Books like 'The Only Game in Town'
Readers who enjoyed The Only Game in Town by John Bibee also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
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Boy's Life by Robert McCammon
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsAn Alabama boy’s innocence is shaken by murder and madness in the 1960s South in this novel by the New York Times–bestselling author of Swan Song. It’s 1964 in idyllic Zephyr, Alabama. People either work for the paper mill up the Tecumseh River, or for the local dairy. It’s a simple life, but it stirs the impressionable imagination of twelve-year-old aspiring writer Cory Mackenson...Categorized as:
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The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 73 ratingsMoscow, 1929: a city that has lost its way amid corruption and fear, inhabited by people who have abandoned their morals and forsaken spirituality. But when a mysterious stranger arrives in town with a bizarre entourage that includes a giant talking cat and a fanged assassin, all hell breaks loose... -
Bony-Legs by Joanna Cole
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWhen a terrible witch vows to eat her for supper, a little girl escapes with the help of a mirror and comb given to her by the witch's cat and dog...Categorized as:
children 20th-century action-adventure book children-books fairy-tale female-author fiction -
What Was I Scared Of?: A Glow-in-the Dark Encounter by Dr. Seuss
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsDr. Seuss in a glowing new format!What were we waiting for? We’ve taken the classic Dr... -
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The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsIn Berlin in 1941 during humanity's darkest hour, three unforgettable young women must act with courage and love to survive, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Dovekeepers and The Marriage of Opposites Alice Hoffman. In Berlin, at the time when the world changed, Hanni Kohn knows she must send her twelve-year-old daughter away to save her from the Nazi regime... -
Wise Child by Monica Furlong
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsIn a remote Scottish village, nine-year-old Wise Child is taken in by Juniper, a healer and sorceress. Then Wise Child's mother, Maeve, a black witch, reappears. In choosing between Maeve and Juniper, Wise Child discovers the extent of her supernatural powers - and her true loyalties...Categorized as:
children spirituality 20th-century action-adventure book children-books classics coming-of-age -
The Shadow over Innsmouth by H.P. Lovecraft
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe Shadow over Innsmouth is a horror novella by H. P. Lovecraft. It forms part of the Cthulhu Mythos, using its motif of a malign undersea civilization. It references several shared elements of the Mythos, including place-names, mythical creatures and invocations...Categorized as:
spirituality 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook book classics cosmic-horror -
More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsAll those who enjoyed shuddering their way through Alvin Schwartz's first volume of Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark will find a satisfyingly spooky sequel in this new collection of the macabre, the funny, and the fantastic...Categorized as:
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Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsCrispin is a master mosaicist, creating beautiful art with colored stones and glass. Summoned to Sarantium by imperial request, he bears a Queen's secret mission, and a talisman from an alchemist...Categorized as:
spirituality 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook book dark-fantasy -
Sabriel by Garth Nix
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 76 ratingsSent to a boarding school in Ancelstierre as a young child, Sabriel has had little experience with the random power of Free Magic or the Dead who refuse to stay dead in the Old Kingdom. But during her final semester, her father, the Abhorsen, goes missing, and Sabriel knows she must enter the Old Kingdom to find him... -
The Amazing Mr Blunden by Antonia Barber
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIt was such an old house it sometimes seemed to Lucy that all the past was gathered up inside it as if in a great box; as though it had a life of its own that continued to exist just beyond the reach of her eyes and ears... -
Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIll and bored with having to stay in bed, Marianne picks up a pencil and starts doodling - a house, a garden, a boy at the window. That night she has an extraordinary dream. She is transported into her own picture, and as she explores further she soon realises she is not alone...Categorized as:
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The Mysterious Stranger by Mark Twain
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsrelates the adventures of Satan, the sinless nephew of the biblical Satan, in Eseldorf, an Austrian village in the year 1702. Twain wrote this version between November 1897 and September 1900. "Eseldorf" is German for "Assville" or "Donkeytown"...Categorized as:
