ARE YOU EASILY FRIGHTENED?

If so this might not be the book for you, but if you aren’t afraid of much and a trip through a very spooky and almost too real to be true amusement park sounds like fun, then come along for a very thrilling ride in Laurie Faria Stolarz’s WELCOME TO THE DARK HOUSE. 

You won’t be alone on this trip but in the company of some very unusual characters. The first person you meet, Ivy Jensen, suffers from terrible, sleep stopping, scary feelings don’t go away in the daylight, nightmares. When an announcement in the Nightmare Elf’s newsletter promises to take away the bad dreams of the winners of an essay contest, she starts writing and enters the 1000 words or less contest hoping for a cure. She wins, of course. Arriving via a hearse to the Dark House, a replica of the house from a very scary movie, she joins the rest of the winners, all dedicated horror movie fans. 

Not wanting to ruin this for anyone who decides to join the adventure, there will be no spoiler alerts here, you will just have to see for yourself what lies behind the gate of the Dark House when you read in this fast-paced story told by Ivy and her fellow contest winners. 

For readers in grades 6-8.

ZOMBIES FOR HALLOWEEN!

If you're feeling the need for some fresh zombie reads this Halloween season but don't want to be scared out of your mind, try a few of these titles:
  
Enter the Zombie is new in the Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie series where Nathan's secret status as a zombie is in danger.  

In Dinkin Dings and the Frightening Things Dinkin is afraid of everything but ghosts and zombies.  

In the latest title in the Pals in Peril series, Zombie Mommy, Lilly's mom is possessed by a zombie that wants to take over the world.  


Remember, don't read at night and keep the lights on while you sleep otherwise creepy things might visit you this Hallow's Eve. 

For readers in 4th and up.

A CAT LARGER THAN LIFE

This is not a story for the squeamish. You'd think, since it starts out being about a little kitten, that it's going to be a cute, cuddly story. But I tell you, it is anything other than cuddly. David suspects there is something suspicious about this cat, especially when his family starts doing everything for the cat, including starving themselves in order to feed it! The end is not pretty, and readers should be prepared for quite a graphic scene! THE IMPROBABLE CAT by Allan Ahlberg is a riveting but scary read for grades 7 and up.

CREEPY, AND CREEPIER

Courtney has just moved into her uncle's mansion with her clueless and self absorbed parents when she realizes there's something strange about her uncle's mansion. The kids in the new school are weird but the mansion and her uncle are seriously creepy. Curiosity gets the better of Courtney and all is not as it seems in the Crumrin mansion or the 'burbs. her uncle catches her going through his things and she sees that he's not the creepy one but he's just private and trying to protect her from a cast of creepier characters living in another world alongside the human world. She discovers the talking cat, a wolf, and other magical and dark beings whom she must conquer in order to survive.

Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things by Ted Naifeh is truly creepy graphic novel for those who like Cirque Du Freak or those too old for Goosebumps. Just looking at the blank eyes of the characters in the book are enough to give you the shivers.

For 6th & up.

HALLOWEEN READS

My Dog's a Scaredy Cat: A Halloween Tail by Henry Winkler

The tenth in the Hank Zipzer series. This time Hank and his friends set out to make the scariest haunted house ever to impress everyone this Halloween. For 4th -6th

Sammy Keyes and the Skeleton Man by Wendelin Van Draanen

It's Halloween and Sammy and her friends are trick-or-treating when they are almost run down by someone in a skeleton costume. Once again Sammy is thrown into a middle of a mystery goes off in search of who tied up "Frankenstein" and what did the skeleton steal? For 6th - 8th

Which Witch? by Eva Ibbotson

Which witch will the Wizard marry? All the local witches compete to be the great wizard's wife and they create the most amazing magic to impress him. But one beautiful witch can only make beautiful white magic and not black magic like the others. Does she stand a chance? For 4th -6th

Whispering to Witches by Anna Dale

On his way to vacation with this mom and stepfamily, Joe accidentally stumbles upon a coven of witches among the human population and is pulled into a mystery to help them find a missing magical page. For 6th - 8th

All Hallows' Eve by Vivian Vande Velde

Set on Halloween Eve this collection of short stories will scare you with tales of murder, cemeteries and the dead (or is it the undead?). For 6th - 8th

Witch Child by Celia Rees

The diary of a young girl escaping one witch hunt in the Old World only to find that she must hide her true nature once she arrives in 1659 Salem. Witches are blamed for everything that is wrong and she must hide her abilities from the villagers who have taken her in. For 6th - 8th

IF YOU LIKE SCARY STORIES...

THE INTRUDERS by E. E. Richardson

Joel can't get the chant out of his head, asleep or awake...

IF I SHOULD DIE BEFORE I WAKE, I PRAY THE LORD MY SOUL TO TAKE.

IF I SHOULD DIE BEFORE I WAKE, I PRAY THE LORD MY SOUL TO TAKE.

A tale of families

A tale of horror

A tale of mystery

For readers in grades 6th - 8th.