Illuminightmare (Illumi #4)

A dazzling format meets its ideal subject in this book, the fourth in the Illumi series by the design duo Carnovsky. Readers use a handheld viewer to decode three-in-one illustrations of 10 real-world places with haunted histories; a key explains what each lens will show (history, place, supernatural elements). Each location gets three illustrated spreads, among them one with a short note introducing the site and its mysteries, and one that offers snippets of information about the items pictured. To the naked eye, the colorful chaos is hard to decipher—a layered jumble of antique-style engraved images—but the lenses reveal scenes of startling clarity: a 17th-century ship at sea (the wreck of the Thérèse), a woodland studded with poisonous mushrooms (the Black Forest), and the looming visage of a grim-faced man (Bran Castle). It’s a satisfyingly analog approach to ghost-spotting. Ages 7–11. (Oct.)