Spooky season has arrived. Turn off your lights, turn on your flashlights and be prepared to be spoked by these bone chilling reads. Descriptions are from the NYPL catalogue. Check these titles out at your local library.
Middle Grade Fiction
Bone Jack by Sara Crowe
Ash Tyler hopes to make his psychologically scarred father proud by training for his town’s Stag Chase, but when he meets the mysterious Bone Jack, dark energies take root and the world as he knows it is upended.
City of Ghost by Victoria Schwab
Cass and her personal ghost companion, Jacob, are about to find out that a city of old ghosts can be a very dangerous place indeed.
Doll Bones by Holly Black
Zach, Alice, and Poppy, friends from a Pennsylvania middle school who have long enjoyed acting out imaginary adventures with dolls and action figures, embark on a real-life quest to Ohio to bury a doll made from the ashes of a dead girl.
Ghost Squad by Claribel Oregta
“For Lucely Luna, ghosts are more than just the family business. Shortly before Halloween, Lucely and her best friend, Syd, cast a spell that accidentally awakens malicious spirits, wreaking havoc throughout St. Augustine. Together, they must join forces with Syd’s witch grandmother, Babette, and her tubby tabby, Chunk, to fight the haunting head-on and reverse the curse to save the town and Lucely’s firefly spirits before it’s too late.”–Jacket flap.
The Girl and The Ghost by Hanna Alkaf
A Malaysian folk tale comes to life in this emotionally layered, chilling middle grade debut, perfect for fans of The Book of Boy and The Jumbies.
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Nobody Owens is a normal boy, except that he has been raised by ghosts and other denizens of the graveyard.
The House of Dies Drear by Virginia Hamilton
A black family tries to unravel the secrets of their new home which was once a stop on the Underground Railroad.
The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste
Corinne must call on her courage and her friends and learn to use ancient magic she didn’t know she possessed to stop Severine and to save her island home.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Irving Washington
A superstitious schoolmaster, in love with a wealthy farmer’s daughter, has a terrifying encounter with a headless horseman.
The Nest by Kenneth Oppel read by Gibson Frazier
“When wasps come to Steve in a dream offering to fix his sick baby brother, he thinks all he has to do is say yes. But yes may not mean what Steve thinks it means”– Provided by publisher.
The Night gardener by Jonathan Auxier read by Beverley A. Crick
Irish orphans Molly, fourteen, and Kip, ten, travel to England to work as servants in a crumbling manor house where nothing is quite what it seems to be, and soon the siblings are confronted by a mysterious stranger and secrets of the cursed house.
Sauerkaut by Kelly Jones
To earn money for the parts, HD has promised to clean out his uncle’s basement. Simple enough–until a voice starts talking to him about cabbage. Funny thing–it seems that the ghost of his great-great-grandmother is haunting a dusty old pickling crock.
The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud read by
When the dead come back to haunt the living, Lockwood and Co. step in . . .
Scream and scream again! : spooky stories from mystery writers of America by R.L. Stine read by Megan Abbott
“Scream and Scream Again! is full of twists and turns, dark corners, and devilish revenge. Collected in conjunction with the Mystery Writers of America, this set includes works from New York Times bestselling authors telling tales of wicked ice-cream trucks, time-travelling heroes, witches and warlocks, and of course, haunted houses” — Amazon.com.
Serafina and the Black the black cloak by Robert Beatty read by Cassandra Campbell
In order to save the children of Biltmore, Serafina must seek the answers that will unlock the puzzle of her past.
Skeleton Man by Joseph Bruchac
After her parents disappear and she is turned over to the care of a strange “great-uncle,” Molly must rely on her dreams about an old Mohawk story for her safety and maybe even for her life.
The Skull of Truth by Bruce Colville
Charlie, a sixth-grader with a compulsion to tell lies, acquires a mysterious skull that forces its owner to tell only the truth, causing some awkward moments before he understands its power.
Small Spaces by Katherine Arden read by Renee Dorian
“After suffering a tragic loss, eleven-year-old Ollie only finds solace in books. So when she happens upon a crazed woman at the river threatening to throw a book into the water, Ollie doesn’t think–she just acts, stealing the book and running away– Provided by publisher
The Spirit Hunters : The Island of Monsters by Ellen Oh
Harper Raine faces new challenges ahead when her parents take the whole family to a remote tropical island for vacation. As Harper starts to have visions of the resort’s history of disappearances and discovers more about the island’s dark and fabled past, she must use her newly acquired spirit hunting talents to save everyone on the island from murderous spirits on the attack.
Young Adult Fiction
Witch Born by Nicholas Bowling
Two queens, two religions, two visions for the future of the nation.Fleeing to London with a witch hunter on her trail, Alyce discovers her own dark magic and lands herself embroiled in the struggle.
Revenge of The Witch by Jospeh Delaney
Young Tom, the seventh son of a seventh son, starts work as an apprentice for the village spook, whose job is to protect ordinary folk from “ghouls, boggarts, and all manner of wicked beasties.”
Tales of the Peculiar by Ransom Riggs
This collection of stories, written for peculiar eyes only, presents unusual folklore that are a formative part of the upbringing of peculiar children everywhere. Encoded within their pages are the locations of hidden loops, the secret identities of certain important peculiars, and other information that could aid a peculiar’s survival in this hostile world. The stories are annotated with historical and contextual insights that Nullings himself found useful.
Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand
“From the New York Times bestselling author of Furyborn comes a breathtaking and spine-tingling novel about three teenage girls who face off against an insidious monster that preys upon young women …”–From publisher website.
The Outliers by Kimberly McCreight
Cassies in trouble, so Wylie decides to do what she has done so many times before: save her best friend from herself. This time its different, though. Instead of telling Wylie where she is, Cassie sends cryptic clues.
The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice’s life on the road, always a step ahead of the uncanny bad luck biting at their heels. But when Alice’s grandmother, the reclusive author of a cult-classic book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate, the Hazel Wood, Alice learns how bad her luck can really get.
The Raven’s Tale by Cat Winters
Seventeen-year-old Edgar Poe’s plans to escape his foster family, begin classes at the prestigious new university, and marry his beloved Elmira Royster go awry when a macabre Muse appears with a request.