When Ally Russell was a kid growing up in Pittsburgh, the Carnegie Library was her refuge, and R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books were her constant companions.
“I still remember those cozy feelings of reading Goosebumps,” she tells Pittsburgh City Paper. “I was afraid, but I also knew I was safe. That’s the balance I try to capture in my own books.”
Russell has since built a career writing the kind of creepy, thrilling stories she once devoured. Her debut, It Came from the Trees (Delacorte Press, 2024), introduced middle-grade readers to a monster lurking in the woods. Soon after came Wednesday: Book of Outcasts (Random House Children’s Books, 2025), a tie-in to Netflix’s Addams Family spinoff, and Down Came the Spiders (Scholastic, 2025), a work about a Halloween party overrun by arachnids, now sold at Scholastic School Fairs and soon to be available to the general public in December.
This fall, Russell celebrates the launch of her latest middle-grade children’s book, Mystery James Digs Her Own Grave, at Stories Like Me in Squirrel Hill on Fri., Sept. 26, marking a full-circle return to her hometown.
Russell moved to State College, Pa., three years ago to be closer to her parents and siblings in Pittsburgh, after more than a decade in Boston, Mass. “It feels like a full-circle kind of moment,” she says.
Russell describes herself as a lifelong horror fan. Her first scary movie was the Stephen King adaptation Silver Bullet, which she watched at the age of five during a family movie night. By age 11, she aged out of Goosebumps and started reading King’s novels. The early immersion gave her a high tolerance for horror and shaped her sense of responsibility as a writer of young adult spooky novels.
“I just ask myself, would this have scared me too much as a kid? If yes, then I know it might be too much for new horror readers,” says Russell. “I want to give them that creepy thrill without nightmares.”
Balancing genuine chills and the comfort of knowing you can always close the book is something Russell believes kids today are hungry for. “Kids are asking for scarier books these days,” she says. “So I’m trying to write material that is appropriate for them, creepy enough for them, but in a cozy sort of way.”
If Goosebumps was her childhood gateway, Russell is intent on making a name for herself in the genre. When comparing her to Stine, Russell accepts the label with humility. “R.L. Stine is obviously a big inspiration, so I’d never say he hasn’t shaped me,” she says. “But I’d like to think I’m carving a parallel lane, something of my own that still gives kids that same sense of fun fear.”
For Russell, horror isn’t just about scares; it’s about giving kids tools for the real world. “Scary stories teach kids how to deal with fear, how to process emotions,” she says. “I’d much rather a kid encounter something terrifying first in a book, in a safe environment, than out in the world without knowing how to respond.”
Her protagonists reflect that philosophy. They face monsters — vampiric ghosts, grotesque creatures, swarms of spiders — while wrestling with grief or tension. The horror, in other words, is a mirror. “The monsters in my books are stand-ins for things we fear in real life,” she explains. In Mystery James Digs Her Own Grave, for instance, the villain is an ancient, power-hungry ghost. “I hope kids see that parallel, that sometimes the scariest monsters are the ones who drain resources without caring about others.”
Representation is just as intentional. Russell grew up in an almost entirely Black school community before moving into predominantly white spaces in high school. That experience shaped her mission to center kids of color in her work. “I know what it felt like to not see yourself represented, especially in horror,” she says. “So it’s very intentional for me to put Black and brown kids at the center of these stories. Not as sidekicks. As the heroes.”
Her influences include not only Stine but also shows like Nickelodeon’s Are You Afraid of the Dark?, which she praises for its diverse cast. Today, she’s thrilled to see Latina actress Jenna Ortega embody Wednesday Addams on screen, but she also knows the genre still has a long way to go. “I want my characters to take up space in these ghoulish, spooky worlds. Because kids deserve to see themselves not just survive the story, but lead it.”
Thankfully, Russell’s books are published through some of the biggest children’s imprints: Delacorte, Scholastic, and Random House. That patchwork has given her a wide perspective on the industry. What’s surprised her most, though, is how little respect children’s literature sometimes receives. “People turn their noses up at middle grade or YA, as if it’s lesser,” she says. “But you don’t get adult readers without kid readers. We have to build that love of literacy young.”
Despite these frustrations, Russell has found moments of pure joy in the journey. Seeing her books pop up in Scholastic Book Fairs — those iconic, wheeled racks of childhood nostalgia — was one of them. “The millennial kid in me was screaming,” she laughs. “That’s when I felt like, okay, I made it.”
Her event at Stories Like Me will feature a conversation with librarian Jocelyn Codner, Q&A, and book signing. And while Russell has no plans to move back to her hometown, she’s happy to be part of Pittsburgh’s growing literary landscape.
“When I was a kid, I didn’t see many author events here,” she says. “Now, big-name writers are stopping through, local indies are thriving, and there’s real camaraderie among writers. Pittsburgh is coming up as a literary city.”
September Book Launch Party with Ally Russell. 6-7:30 p.m. Fri., Sept. 26. Stories Like Me. 4381 Murray Ave., Squirrel Hill. Free. Registration required. storieslikeme.com
