Here are 94 books that Welcome to Dead Town Raven McKay fans have personally recommended if you like
Welcome to Dead Town Raven McKay.
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I am a children’s horror author, editor, and mentor who has been writing and reading about the genre for ten years. I love seeing how my fellow authors take quite terrifying themes and content and creatively develop them into fun and creepy stories suitable for the youngest readers. It is a thrilling responsibility, and I hope we all bring something slightly different to the table for those who love the dark!
I adored this creepy, spooky middle-grade book set in Victorian-time London. It tells the story of 12-year-old Nancy Crumpet and her terrifying adventure with Skelter Tombola, who owns the amazing Scareground.
The descriptions were so powerful that I felt like I was right in the story with Nancy, experiencing the scary magic of the fair. The link between Nancy and Skelter is skillfully revealed, and the chapters kept my heart thumping throughout. I couldn’t put it down!
I am a children’s horror author, editor, and mentor who has been writing and reading about the genre for ten years. I love seeing how my fellow authors take quite terrifying themes and content and creatively develop them into fun and creepy stories suitable for the youngest readers. It is a thrilling responsibility, and I hope we all bring something slightly different to the table for those who love the dark!
I loved this adventure for younger readers, and I think it would be perfect for ages 5-8 who want an introduction to creepy, spooky stories. Autumn wants to dance and is desperate to join a dance team.
The story explores friendship, dealing with tricky people, and fighting to achieve one's dreams. I really enjoyed it, and the cover is so cute that friends always borrow it for their children—especially around Halloween.
Autumn Moonbeam loves gymnastics and dance so when Sparkledale Dance Academy have try-outs for their competitive dance team, Black Cats, she thinks it's the most broom-tastic opportunity ever! Just one problem, Autumn is nervous and worries she won't make it onto the team. And then she discovers that her nasty neighbour Severina Bloodworth is trying out too. But with her best friend Batty by her side can Autumn overcome her shyness, lack of confidence and magical mishaps to be chosen to join Sparkledale Dance Academy?
Enchanting, fun and full of heart, this is a story about growing into yourself, following…
I am a children’s horror author, editor, and mentor who has been writing and reading about the genre for ten years. I love seeing how my fellow authors take quite terrifying themes and content and creatively develop them into fun and creepy stories suitable for the youngest readers. It is a thrilling responsibility, and I hope we all bring something slightly different to the table for those who love the dark!
I was scared to death by this book! It’s aimed at a YA (young adult) audience, so definitely one for ages 14+. I did my Duke of Edinburgh at school, so I fully got involved with this very creepy camping trip where everything went terribly wrong. I remembered the rain and the dark woods all too well…
Tess has written a brilliant blend of thriller and horror here, her second book. The twists and turns are so clever; it is completely, terrifyingly gripping.
The only thing worse than being lost . . . is being found.
Keely planned to keep her head down at her new school - she isn't there to make friends or memories, she just wants to be left alone.
In order to get into college, she is roped into a programme that involves camping in the Welsh wilderness with five over-keen try-hards. Her plan is to keep her head down, keep her mouth shut and get through the next few days.
But Keely is running from something. Something that drove her family out of their home and to this…
I am a children’s horror author, editor, and mentor who has been writing and reading about the genre for ten years. I love seeing how my fellow authors take quite terrifying themes and content and creatively develop them into fun and creepy stories suitable for the youngest readers. It is a thrilling responsibility, and I hope we all bring something slightly different to the table for those who love the dark!
I was first attracted by the totally gorgeous cover; I’ve never seen anything like it. This story is written for middle-grade readers, ages 9-12. It is an unusual horror story, where the main character, Delores, is sent up to a distant family in Edinburgh to learn to deal with seeing ghosts.
I’ve visited Edinburgh, and it is an amazingly creepy city! I walked the ghost tunnels beneath the city, so it was lovely to read more about the area. The book conveys the setting beautifully, and I was captivated by the wonderful, descriptive, lively writing. I can’t wait for the sequel!
