A (Dead) Thing Like Me

“A gorgeously creative debut, weaving life, grief, and the spirit of friendship into a tour-de-force.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Meet Hot Dog, a teenage ghost in love with life — especially junk food. When a grieving, 18-year-old artist accidentally summons her via Ouija board, Hot Dog thinks she has her chance to become a real, living human girl. But she isn’t the only creature haunting the teen’s house, whose secret room can barely contain an entity that threatens to unmake them both.

Gorgeously strange and stunningly written, this YA paranormal masterfully melds camp and creep into a beyond-the-grave coming-of-age.

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  • "This spectacular story straddles a surreal, almost mystical, line before dropping readers into the terrifying challenges of facing the ghost-eaters that can rip people’s souls from their bodies. The throughline anchoring this highly original narrative is the fierce power of love."

    — Kirkus Reviews, starred review

  • “Sensory and strange, Young’s surreal debut wafts through planes of existence and consciousness, following Hot Dog’s evolving understanding of herself and her relationship to the living world. Her fragmented journey unfolds in tandem with Logan’s grief, and both girls are pushed to face upsetting realities in order to see their paths forward. Hot Dog is serving love and weirdness in a way that will have A. S. King fans lining up.”

    — Booklist

  • “Hot Dog is an unlikely and sympathetic protagonist in this quirky paranormal story that deals with friendship, trauma, and finding your own voice.”

    — School Library Journal

  • “A stunning paranormal debut. Young swims eloquently through the supernatural to deliver a suspenseful tale of friendship and healing.”

    —A.S. King, Printz-winning author of Dig.

  • “Surreal and stone-cold stunning, this deliciously strange debut thrums with energy and raw, unguarded emotion. ... Hot Dog has taken up residence inside my body and my mind forever after reading this.”

    —Nova Ren Suma, New York Times bestselling author of The Walls Around Us and Wake the Wild Creatures

  • "A highly imaginative story of longing and existential beauty."

    —Madeline Claire Franklin, author of The Wilderness of Girls, a William C. Morris Award Finalist

  • "Beautifully written, totally surreal, and absolutely page-turning, it's the single most unique book I've read this year.”

     —Ann Dávila Cardinal, award-winning author of You've Awoken Her, Breakup From Hell, and Five Midnights

  • “A spine-tingling and ultimately cathartic tale."

    —Lenore Appelhans, author of The Memory of After

  • "Hot Dog may be a ghost, but anyone would be lucky to call her a friend."

    —De Elizabeth, author of This Raging Sea

  • "A thrilling exploration of what it means to be human--wrapped in a quirky hot dog bun. Unforgettable."

    —Ana Ellickson, award-winning author of The Vanishing Station

The Vibes in A (Dead) Thing Like Me:

  • Mystical and surreal

  • Darkly funny

  • Coming-of-age from beyond the grave

  • Teen ghost POV

  • Will make you crave hot dogs

  • For fans of teen paranormal like Wednesday and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

  • Will make you laugh and cry in public

  • Scariest chapter is a blank page

  • Lyrical prose + a healthy dose of camp

Headshot for promotional use. No credit needed.

U.S. Cover. Holiday House/Peachtree.

U.K. Cover. Walker Books.

Media Kit

Bio

E.G. Young (she/her) is a speculative fiction author living on the Gulf Coast of Florida. In her books, you’ll find weird-but-tender vibes, strange girls, dark humor, spookiness, and animals who all live at the end (promise!). She writes 90 percent of her drafts using voice-to-text dictation (shoutout to fellow hypermobile humans). E.G. holds an MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults from The Vermont College of Fine Arts and is represented by Linda Camacho at Gallt & Zacker Literary Agency.

Book Information

  • A (Dead) Thing Like Me

  • 352 pages

  • Genre: YA paranormal fantasy/horror

  • Publisher: Holiday House/Peachtree (U.S.) and Walker Books (U.K.)

  • Release Date: August 18, 2026 (U.S.) and August 13, 2026 (U.K.)

  • ISBN (U.S.): 9780823461066

  • ISBN (U.K.): 9781529536409

  • Age Range: 14 and up

  • Grade: 9 & Up

Audiobook Information

  • Produced by Dreamscape Media

  • Release date August 18, 2026

  • Narrator Amy McFadden

Book Description

One hot dog with banana peppers. That’s all Hot Dog wants. An invisible teenage ghost, she haunts a food cart outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Until one night, she’s accidentally summoned via Ouija board to a house party in Florida . . . where finally finally finally, people can see her.

All the party guests scatter, except for Logan: the cool artist girl who doesn’t just see Hot Dog, she actually wants to talk to her. Logan, who isn’t scared of Hot Dog’s stitched mouth or chattering dress. Logan, who’s grieving her own dead BFF—and called Hot Dog by mistake.

Hot Dog wants to prove it’s not a mistake. 

She can be Logan’s new best friend. She can go to Logan’s Halloween party. She can eat snacks, have sleepovers, and hang out. She can definitely smile without scaring people. Exactly like a real, human girl. 

There’s one problem: Hog Dog’s not a real, living human girl, and something in Logan’s sprawling house knows it. It scratches like rats in the walls. It opens a secret door in Logan’s attic. It wants to drag Hot Dog into the nothingness where dead things go. And unless Hot Dog can confront the dark truth of how she died, it will unmake Logan too. 

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