The Horrible Bag of Terrible Things #1 - by Rob Renzetti

About the Book

Eleven-year-old Zenith journeys into a bizarre, macabre world within a mysterious bag where he struggles to save his older sister from a living hairball and survive a trio of bloodthirsty mouths, a sentient sawdust-stuffed giant, and other horrors.

Book Synopsis

From the creator of My Life As a Teenage Robot comes a middle-grade horror story about a horrible bag, the spine-chilling world hidden within it, and a terrifying adventure into the world of GrahBhag.

Perfect for fans of Coraline, the Spiderwick Chronicles, and Small Spaces.

When Zenith finds a strange, unsettling bag at his front door, he's not sure where it came from or who sent it to him. He knows better than to expect his overprotective older sister Apogee to help him figure it out, because ever since she became a teenager, she's been acting more like a parent to him than a sibling. But he certainly did not expect for a horrifying spiderlike creature to emerge from the bag, kidnap Apogee, and drag her inside to the equally horrifying and unsettling world of GrahBhag.

Zenith sets off into the bag to bring her back but soon finds a bizarre realm where malicious forests, a trio of blood-drinking mouths, and a sentient sawdust-stuffed giant are lurking within the seams. And from every corner of the world come whispers of the Great Wurm, an eldritch horror with a godlike hold over the creatures of GrahBhag, who seems to have a dark, insidious purpose for Apogee. With the help of a greedy, earwax-nibbling gargoyle, Zenith will have to save Apogee from the Great Wurm and help them both escape the horrible bag before it's too late.

With a combination of dry, absurdist humor and no-holds-barred horror, Rob Renzetti has crafted a delightfully imaginative fantasy world that will hook readers as surely as it will send chills down their spines.

Review Quotes

"This book is Terrible, Horrible, and a fiendish delight. Rob Renzetti will send a shiver down your spine and give you a phobia of bags that you never will recover from. Open at your own dismay!"--Alex Hirsch, New York Times best-selling author and creator of Gravity Falls

"If Coraline had flown over the rainbow, through the looking glass, and over the garden wall, her escapades might have looked something like The Horrible Bag of Terrible Things. Zenith Maelstrom's quest to rescue his sister, Apogee, from inside a magical medicine bag is filled with horror but also hilarity, and Renzetti's creepy-crawly world of GrahBhag had me squirming with laughter and giggling in fear. It's the kind of madcap, scary adventure story you'll want to revisit again and again, if you dare!"--Dan Poblocki, author of Tales to Keep You Up at Night

"An otherworldly adventure series in the vein of Oz, Alice's Wonderland, and the Brothers Grimm, The Horrible Bag of Terrible Things will, like it did to Zenith Maelstrom and his older sister, Apogee, instantly grab you and pull you into a weird and wondrous world of terror, danger, and sibling rivalry that takes hold and won't let go!"--Craig McCracken, creator of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and The Powerpuff Girls

"Exhilarating, spooky, and reminiscent of Through the Looking Glass--if everyone and everything in Wonderland was trying to kill Alice."--Shelf Awareness, starred review

"Renzetti's story is fast paced and fully imagined, with completely original creatures and characters."--Kirkus Reviews

"Renzetti weaves an impressive middle grade novel about two feuding siblings that bond over their adventure in an unknown land... Each chapter leaves off on a cliffhanger... making for a suspenseful dark fantasy tale..."--Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"...an inventive and genuinely creepy-crawly read."--Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Rob Renzetti is a veteran of TV animation whose work on Cartoon Network's Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends earned him an Emmy. He created the Nickelodeon show My Life as a Teenage Robot, acted as the supervising producer for Disney's Gravity Falls, and served as executive producer on the first two seasons of Disney's Big City Greens, among other projects. Recently, he has published four books for Disney Publishing, including the New York Times #1 Best Seller Gravity Falls: Journal 3 and Onward: Quests of Yore.