When Delores Mackenzie is chased home by a restless spirit, she is sent to the mysterious Uncles in Edinburgh Old Town to learn how to control her unusual 'gifts'. Scared and alone, she finds her new home at the Tolbooth Book Store is full of curious surprises: some welcome, others less so. But when a sinister apparition threatens the lives of her strange new housemates, Delores must gather all her strength to save them.
I’ve been a lifelong fan of Halloween, from the time I visited my town’s haunted house as a young kid in the 1980s to watching horror movies as an adult. As a writer of romance and romantic women’s fiction, love stories are also my jam. Many people think horror and romance aren’t compatible, but I combined both in my novella series Crazy, Sexy, Ghoulish, and the books in this list prove that Halloween and romance are meant to be.
Short, hilarious, and sexy, this romance novella is the perfect way to spend an October night. Daisy has a thing for redheads. So when she meets a redheaded Irishman at a New York City party on Halloween night, is it meant to be?
From its funny opening pages to its thoughtful and romantic ending, this absolutely delighted me, and not just because it had the line, “If you want to impress me, you have to watch Golden Girls.”
When I was five my dad had to carry me, crying, out of the Salem Witch’s Dungeon. You’d think that would put a damper on my love of spooky things, but it absolutely did not! Bela Lugosi was my first crush. I set up Haunted Houses in my garage and read every single book my local library had on the Salem Witch Trials. I made my way from Bunnicula and The Halloween Tree, to books by Stephen King and Anne Rice. Halloween and horror will always have a special place in my heart, and yet…I still don’t let my legs dangle off my bed, lest the monsters get me.
The Stitchers is the first book in the Fright Watch series and any one of them would be the perfect Halloween read. But let’s be real. Old people are scary.
Quinn knows there’s something off about her neighbors. The Oldies have lived in the neighborhood for as long as anyone can remember, and yet they never seem to get any older. If Quinn’s dad was still alive, she knows they’d be coming up with theories: Are they vampires? Aliens? Who knows! The answer is worse than she imagined. When Quinn sees one of the Oldies jogging, she knows she recognizes that leg…it was her dad’s.
I always loved Rod Sterling at Halloween and The Stitchers has such a great Twilight Zone vibe. It’s perfect for kids who lean towards the science fiction side of spookiness where normal things are just…wrong.
"The chills come guaranteed." -Stephen King
The start of a spine-tingling new horror series perfect for fans of Stranger Things and Goosebumps.
The spine-chilling middle-grade horror that Stephen King called "the perfect book for kids to cool off with on a hot summer day, because the chills come guaranteed"-now in paperback!
Something strange is happening on Goodie Lane . . .
Thirteen-year-old Quinn Parker knows that there's something off about her neighbors. She calls them "the Oldies" because they've lived on Goodie Lane for as long as anyone can remember, but they never seem to age. Are they vampires? Or…
Although I was a little scared of Halloween as a kid, I’ve grown to love the silly side of spookiness. Growing up with Pee-Wee’s Playhouse every Saturday morning, I learned that silliness is a superpower. Now, when working on kids books, my ultimate goal is to put work into the world that will delight kids, and won’t make the parents groan and say, “that one again?” Finding the sweet spot of being fun to read, fun to hear, and fun to look at is what I love most about creating kids books. I hope you and your little ghouls and goblins enjoy my spooky board Boooook list!
Goodnight Goon takes the familiar rhyming and simplicity of Goodnight Moon and creates something weird and wonderful.
It’s Michael Rex’s tiny details in the art that drew me in – from eyeballs in holes in the wall to tiny crawly creatures. There are loads more to look at in these ghoulish illustrations than the original book it’s parodying.
This #1 New York Times bestselling picture book parody is the perfect Halloween read!
Goodnight tomb. Goodnight goon. Goodnight Martians taking over the moon.
It's bedtime in the cold gray tomb with a black lagoon, and two slimy claws, and a couple of jaws, and a skull and a shoe and a pot full of goo. But as a little werewolf settles down, in comes the Goon determined at all costs to run amok and not let any monster have his rest.
