94 books like You Wouldn't Catch Me Dead

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 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. 

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! 

This is a gorgeous, lyrical, very different kind of horror story for children. Aimed at middle grade, so ages 9-12, it tells the tale of young Raven, who is put into foster care in a very spooky town where half of the inhabitants are dead.

The illustrations are detailed and gothic and among the most beautiful ones I’ve ever seen–I’d like them framed! What I love most about this book is the sheer range of ghostly characters–they are magnificent. If you love ghosts and creepiness generally in your stories, give this new Irish author a try.

How to Catch a Monster is just one of the books in the How to Catch series.

It is a quick read for a bedtime story and very interactive and fun for little ones. The rhyming is catchy and the illustrations by Andy Elkerton are beautiful and colorful. All of the How to Catch books have personality and this one doesn’t disappoint.

The kids love the plotting and planning in order to catch the monster and as a parent, I enjoy watching the gears turn when I ask how they would catch a monster. It is a house favorite and gets the kids in the Halloween spirit.

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.

In The Spirit in Question, Lila Maclean, English professor at Stonedale University, agrees to consult on a university production of a new musical being staged in a historic opera house with a resident ghost. University politics, a historical society on the warpath, and a crumbling theater are hard enough for Lila to deal with. Then a murder occurs, threatening to derail the production. Bit by bit, the theater and the people Lila encounters give up their secrets. Every new revelation urged me to keep on reading. All of the characters and their conflicts felt real to me. I especially liked spending time with the main character, Lila.

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.”

It might be unusual to choose an alphabet book intended for babies and toddlers in a selection of Halloween books, but the art in this book and others in this series is worth collecting, even if you don’t have little ones to share the book with. There have been a lot of little ones reading books on my lap over the years, both my own children and now grandchildren, and I’ve learned that there are certain favorites that I might as well keep close at hand rather than shelve in the hallway with the other picture books. A few years ago I stumbled across B Is for Boo, and I loved the illustrations so much that I have collected nearly a dozen more books in Greg Paprocki’s series of alphabet books. The illustration style might best be described as “retro,” and whether readers grew up in the 1960s like… show more.

This book is a part of The Night Before series which is such a brilliant and cute idea.

The Night Before Halloween also tells its tale in rhyme form, but is in the pattern of “Twas the Night Before Christmas”. Natasha Wing really has a grasp on keeping to the original style while telling her story in an adorable way that is written in a language that kids can easily follow.

The story itself includes all of the classic monsters as they are getting ready for Halloween and trick or treaters. It is the perfect book that has all of the Halloween monsters without any of the scares!