I was a scared kid who loved spooky stories. I can still remember sitting on the couch, reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, mumbling the words aloud, both terrified and enthralled. I checked out every book in the library on Bigfoot, the Abominable Snowman, the Loch Ness Monster, werewolves, and vampires. I’ve hiked the Pacific Northwest, sailed Loch Ness, and chased a ghost light on a mountain. While I missed Bigfoot and Nessie, I caught the ghost. Now I write the kind of spooky monster mystery books I’ve loved for a lifetime.
I was a scared kid. Reading spooky books like this masterpiece of middle grade horror let me experience fear in a safe, fun way.
When I saw the timid protagonist Lewis face his fears, it gave me the courage to face my own. Bellairs weaves a creepy mansion setting, zany yet lovable characters, creative magic, deft humor, genuine scares, and a mysteriously hidden clock ticking down to doomsday into a gorgeous tapestry.
The American classic - now a major motion picture from Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, starring Cate Blanchett, Jack Black and Kyle MacLachlan
Lewis Barnavelt doesn't have time on his side...
When Lewis Barnavelt, an orphan, comes to stay with his uncle Jonathan, he expects to meet an ordinary person. But he is wrong. Uncle Jonathan and his next-door neighbour, Mrs Zimmermann, are both witches! Lewis couldn't be happier. What's not to like about seeing his uncle practise spells and eating Mrs Zimmermann's delicious cookies?
At first, watching magic is enough. Then Lewis experiments with magic himself and unknowingly resurrects the…
It takes a master storyteller to open a book for children with a gruesome triple murder.
With the rest of the family dead, the assassin attempts to kill the toddler, Bod, who survives by wandering into a graveyard down the street. Protected by the magic of the place, the boy is adopted and raised by ghosts under the watchful eye of a vampire guardian.
Eventually, Bod grows restless, and ventures beyond the cemetery walls where the patient assassin lies in wait. Gaiman has taught me that simple language can have spellbinding power, and I devoured his MasterClass.com videos on storytelling.
When a baby escapes a murderer intent on killing his entire family, who would have thought it would find safety and security in the local graveyard? Brought up by the resident ghosts, ghouls and spectres, Bod has an eccentric childhood learning about life from the dead. But for Bod there is also the danger of the murderer still looking for him - after all, he is the last remaining member of the family. A stunningly original novel deftly constructed over eight chapters, featuring every second year of Bod's life, from babyhood to adolescence. Will Bod survive to be a man?
Gallant resists being categorized. It’s a middle grade book that feels like a literary adult novel. It’s a horror story, but also a gripping coming-of-age tale. It’s about ghouls, ghosts, and Death, but also found family, self-sacrifice, and acceptance.
A wonderfully Gothic atmosphere pervades this melancholy book, yet there’s hope in this story of a family called to give everything to protect the world from a great evil. And did I mention the young protagonist never says a word?
Beautifully written in a way that makes me jealous of the author’s skill, its haunting effect lingered with me for weeks after turning the final page.
The Number 1 Sunday Times-bestselling novel, from the author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, and A Darker Shade of Magic.
A darkly magical and thrilling tale of a young woman caught between the world and its shadows, who must embrace her legacy to stop the approaching darkness. The Secret Garden meets Crimson Peak, perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman, Holly Black and Susan Cooper.
Fourteen-year-old Olivia Prior is missing three things: a mother, a father, and a voice. Her mother vanished all at once, and her father by degrees, and her voice was a thing she never had…
Already a big Lindsay Currie fan after reading the wonderfully spooky What Lives in the Woods, I jumped at the offer of an advanced copy of The Girl in White. It surpassed my already high expectations.
In this delightfully creepy yet heartfelt story, a girl desperately attempts to discover why she has been targeted by a vengeful ghost. Relatable characters, a cursed seaside town setting, unexpected plot twists, and genuinely spooky moments had me tearing through the pages.
For fans of Small Spaces and the Goosebumps series by R.L Stine comes a chilling story about a twelve-year old girl who must face down the most notorious ghost in her haunted East coast town to stop a centuries-old curse that threatens to destroy everything.
Mallory hasn't quite adapted to life in her new town of Eastport yet. Maybe it's because everyone is obsessed with keeping the town's reputation as the most cursed town in the US.
And thanks to the nightmares she's had since arriving, Mallory hardly sleeps. Combined with the unsettling sensation of being watched, she's quickly becoming…
I grew up devouring Sherlock Holmes stories, especially spooky adventures like The Hound of the Baskervilles, so when I stumbled upon a series about modern-day London mysteriously overrun by deadly ghosts, I was intrigued.
When I learned that the adults used children, who alone could see the manifestations, to defend them from this supernatural threat, I was hooked.
Sharp wit, compelling plot twists, complex characters, decadent descriptions, and paranormal scares form this wildly entertaining series that was recently adapted by Netflix.
A sinister Problem has occurred in London: all nature of ghosts, haunts, spirits, and specters are appearing throughout the city, and they aren't exactly friendly. Only young people have the psychic abilities required to see-and eradicate-these supernatural foes. Many different Psychic Detection Agencies have cropped up to handle the dangerous work, and they are in fierce competition for business.
In The Screaming Staircase, the plucky and talented Lucy Carlyle teams up with Anthony Lockwood, the charismatic leader of Lockwood & Co, a small agency that runs independent of any adult supervision. After an assignment…
The Monsterious series is the ideal read for kids who can’t get enough of Goosebumps, Stranger Things, and Five Nights at Freddy’s. Combining high-concept storytelling with a great hook, readers will love the unexpected, spine-chilling twists and turns, action and suspense, and creepy mysteries to unravel in each installment. In Escape from Grimstone Manor, three friends are trapped overnight in a haunted house amusement park ride and discover the monsters are real.
“Spine-chilling and creepy!” — Max Brallier, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Last Kids on Earth
My favorite fantasy novels tend to be rather complex. Winding plotlines, mysteriously interconnected characters, whimsical settings, and intricate, thoughtful worldbuilding combine to create immersive stories that stick in the mind like overworn folklore. Time travel or interworld travel lend additional layers of intrigue and mystery, forcing the inescapable contemplation of a more thrilling, alternate reality. And if it’s all packaged in artful, breathtaking prose that breeds full-color images, audible noises, indelible flavors, nose-crumpling odors, and tangible textures, I will happily lose myself in the pages, truly forgetting about the strictures of everyday life… at least until I get hungry and remember I need to consume more than books to survive.
An Heir of Realms tells the tale of two young heroines—a dragon rider and a portal jumper—who fight dragon-like parasites to save their realms from extinction.
Rhoswen is training as a Realm Rider to work with dragons and burn away the Narxon swarming into her realm. Rhoswen’s dream is to Ride, but her destiny will pit her against her uncle and king, who have scorned her since before her birth.
In the Exchange, the waystation between realms, Emmelyn fights the G’Ambit, a gambling ring with members more intent on lining their pockets than protecting the realms—or their own lives.
Realm-devouring parasites threaten all existence. The Exchange is desperate to destroy them. But could their radical plans endanger the realms, too?
Soul-sucking parasites are overwhelming the realms.
Rhoswen of Stanburh is of age to train as a Realm Rider—a defender of the realms. Riders and their dragons work together to burn away infiltrating Narxon as they swarm in through tears in a realm’s fabric. But it’s not an easy battle: the mere touch of the smoky, dragon-like adversaries can reduce the lively winged beasts—and their Riders—to ash.
Becoming a Realm Rider is Rhoswen’s dream, but she carries far more responsibility…
