title: Don't Open the Door! (Easy-to-Read Spooky Tales)
author: Veronika Martenova Charles
description: Veronika Martenova Charles is an award-winning author and illustrator whose books include: <b>Maiden of the Mist: A Legend of Niagara Falls</b>; <b>Stretch, Swallow, &amp; Stare</b>; <b>The Crane Girl</b>; and <b>The Birdman</b>. Veronika has studied at Ryerson University, the Ontario College or Art and Design, and recently completed her graduate studies in Folklore at York University. Veronika Martenova Charles lives in Toronto.<br /><br />David Parkins is the award-winning illustrator of over fifty childrens books. He began his career at Dyfed College of Art in Wales, studying wildlife illustration. He then went to Lincoln College of Art for three years, and has been a freelance illustrator since his graduation in 1979. He spent several years at the beginning of his career producing illustrations for educational publishers, and has earned most of his keep drawing for the British cartoon, <i>The Beano</i>. David Parkins lives in England with his wife and daughter.
zlib_text: One
  
  
  Her last lift dropped her in a small town centre – she never caught the name.
  The engine’s echo died away. It was late. The street lamps fizzed, lit
  nothing: gratings, palings, geometric shadows. Nothing _live_. The station was
  closed up. There were no shelters. She tried car doors. A car is fine for
  sleeping in, especially a big one with a wide back seat. She tried and tried
  but this was a careful town and all the doors were locked. She set an alarm
  off, one of those that say _Stop the thief_ in a robot voice. She would have
  laughed if she hadn’t had to run.
  
  
  She legged it through an alley into a car-park full of vans. She tried all the
  doors and finally a back door opened. She looked around and climbed in quick.
  She couldn’t see a thing at first, but as her eyes accustomed to the dark she
  saw that the van was full of blankets. She couldn’t believe her luck. Not nice
  soft blankets, they were the sort you wrap things in, stiff and scratchy – but
  still, _blankets_. They smelled l