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Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsHans Christian Andersen's fairy tales are like exquisite jewels, drawing from us gasps of recognition and delight. Writing in the midst of a Europe-wide rebirth of national literature, Anderson broke new ground with his fairy tales in two important ways. First, he composed them in the vernacular, mimicking the language he used in telling them to children aloud...Categorized as:
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The Little Vampire Moves In by Angela Sommer-Bodenburg
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsRudolph, the little vampire, has been banished from his family’s vault because of his friendship with humans. He now lives in the basement of Tony’s apartment house. Tony is terrified his parents will find out, and when a neighbour complains about the smell, things look bad . .Categorized as:
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The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Marie Pope
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsNewly orphaned Peggy Grahame is caught off-guard when she first arrives at her family's ancestral estate. Her eccentric uncle Enos drives away her only new acquaintance, Pat, a handsome British scholar, then leaves Peggy to fend for herself. But she is not alone. The house is full of mysteries and ghosts... -
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsWicked wolves and a grim governess threaten Bonnie and her cousin Sylvia when Bonnie's parents leave Willoughby Chase for a sea voyage. Left in the care of the cruel Miss Slighcarp, the girls can hardly believe what is happening to their once happy home. The servants are dismissed, the furniture is sold, and Bonnie and Sylvia are sent to a prison-like orphan school...Categorized as:
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Tales from Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsFive stories of Ursula K. Le Guin's world-renowned realm of Earthsea are collected in one volume. Featuring two classic stories, two original tales, and a brand-new novella, as well as new maps and a special essay on Earthsea's history, languages, literature, and magic...Categorized as:
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Hollow City by Ransom Riggs
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 76 ratingsThis second novel begins in 1940, immediately after the first book ended. Having escaped Miss Peregrine’s island by the skin of their teeth, Jacob and his new friends must journey to London, the peculiar capital of the world. Along the way, they encounter new allies, a menagerie of peculiar animals, and other unexpected surprises...Categorized as:
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The Mirror of Fate by T.A. Barron
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsWHAT THE MIRROR REFLECTS...Strange wickedness is rising up on the magical Isle of Fincayra. To save his homeland, and his destiny, Merlin is forced to travel to frightening places - both on the land and within himself. Joined by Hallia, the deer-woman he has grown to love, and by his own mischievous shadow, Merlin discovers a magical mirror that can alter anyone's fate...Categorized as:
children 20th-century action-adventure arthurian book classics coming-of-age dragons -
The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA poignant and suspenseful retelling of a classic fairy tale set in a war-torn world. In the last months of the Nazi occupation of Poland, two children are left by their father and stepmother to find safety in a dense forest. Because their real names will reveal their Jewishness, they are renamed "Hansel" and "Gretel...Categorized as:
spirituality 20th-century action-adventure audiobook book classics coming-of-age dark -
Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsAfter Charlotte's first night at boarding school, the view from the window has changed and the girl in the next bed is not the girl who was there last night. She is a stranger who calls Charlotte "Clare" and says she's her sister..Categorized as:
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The Children of Green Knowe by Lucy M. Boston
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsL. M. Boston's thrilling and chilling tales of Green Knowe, a haunted manor deep in an overgrown garden in the English countryside, have been entertaining readers for half a century.There are three children: Toby, who rides the majestic horse Feste; his mischievous little sister, Linnet; and their brother, Alexander, who plays the flute. The children warmly welcome Tolly to Green Knowe..Categorized as:
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Declare by Tim Powers
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAs a young double agent infiltrating the Soviet spy network in Nazi-occupied Paris, Andrew Hale finds himself caught up in a secret, even more ruthless war. Two decades later, in 1963, he will be forced to confront again the nightmare that has haunted his adult life: a lethal unfinished operation code-named Declare...Categorized as:
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The Tombs of Anak by Frank E. Peretti
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWhen Jay and Lila Cooper enter the cave-tombs of Anak with their archaeologist father, they hope to find a co-worker who has unaccountably disappeared. Instead, they stumble onto a frightening religion and new mysteries that soon put them all in incredible danger. The third book of the Cooper Kids Adventures...Categorized as:
