Warning: Don't Read These Before Bedtime
All the Lovely Bad Ones by “Travis and his sister Corey decide to boost business at their grandmother's Vermont inn by staging a few "hauntings" that soon draw tourists from across the country, but when their antics awaken a dark force, they must find a way to put to rest the ghosts they have disturbed” (OPAC).
Cirque du Freak by “Two boys who are best friends visit an illegal freak show, where an encounter with a vampire and a deadly spider forces them to make life-changing choices” (OPAC).
Coraline by “Ophelia, a timid eleven-year-old girl grieving her mother, suspends her disbelief in things non-scientific when a boy locked in the museum where her father is working asks her to help him complete an age-old mission” (OPAC).
The Dark-Thirty by “A collection of ghost stories with African American themes, designed to be told during the Dark Thirty--the half hour before sunset--when ghosts seem all too believable” (OPAC).
Doll Bones by “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” (OPAC).
Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods by “Told from the perspective of a cryptozoologist, readers will learn of the various mythical creatures that lurk in the woods of North America” (OPAC).
The Forgotten Girl by “When eleven-year-old Iris sneaks out at night to make snow angels, she was not expecting to raise the ghost of Avery Moore, a girl her own age; but bringing to light the segregated and abandoned black cemetery seems like the perfect way to help Avery get the recognition she craves, and it will also be a good idea for the school project about the history of her small North Carolina town, where racial tensions are never far from the surface--only it seems that if Avery gets everything she wants Iris will join her as a ghost, best friends forever” (OPAC).
The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall by “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” (OPAC).
Ghost Squad by “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 the forces with Syd’s with grandmother, Babette, and her tubby tabby Chunk, to fight haunting head-on and reverse the course to save the town and Lucely’s firefly spirits before it’s too late” (from Amazon.com)
The Girl and the Ghost by “A lonely girl, Suraya, inherits from her grandmother a pelesit, a ghostly demon, who proves to be a good companion, bringing both danger and hope” (OPAC).
The Graveyard Book by “The orphan Bod, short for Nobody, is taken in by the inhabitants of a graveyard as a child of eighteen months and raised lovingly and carefully to the age of eighteen years by the community of ghosts and otherworldly creatures” (OPAC).
Half-Minute Horrors by “An anthology of very short, scary stories by an assortment of authors and illustrators including Chris Raschka, Joyce Carol Oates, Neil Gaiman, Jack Gantos, and Lane Smith” (OPAC).
The Iron Trial by “Warned away from magic all of his life, Callum endeavors to fail the trials that would admit him to the Magisterium only to be drawn into its ranks against his will and forced to confront dark elements from his past” (OPAC).
The Jumbies by “Eleven-year-old Corinne must call on her courage and an ancient magic to stop an evil spirit and save her island home” (OPAC).
Lockwood and Co. the Screaming Staircase by “Follows three young operatives of a psychic detection agency as they battle an epidemic of ghosts in London” (OPAC).
The Nest by “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” (OPAC).
The Night Gardener by “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” (OPAC).
Root Magic by "It’s 1963, and things are changing for Jezabel Turner. Her beloved grandmother has just passed away. The police deputy won’t stop harassing her family. With school integration arriving in South Carolina, Jez and her twin brother, Jay, are about to begin the school year with a bunch of new kids. But the biggest change comes when Jez and Jay turn eleven--and their uncle, Doc, tells them he’s going to train them in rootwork” (publisher).
Sauerkraut by “HD Schenk is a maker--an inventor, someone who builds cool stuff. He's got a plan for the summer: he'll build his own computer and enter it in the county fair. Then everyone will know who he is and what he can do. To earn enough money for the parts he'll need, HD has promised to clear out his uncle's overflowing basement. No big deal, right? But there's more in that basement than HD bargained for. On his first trip down there, a voice only he can hear starts talking to him. About...sauerkraut? Who knew the ghost of his great-great-grandmother was haunting an old pickling crock? She's got a grand plan, too. And she'll need HD's help to make it happen" (OPAC).
Scary Stories for Young Foxes by “A collection of six connected stories [told by a storyteller] that follows a group of six kits as the fight to survive in an unforgiving wilderness” (from publisher).
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by “Stories of ghosts and witches, 'jump' stories, scary songs, and modern-day scary stories” (OPAC).
The Seer of Shadows by “Photographer Horace Carpetine is commissioned to do a portrait for society matron Mrs. Frederick Von Macht; however, the photos evoke both the image and the ghost of the Von Macht's dead daughter, Eleanora, who has returned to seek vengeance on those who killed her” (OPAC).
Skeleton Man by “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” (OPAC).
Something Upstairs by “Kenny moves from Los Angeles to Providence, Rhode Island, where he discovers that his new house is haunted by the spirit of a slave boy who asks Kenny to return with him to the early nineteenth century and prevent his murder” (OPAC).
Spirit Hunters by “Harper doesn't trust her new home from the moment she steps inside, and the rumors are that the Raine family's new house is haunted. Harper isn't sure she believes those rumors, until her younger brother, Michael, starts acting strangely. The whole atmosphere gives Harper a sense of déjà vu, but she can't remember why. She knows that the memories she's blocking will help make sense of her brother's behavior and the strange and threatening sensations she feels in this house, but will she be able to put the pieces together in time?" (OPAC).
Splendors and Glooms by “When Clara vanishes after the puppeteer Grisini and two orphaned assistants were at her twelfth birthday party, suspicion of kidnapping chases the trio away from London and soon the two orphans are caught in a trap set by Grisini's ancient rival, a witch with a deadly inheritance to shed before it is too late” (OPAC).
Super Scary Stories for Sleep-Overs by “A collection of spooky short stories, including “It Waits,” “The family Honor,” Flesh and Blood,” and “Horror in the Center Ring” (OPAC).
A Tale Dark and Grimm by “Follows Hansel and Gretel as they walk out of their own story and into eight more tales, encountering such wicked creatures as witches, along with kindly strangers and other helpful folk. Based in part on the Grimms' fairy tales ‘Faithful Johannes,’ ‘Hansel and Gretel,’ ‘The Seven Ravens,’ ‘Brother and Sister,’ ‘The Robber Bridegroom,’ and ‘The Devil and His Three Golden Hairs’” (OPAC).
Tales from Lovecraft Middle School #1: Professor Gargoyle by “Robert Arthur, an eleven-year-old student at the brand new Lovecraft Middle School, learns the creepy origins of the school and must vanquish Professor Gargoyle” (OPAC).
The Thickety: a Path Begins by “When twelve-year-old Kara discovers her mother's grimoire in the dangerous forest, she must decide if she'll use it, even though such magic is forbidden” (OPAC).
Took by “A witch called Old Auntie is lurking near Dan's family's new home. He doesn't believe in her at first, but is forced to accept that she is real and take action when his little sister, Erica, is 'took' to become Auntie's slave for the next fifty years” (OPAC).
The Witch's Boy by “When a Bandit King comes to take the magic that Ned's mother, a witch, is meant to protect, the stuttering, weak boy villagers think should have drowned rather than his twin summons the strength to protect his family and community, while in the woods, the bandit's daughter puzzles over a mystery that ties her to Ned” (OPAC).
