Juvenile Scary Reads
POEMS
J 811 DUG
Two Skeletons on the Telephone and Other Poems From Tough City by Paul Dugan
A collection of poems with an emphasis on the grisly or ghastly, including "If You're Strolling in a Sewer," "Mr. One Leg," and "A Vampire Bit a Ghostly Neck.
J811 PRE
The Headless Horseman Rides Tonight: More Poems to Trouble Your Sleep by Jack Prelutsky.
Presents twelve scary poems.
J 821 MCN
Making Friends with Frankenstein: a Book of Monstrous Poems by Colin McNaughton
Presents a collection of silly, scary, and disgusting poems about monsters and other unusual creatures.
J 394.2 HAR
Ghosts and Goblins: Stories for Halloween compiled by Wilhelmina Harper
Short ghost stories for Halloween.
J 398 SAN
A Terrifying Taste of Short & Shivery: Thirty Creepy Tales retold by Robert D. San Souci
A collection of scary traditional tales from all over the world, including "Apparitions" from Germany, "The Hundredth Skull" from Ohio, and "The Ogre's Arm" from Japan.
J 398.2 SCA
The Scary Book by Joanna Cole
A collection of spooky stories, poems, riddles, tricks, and tongue twisters.
J398.25 SCH
Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
Stories of ghosts and witches, "jump" stories, scary songs, and modern-day scary stories.
J398.25 SCH
More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
More traditional and modern-day stories of ghosts, witches, vampires, "jump" stories, and scary songs.
J398.25 SCH
Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones by Alvin Schwartz
More traditional and modern-day stories of ghosts, haunts, superstitions, monsters, and horrible scary things.
J820.8 BOO
BOO! : Stories to Make you Jump by Laura Cecil
A collection of scary stories and poems, with an emphasis on monsters, ghosts, and witches.
J BEW
Beware: R.L. Stine Picks his Favorite Scary Stories
A selection of unsettling stories--one in graphic form along with two poems--by such authors as Ray Bradbury, William Sleator, Robert Service, Edward Gorey, Roald Dahl, Jane Yolen, and Mr. Stine himself.
J CAR
Things That Go Bump in the Night by Patrick Carman
Read each chilling story in 15 minutes or less! It's a time when things go bump in the night. A place where spooky stories find a home. A feeling . . . that will leave you with chills running down your spine.
J COL
Scary Stories for Sleepovers by C.B. Colby
A collection of scary short stories dealing with haunted places, ghostly animals, and dangerous demons, suitable for scary sleepover entertainment.
J JAC
The Ribbajack by Brian Jacques
A collection of six short stories which feature a variety of monstrous creatures by the author of the Redwall series.
J JAC
Seven Strange & Ghostly Tales by Brian Jacques
A collection of seven creepy stories. The eerie characters and settings will tickle funny bones and send chills up spines.
J TEI
Scary States of America by Michael Teitelbaum.
Twelve-year-old Jason Specter, self-proclaimed "clearing house for the weird," introduces and presents his favorite stories of the paranormal--one from each state of the Union--submitted to the Web site he created after his own encounter with a ghost at school three years earlier.
NO NIGHTLIGHT REQUIRED (slightly spooky, not too scary)
J DEF
The Ghost of Fossil Glen by Cynthia DeFelice
Allie knows it's not her imagination when she hears a voice and sees in her mind's eye the face of a girl who seems to be seeking Allie's help.
J FRE
The Robe of Skulls by Vivian French
The sorceress Lady Lamorna has her heart set on a very expensive new robe, and she will stop at nothing--including kidnapping and black magic--to get the money to pay for it.
J FRE
Who Stole Halloween? by Martha Freeman
When nine-year-old Alex and his friend Yasmeen investigate the disappearance of cats in their neighborhood, they stumble onto a larger mystery involving a haunted house and a ghostly cat.
J FUN
Ghosthunters and the Incredibly Revolting Ghost! by Cornelia Funke
A timid boy named Tom reluctantly agrees to help professional ghostbuster Hetty Hyssop dispel an IRG (Incredibly Revolting Ghost) from an old house. (Ghosthunters, book 1)
J GOI
The Garden of Eve by K. L. Going
Eve gave up her belief in stories and magic after her mother's death, but a mysterious seed given her as an eleventh-birthday gift by someone she has never met takes her and a boy who claims to be a ghost on a strange journey, to where their supposedly cursed town of Beaumont, New York, flourishes.
J HOW
Bunnicula: a Rabbit-tale of Mystery by Deborah and James Howe
Though scoffed at by Harold the dog, Chester the cat tries to warn his human family that their foundling baby bunny must be a vampire.
J IBB
Dial-a-Ghost by Eva Ibbotson
A family of nice ghosts protects a British orphan from the diabolical plans of his evil guardians.
J JON
Happy Haunting by Marcia Thornton Jones
Mr. Morton's third graders are all set to turn the school basement into a haunted house for their family and friends. The problem is ... the basement is already haunted! (Ghostville Elementary, book 4)
J KLI
Over My Dead Body by Kate Klise
In this story told mostly through letters, busybody Dick Tater tries to ban Halloween and ghost stories, as well as to break up the popular writing team of I. B. Grumply, ghost Olive C. Spence, and eleven-year-old illustrator Seymour Hope. (43 Old Cemetery Road, book 2)
J LEV
Dracula is a Pain in the Neck by Elizabeth Levy.
Robert fears that his plastic Dracula doll is responsible for spooky doings at his sleep-away camp.
