We’re just getting a hint of cooler nights where I am now, making everyone excited for fall. Here is a pair of newer books perfect for celebrating fall and winter holidays. Both of these have a fast-moving plot and a short page count, both ideal for readers just ready to read past early chapter books.

Greta Grimsdark and the Normal New Neighbor by Haley Neil. Bloomsbury, 2026. ISBN 9781547617357. Review copy kindly sent by the publisher. Intended for 7-10 year olds.

Greta Grimsdark is the only human child in a decidedly supernatural family living in a haunted castle at the edge of town. She’s not particularly close with her three older brothers, Zombert, Gothric, and Hauntsley. She loves her dragon parents, of course, but they’re not great at traditional things like coming to parent night at school. Still, the relative isolation and always-Halloween vibe she’s grown up with is familiar. So when a new, normal girl and her dad move into the cottage across the street, Greta treats it like an experiment – what do normal people do? How should she go about assessing Agnes to see if she is potential friend material, or know if Agnes wants to be friends with her? The experiments are coming along fine, if a little awkwardly, when Greta realizes that she has offered something dangerous to the new pet she’s given Agnes. Now both girls – and even Greta’s brothers – will have to work together to avert disaster.

This is wonderfully sweet and funny story, with high appeal to kids who struggle to read social cues and make friends themselves, as well as to those who love a lightly creepy story. With illustrations in every chapter and just 164 pages, this is great for middle elementary readers. As shown on the cover, Greta has pale skin, whie Agnes is Black.

Holidays at the Castle by Jessica Day George. Bloomsbury, 2026. ISBN 9781547620067. Review copy kindly sent by the publisher. Intended for 8-12 year olds.

I really enjoyed George’s Tuesdays at the Castle series, reading it to myself and listening on audio with both my kids, while my youngest listened to the whole series on their own many times over. I was very happy to see a new book in the series arrive in my mailbox, timed to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Tuesdays at the Castle.

Two years have passed in book time since the story began, and friends from the whole series, including Prince Lulath’s family, and Kalys of the unicorns, whom we met in Saturdays at Sea. Princess Celie is working on making gifts for her family for the Midwinter Feast, when she has news that the griffins – all except her own Rufus – are going wild, fighting each other and frightening the unicorns. This in turn badly worries Kalys, who in addition to her strong dislike of her first winter, is afraid that the unicorns are no longer safe in Castle Glower. For the holidays to be the joyous celebration that Celie loves, she will have to solve this problem. There’s also a bit of romantic drama as Princess Lilah is unaccountably crying and avoiding her betrothed Prince Lulath, and everyone is waiting for Prince Rolf and Kalys to make their courtship official. I’d been wondering if there would be any romance for Celie here, now that she’s solidly a teen, but she’s kept solidly a middle grade character here, interested primarily in the animals (both magical and not), her friendships and her older siblings’ romances.

Holidays at the Castle comes in at 117 pages of story, with some backmatter that wasn’t in the ARC I read. It’s a delicious holiday bonbon of a book, with a bit of adventure and lots of coziness and reuniting with beloved characters from the other books, and heroics from the Castle itself as well as the characters. I’d recommend starting from the beginning if you’re new to the series, but this is a treat for fans of the series.