Dreamland Lake

The decayed park has been overgrown by the woods. That is part of the setting of this amazing children's novel that even adults will enjoy. The entire book's tone seems to be affected by the abandoned park, whose glamorous heyday ended several decades before the story takes place.

When I was in in middle school I checked this book out a least 100times, it was and still is a compelling thriller/comming of age story that holds up extremely well despite it's age (early 70's). There are some mature themes (language, violence, sexual suggestion) but nothing more than say PG-13. The character are so well rounded you and the story so absorbing, you will find yourself comming back to this one many times over as I did. And it has a strong message, sometimes the lessons you learn in life are not always easy ones.. Highly recommended.

I read this book 12 years ago and even today it remains one of the more hair raising books I've read. Granted I was probably 12 years old, but it had the whole evil-in-the-woods thing going.