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The Curse of the Blue Figurine by John Bellairs
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsJohnny Dixon doesn't believe that the ghost of mad Father Baart haunts the town church. But then he takes an old scroll and a seemingly harmless figurine from the church basement, accepts a magic ring from a mysterious stranger--and is plunged into a terrifying adventure that may cost him his life... -
The Ghost Belonged to Me by Richard Peck
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratings"More death! More, if you do not stop it. Others lost, like me in the black water. Save them!"When Alexander first sees the eerie glow in the dormer window of the barn, it sets his heart pounding. And when he ventures into the barn in the dark of night, his breath catches in his throat. Suddenly Blossom Culp's words come back to him: "You can make contact with the Unseen... -
Ghosts I Have Been by Richard Peck
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsUpon discovering that she has the gift of Second Sight, Blossom also learns that whether glimpsing the future or traveling into the past, one is powerless to alter history... -
The Little Vampire Takes a Trip by Angela Sommer-Bodenburg
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsTony is not at all thrilled by the prospect of a week's vacation on an isolated farm until he convinces his best friend, a little vampire, to come along...Categorized as:
children 20th-century action-adventure book children-books comedy female-author fiction -
The Stones of Green Knowe by Lucy M. Boston
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThis last of the series starts at the origin of Green Knowe. Roger, the son of a Norman lord, first child to live in the grand old manor, finds ancient stones that magically transport him back and forth in time so he can meet and befriend Toby, Linnet, Susan, and Tolly - future inhabitants of Green Knowe...Categorized as:
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Blood Tithe by Glenn J. Soucy
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAt age five, Jeremy is playing with his friend in the woods, outside of a military base in Maine. He falls through an old World War II tunnel, which is half flooded with both water and chemicals from long forgotten scientific experiments. Jeremy is rescued, but his body is forever altered. Soon he discovers that he can gather energy from living things. But his new abilities come with a price..Categorized as:
christian spirituality 20th-century action-adventure book children-books fiction historical -
The Children of Húrin by J.R.R. Tolkien
Rated: 3.97 of 5 stars · 59 ratingsThis tale of Middle-earth's First Age, which appeared in incomplete forms in the posthumously published The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales , also edited by Tolkien's son, Christopher, only hinted at the depth and power of the tragic story of Túrin and Niënor, the children of Húrin, the lord of Dor-lómin, who achieved renown for having confronted Morgoth, who was the master of Sauron, the...Categorized as:
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The Snarkout Boys and the Baconburg Horror by Daniel Pinkwater
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsGreat questions have always been raised by literature. Moby Dick asks, "Doesn't anyone ever get seasick?" The Odyssey asks, "Doesn't anyone ever get seasick?" The Snarkout Boys and the Baconburg Horror asks: "Why doesn't everyone get food poisoning? How do they survive so many greasy snacks?" "Is Dr...Categorized as:
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The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring by John Bellairs
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratings"Rose Rita is saved from a dull summer when Mrs. Zimmermann inherits a farm and a magic ring from an eccentric uncle....A successful finale that adroitly blends the everyday with the supernatural."—School Library Journal.Rose Rita wishes she could go to camp like her best friend Lewis. She's sure that boys get to have all the fun - until Mrs. Zimmermann offers her an adventure of her own. Mrs... -
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The Bellmaker by Brian Jacques
Rated: 3.98 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsVicious Foxwolf, Urgan Nagru--a fox who long ago discovered the body of a wolf and skinned it to wear as his own--is holding the young Mariel and Dandin captive. The pair are at the mercy of the evil despot and have only one hope of survival...Categorized as:
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The Ghost in the Mirror by John Bellairs, Brad Strickland
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIt started out as a two-week vacation—and turned into a terrifying journey back in time.Rose Rita is thrilled when her parents agree to let her go on a two-week summer trip with her friend Mrs. Zimmermann—who is a witch... -
The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn by John Bellairs
