There are spine-chilling secrets hiding behind your refrigerator door! When you close the refrigerator door, does light inside really go out? And if it doesn't, what might be happening inside? Readers are about to discover the cold hard truth of what actually goes on within the walls of their seemingly dark and peaceful refrigerator. Independent Book Review Reviewed by Jaylynn Korrel A creative and fun story that tests the limits of our imagination What goes on in your refrigerator after you close it? As an adult, I can say that it's crossed my mind a few times throughout my life. This is why I was so pleased to pick up Steve A. Erickson's new children's book A Very Chilling Mystery. In it, he pairs vivid and fun illustrations with a captivating take on what goes on behind the scenes in your fridge, and it's nothing like you'd expect. There's a party going on in the fridge, and Erickson lets you in on it. It starts with an illustration of a little girl eyeing up the fridge from afar as the narrator invites us on a journey of confirmation that those delectables aren't just lying around waiting to be enjoyed in there. Soon we're taken through the shelves as foods and beverages go about their daily business, which includes things like playing baseball with a carrot bat, potatoes watching tv on a meatloaf couch, and beets rocking out on a drum set. In fact they're doing every-thing but the nothing most people assume, and it's awesome! One of the coolest aspects of this book is that not only did Erickson write it, he also illustrated it. And the illustrations are what truly bring the book to life. As it takes place pre-dominantly in the fridge, readers can look forward to a colorful display of fruits, vegetables, leftover dinners, and mysterious forgotten foods on each page. The illustrations are so inviting and professional but also look as if they've been done with crayon or colored pencil, giving them a youthful touch that matches the reading level perfectly. Children will enjoy Erickson's rhythm and rhyme style of storytelling while adults will appreciate some of the more detailed aspects of the vegetable characters, like the half and half who can't make up their mind or the beet who plays in a band called "The Beets," written in the same font as "The Beatles." I loved this story for many reasons, one being that I think it will spark an imaginative flame in young readers. If they've never considered what happens behind this closed door before, they definitely will now. They may even begin to question what goes on behind others and make up creative stories of their own to support their ideas. I'd recommend this book to most children and families who read together. I know I'll be reading it to my own. Midwest Book Review A Very Chilling Mystery is a children's book written and illustrated by Steve A. Erickson. It tells of a cold, cold place which contains mysteries (yes, it's the refrigerator), and captures the secret world of food in an especially delightful, rollicking rhyme: "If it wasn't dark in there,/What would the food be doing/Among the Tupperware?/Well, I am here to tell you,/There's life inside that box./When the door is shut, the light stays on/And that frosty space? It rocks!" The vivid dance and musical antics of various fridge denizens commands young reader attention both by the fun rhymes and unexpected scenarios they paint and the equally vivid illustrations Erickson uses to embellish his story. Even the most reluctant of young eaters will find plenty to like in a tale that celebrates hidden lives, mystery, and food facts, all couched in whimsically imaginative description: "Then there is the milk carton/Who becomes extremely grumpy/When it stays past its "best by" date/And turns quite sour and lumpy." Adults who want to teach the young reader a bit about food but who face resistance to staid nonfiction accounts will find this assessment of the good and the bad in a typical refrigerator to be a fun way of absorbing food facts and fancies. It lends to both adult read-aloud and individual pursuit by youngsters who already have good reading skills. A Very Chilling Mystery also serves as both an example of poetic prowess with its winningly whimsical approach to food and the mysterious possibilities that lurk behind closed doors. Readers' Favorite Reviewed by Emma Megan Have you ever wondered what's going on inside the refrigerator? What do all the food, vegetables, fruits and drinks do? Does the light stay on or go off after you close the door? In this lovely children's picture book, A Very Chilling Mystery by Steve A. Erickson, young readers can learn about the chilling and yet untold secrets hiding behind their refrigerator door. He tells them about the vibrant life inside that tall, cold box that stands there in their kitchen. He even exposes what happens inside the frosty space. Thus, every curious little reader can now learn about what actually goes