Follow Sally to a dark realm called Shadow Town—where a powerful foe awaits her—in the #1 New York Times bestselling series inspired by Disney Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas!
Intrigued? Read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from Shadow Over the Pumpkin Queen by Megan Shepherd, which releases on July 7th 2026.
Can Sally save Jack from the shadows?
Sally should be at ease now that she has proven herself as Pumpkin Queen by saving Halloween Town from destructive spells twice. But the villain behind the town’s most recent troubles—a mysterious figure cloaked in darkness—is still at large, and Sally refuses to rest until she and her king, Jack Skellington, can find their enemy and stop them forever.
Then, strange storm clouds and directionless wind begin to haunt Halloween Town, and soon, citizens start to go missing. It becomes clear that the dark foe has decided to make the first move, and Sally will need allies from across the Hinterlands to stop him. But as Sally and Jack gather their friends to fight back against this attack, the unthinkable happens: the mysterious force takes Jack, too.
After learning that her nemesis is a dark prince who lives in a lost realm called Shadow Town, Sally embarks on another cross-realms quest to find a solution, one that will connect her to new locales like Chance Town and the Hinterlands Maze. With the prince tracking her at every turn, seemingly bent on revenge, Sally will need to fight with every fiber of her being to prevent Halloween Town from utter destruction. But what secrets is the prince hiding—and could the truth undo everything?
And . . . I’m suddenly gone. My reflection is now replaced by a shadow-drenched specter of myself. Everything around me is coal dark. I can’t see more than a few inches. Can’t breathe. I don’t know if I’m seeing a waking nightmare or a vision of the future or a slip of a memory. A whimper escapes my lips. My heart thrashes behind my ribs. I’m trapped in complete dark. Closed in. Claustrophobia burning through my veins until it erupts in a scream . . .
A shriek snakes out of my throat, and the mirror’s silver handle slips from my grasp. I’m back in Town Hall. Not trapped at all. Before I can grab it, the Mirror of Reverie hits the sharp table corner.
The clatter of broken glass rings against my cloth ears.
“The mirror!” The witch gives a garbled gasp. The Mayor’s face spins like a top. Jack jumps up, striding to my side, more concerned for me than the priceless treasure.
“Dear Sally,” he says, “did you cut yourself?”
I shake my head numbly, dropping to my knees to cradle the precious artifact in the basket of my arms, but it’s too late. A broken shard the size of my palm rests on the pumpkin-orange rug.
“I’m okay,” I whisper, my voice sounding distant. “But the mirror is broken.”
Jack helps me to my feet, cupping his smooth palm around my pale cheek. “Why, I’m sure it can be mended. Out of dozens of realms, someone must know a good glassworker.”
I gaze up at him, wanting to trust in the easy confidence in his smile. I wish my worst worry was a mirror in need of mending. Or a holiday that’s grown too tame. But I can’t shake the feeling that, somewhere beyond the borders of my town, something far more fragile than glass has shattered.
Copyright (C) 2026 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved. Published by Random House/ Disney, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.