J LIN
Billy Bones: Tales From the Secrets Closet by Christopher Lincoln
The secrets of High Manners Manor, carefully guarded in a closet by Billy and his skeleton parents, begin to unravel when the orphan Millicent arrives and the two children start uncovering ghosts, apparitions, and scurrilous lies that have been festering in the house for far too long.
J MOU
The Wooden Mile (Something Wickedly Weird) by Chris Mould
his great-uncle's death.
J NEW
Ghoul Strike! By Andrew Newbound
When twelve-year-old, psychic ghost hunter Alannah Malarra faces demons from another dimension, rather than the treasure-hoarding ghosts she is used to, she needs the help of protectors from the Attack-ready Network of Global Evanescent Law-enforcers (A.N.G.E.L.) police force to help her quell the dangerous uprising.
J PAT
Haunting at Home Plate by David Patneaude
After they hear stories about their baseball field being haunted by the ghost of a boy who died there many years ago, twelve-year-old Nelson and his teammates start finding mysterious messages written in the dirt.
J SAN
Double-Dare to be Scared by Robert D. San Souci
The author has spun another thirteen original tales to keep night-lights burning across the country. There's something for every brave reader, as stories range from campfire grabbers to unsettling thrillers and combine elements of folklore and pop culture.
J STI
Who Let the Ghosts Out? by R.L. Stine
A boy suddenly finds himself haunted by the friendly ghosts of two children while being pursued by an evil being. (Mostly Ghostly, book 1)
J STR
Spellbinder by Helen Stringer
Twelve-year-old Belladonna Johnson, who lives with the ghosts of her parents in the north of England, teams up with an always-in-trouble classmate to investigate why all of the ghosts in the world have suddenly disappeared.
J ZAP
The Monstrous Memoirs of a Mighty McFearless by Ahmet Zappa
With the help of Dr. Devilstone and a book called the Monstranomicon, Minerva and her brother Max go to the evil Zarmaglorg's Castle Doominstinkinfart to rescue their father, whom they have discovered comes from a long line of monsterminators.
SPINE TINGLING TALES
J AND
The Game of Sunken Places by M.T. Anderson
When two boys stay with an eccentric relative at his mansion in rural Vermont, they discover an old-fashioned board game that draws them into a mysterious adventure.
J AVI
Seer of Shadows by Avi
In New York City in 1872, fourteen-year-old Horace, a photographer's apprentice, becomes entangled in a plot to create fraudulent spirit photographs, but when Horace accidentally frees the real ghost of a dead girl bent on revenge, his life takes a frightening turn.
J BUC
The Dead Boys by Royce Buckingham
Timid twelve-year-old Teddy Mathews and his mother move to a small, remote desert town in eastern Washington, where the tree next door, mutated by nuclear waste, eats children and the friends Teddy makes turn out to be dead.
J GAI
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Looking for excitement, Coraline ventures through a mysterious door into a world that is similar, yet disturbingly different from her own. She must challenge a gruesome entity in order to save herself, her parents, and the souls of three others.
J GAI
The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman
Lucy is sure there are wolves living in the walls of her house, although others in her family disagree, and when the wolves come out, the adventure begins.
J HAH
The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall by Mary Downing Hahn
In the nineteenth century, ten-year-old Florence Crutchfield leaves a London orphanage to live with her great-uncle, great-aunt, and sickly cousin James, but she soon realizes the home has another resident, who means to do her and James harm.
J HAH
All the Lovely Bad Ones: A Ghost Story by Mary Downing Hahn
While spending the summer at their grandmother's Vermont inn, two prankster siblings awaken young ghosts from the inn's distant past who refuse to "rest in peace."
J HAH
Wait Till Helen Comes: A Ghost Story by Mary Downing Hahn
Molly and Michael dislike their spooky new stepsister Heather but realize that they must try to save her when she seems ready to follow a ghost child to her doom.
J IRV
Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving.
A superstitious schoolmaster, in love with a wealthy farmer's daughter, has a terrifying encounter with a headless horseman.
J KEH
The Ghost’s Grave by Peg Kehret
Apprehensive about spending the summer in Washington State with his Aunt Ethel when his parents get an overseas job, twelve-year-old Josh soon finds adventure when he meets the ghost of a coal miner.
J LAF
Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos by R. L. LaFevers
Twelve-year-old Theo uses arcane knowledge and her own special talent when she encounters two secret societies, one sworn to protect the world from ancient Egyptian magic and one planning to harness it to bring chaos to the world, both of which want a valuable artifact stolen from the London museum for which her parents work. (Theodosia, book 1)
J SEA
The Haunting at Stratton Falls by Brenda Seabrooke
At Christmastime in 1944, while staying with disagreeable cousins in New York State because her father is in Europe fighting in World War II, eleven-year-old Abby discovers that her relatives' old house is haunted by the ghost of a girl from the Civil War era.
J SNY
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Life is never quite the same again for eleven-year-old David after the arrival of his new stepsister, a student of the occult.
J STE
Curse of the Night Wolf by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell
Soon after Victorian messenger Barnaby Grimes is attacked by a huge beast while crossing London's rooftops, he becomes entangled in a mystery involving patent medicine, impoverished patients, and very expensive furs. (Barnaby Grimes, book 1)
J STI
Welcome to the Dead House by R.L. Stine
When their father inherits an old house in the town of Dark Falls, Amanda and Josh are excited--until they begin to suspect that the house is haunted. (Goosebumps, book 1)
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