A lonely stranger wakes up in an old castle. He decides to leave and try to figure out who he is. But can he escape? This Level 2 reader adapts one of H. P. Lovecraft’s most popular-and most chilling-tales. Complete with full color edge-to-edge illustrations, this book is suitable for children who read at a First Grade to Third Grade level.

Reading Levels This book is a Level 2 Reader.

Level 1 Readers feature short sentences and familiar words. There is very little text per page (often one sentence or less). Visual cues help beginning readers figure out new words.

Level 2 Readers feature engaging stories with longer sentences. The stories may be more complex, but the text still has plenty of repetition. There are many pictures, and only a few sentences per page.

Level 3 Readers feature more challenging topics and considerably longer text. They suit independent readers who aren’t quite ready for chapter books.

Age Appropriateness The Outsider is a creepy tale that’s best for children who enjoy monsters, dark castles, and ghost stories. It’s a gothic fantasy in the line of Frankenstein and the short stories of Edgar Allen Poe. This adaptation is faithful to H. P. Lovecraft’s original story. There are no jokes, no memes, and no cuteness involved!

Although H. P. Lovecraft is sometimes described as a horror author, there is no gore, violence, or death in The Outsider. The only scariness takes place in the reader’s mind. Different children will read The Outsider differently. A 10-year-old reader found it to be a truly sad story. But a 5-year-old test reader thought it was humorous because of the infamous twist ending.

If you’re looking for H. P. Lovecraft books for a slightly older audience, be sure to check out my collection of abridged and illustrated short stories, called Four Tales of Cthulhu: H. P. Lovecraft for Young Readers. It provides a more grown-up version of The Outsider that’s ideal for ages 10 and older.

About the Author Matthew MacDonald is a science and technology writer with dozens of books to his name. He’s written for a who’s-who list of tech publishers, and is particularly known for his books about building websites and writing code. His adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft began as a Halloween project for his three daughters. You can keep up with all his projects at http: //prosetech.com

H. P. Lovecraft was an American writer who wrote stories that blended the conventions of the horror fiction, science fiction, and weird fiction genres. Lovecraft was relatively unknown during his lifetime, and not commercially successful. But his writing achieved widespread prominence after his death. His works inhabit a fictional universe whose lore is known as the Cthulhu mythos. Since his death, aspects of the Cthulhu mythos have been adapted into films, video games, role-playing games, board games, and the stories of other writers. This would have satisfied Lovecraft greatly, as he encouraged others to use, adapt, and extend his fictional universe.