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA young boy discovers a clue that points to an incredible treasure… When Miss Eells gives young Anthony a job at the library, he thinks he’ll just be dusting shelves and filing books. Instead, he discovers a hidden clue leading to the treasure of eccentric millionaire Alpheus Winterborn. Miss Eells thinks the clues are a practical joke left by the odd, old Winterborn before he died... -
Many Dimensions by Charles Williams
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratings...One of the most gifted and influential Christian writers England has produced this century. - Time MagazineReading Charles Williams is an unforgettable experience - Saturday ReviewIt is satire, romance, thriller, morality, and glimpses of eternity rolled into one... -
The Woven Path by Robin Jarvis
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe Woven Path is the first book in the compelling Wyrd Museum trilogy. All readers will be drawn in by the gripping storytelling of Robin Jarvis, where the fantastical elements combine with the seriously chilling. In a grimy alley in the East End of London stands the Wyrd Museum, cared for by the stranger Webster sisters -- and scene of even stranger events...Categorized as:
children 20th-century action-adventure book children-books coming-of-age fiction historical -
The Satanic Mill: Evil Lurks Within by Otfried Preußler
Rated: 3.97 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsIn seventeenth-century Germany, a boy desperately wants to escape from a school for Black Magic where he is held captive by demonic forces... -
Bunnicula: The Celery Stalks at Midnight by James Howe, Victor Garber
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsBunnicula is missing! Chester the cat makes a chilling discovery--Bunnicula the vampire bunny has vanished from his cage in the Monroe household... -
The Vengeance of the Witch-Finder by Brad Strickland, John Bellairs
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsSomething evil has taken over… Lewis Barnavelt and his uncle are in England, visiting a cousin at Barnavelt Manor. Lewis quickly becomes friends with the housekeeper’s son, and as the two boys explore a garden maze, Lewis accidentally unleashes demonic forces that summon the ghost of an evil wizard bent on destroying his entire family...Categorized as:
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The Ghost and Mrs. Hobbs by Cynthia C. DeFelice
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsSequel to The Ghost of Fossil Glen, winner of the Texas Bluebonnet Award.Just a few weeks after making it possible for the police to capture Lucy Stiles's killer -- with the help of Lucy's ghost -- eleven-year-old Allie Nichols is visited by another disembodied voice. Her friend Dub Whitwell decides she must be a "ghost magnet...Categorized as:
children 20th-century action-adventure book children-books fiction friendship ghosts -
The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsWhen Colin and Susan are pursued by eerie creatures across Alderley Edge, they are saved by the Wizard. He takes them into the caves of Fundindelve, where he watches over the enchanted sleep of one hundred and forty knights. But the heart of the magic that binds them - Firefrost, also known as the Weirdstone of Brisingamen - has been lost...Categorized as:
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The Shadow Guests by Joan Aiken
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAfter the mysterious disappearance of both his mother and older brother, Cosmo is sent away to live with his eccentric mathematician aunt. Lonely and confused, Cosmo must also deal with being the new kid at school. Not an easy assignment! But things take a weird twist when Cosmo is visited by ghosts from the past... -
The Turnkey by Allison Rushby
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFlossie Birdwhistle is the Turnkey at London’s Highgate Cemetery. She must ensure all the souls in the cemetery stay at rest. This is a difficult job at the best of times for a twelve-year-old ghost, but it is World War II and each night enemy bombers hammer London. Even the dead are unsettled...Categorized as:
children 20th-century action-adventure book children-books fiction friendship ghosts -
The Minpins by Roald Dahl
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsCome deep into the forest if you dare..Categorized as:
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Elidor by Alan Garner
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA mechanical street map, a deserted slum, a church in ruins, and a football. Four ordinary things lead the Watson children on an extraordinary adventure to a magical land called Elidor...Categorized as:
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The Devil Rides Out by Dennis Wheatley
Rated: 3.87 of 5 stars · 15 ratings29 Apr 1935 - 4 May 1935Black Magic is still practised in all the great cities of the world. This novel tells with macabre detail of a beautiful woman caught in a web of Satanists, of a young man brought to the verge of madness through his dabbling with the powers of evil... -
Outcast of Redwall by Brian Jacques
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsAbandoned as an infant by his father, the evil warlord Swartt Sixclaw, Veil is raised by the kindhearted Bryony. Despite concerns from everyone at Redwall, Bryony is convinced that Veil's goodness will prevail. But when he commits a crime that is unforgivable, he is banished from the abbey forever...Categorized as:
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