A beloved classic gets a kind-hearted send up in this utterly monsterized parody; energetic art and clever text…
Although I was a little scared of Halloween as a kid, I’ve grown to love the silly side of spookiness. Growing up with Pee-Wee’s Playhouse every Saturday morning, I learned that silliness is a superpower. Now, when working on kids books, my ultimate goal is to put work into the world that will delight kids, and won’t make the parents groan and say, “that one again?” Finding the sweet spot of being fun to read, fun to hear, and fun to look at is what I love most about creating kids books. I hope you and your little ghouls and goblins enjoy my spooky board Boooook list!
Eek! Halloween is one of those books that is so much fun for an adult to read aloud.
The delicious rhyming and cadence combined with bug-eyed chickens made me laugh out loud. The spread that says “strange things are happening,” won me over in every way. This is one I wouldn’t mind reading over and over to my kiddo. It’s silly and delightful and everything you come to love and expect from a Sandra Boynton book.
There's a big round moon in a dark, dark sky. The chickens are nervous. Do you know why? Readers will find out in this super fun board book that introduces Halloween traditions to even the youngest of Boynton fans. Witches, wizards, robots, and an alarmingly enormouse mouse (eek!) are prowling around town tonight, and it's up to the chickens to get to the bottom of it - that is, if they can uncover their eyes long enough!
Although I was a little scared of Halloween as a kid, I’ve grown to love the silly side of spookiness. Growing up with Pee-Wee’s Playhouse every Saturday morning, I learned that silliness is a superpower. Now, when working on kids books, my ultimate goal is to put work into the world that will delight kids, and won’t make the parents groan and say, “that one again?” Finding the sweet spot of being fun to read, fun to hear, and fun to look at is what I love most about creating kids books. I hope you and your little ghouls and goblins enjoy my spooky board Boooook list!
I read my kiddo many Lesley Patricelli books when she was little and I would have loved to have read Boo! to her during Halloween (and beyond!).
From showing size differences between pumpkins to spreads where reader/listener can choose between jack-o’-lantern faces and costumes, Patricelli simplifies the season of Halloween in such a sweet way. It even addresses that Halloween might feel scary to a young kid – which as a kid who was too scared to trick-or-treat until many years after her friends had started, I truly appreciate.
The inimitable Baby brings a humorous spin to the holidays in a cheerful board book fit for trick-or-treat bags.
It’s almost Halloween! How should Daddy carve the pumpkin? So many expressions to choose from! What should Baby be—a princess or pirate, ballerina or clown? When the jack-o’-lantern’s ready (looking suspiciously like Baby), it’s time for a little ghost to head out in the slightly scary night. But fear turns to excitement as the pumpkin fills up with treats. WOW!
As a kid growing up in Southern California during the 1960s – what some now call “Golden Age of Trick or Treating” – I always loved Halloween, but I didn’t develop a real obsession with it until I wrote The Halloween Encyclopedia (first published in 2003). Since then, Halloween – once almost exclusively an American celebration – has achieved global popularity, and has created an entire cottage industry in haunted attractions. I remain fascinated by Halloween’s continuous expansion and evolution.
Lesley Bannatyne’s Halloween. An American Holiday, An American History brought the study of Halloween history into the modern era. Published 71 years after Ruth Edna Kelley’s seminal The Book of Hallowe’en, Bannatyne’s book opened the gates for consideration of Halloween as a subject deserving of more serious consideration. This was the book that certainly inspired ME in my Halloween scholarship!
"Lesley Bannatyne's fascinating book . . . will be widely appealing to anyone who ever wondered where witches, trick-or-treating, and jack-o-lanterns really came from. It is by far the best book on the history of Halloween available today." --Alison Guss, senior producer,"The Haunted History of Halloween," The History Channel
"An excellent resource for research into the history of holidays . . . in the United States . . . Highly Recommended." --The Book Report
"Deserves attention as a recommended library acquisition with years of 'life' to its information." --The Midwest Book Review
"Overflows with rich and provocative details of ritual,…
