Horror

Author Title Rating Reading Level

Beck, Ian Pastworld: London Excellent 7 & up

Victorian London, with its thick fog shrouding the city, is a dark and exhilarating place. Gas lights flicker, casting eerie shadows on stone facades. Horses clomp along cobbled streets. There is a hint, a specter of darkness and evil that lurks just around the corner. Being there seems both real and surreal to Caleb. His father is one of the creators of Pastworld: London, the greatest theme park ever conceived! Visitors are only allowed passage if they are dressed in authentic costumes. No modern 2048 technology is allowed. Eve is a native, a lifelong resident of Pastworld who has no idea that she's living in a theme park or of her true identity until the day her guardian is murdered by the frightening Fantom, an evil inspired by the past and a creation of the future. His connection to both Eve and Caleb is as horrifying as it is bizarre.

Brom The Plucker Excellent 9 & up

What happens to toys when a child gets tired of them? In Thomas' room, they are banished to Underbed, a dark, forgotten place full of sorrow...and it's exactly where Jack (in-the-box) finds himself. He is angry and hurt, remembering all the good times that he and Thomas had but when a malicious, horrible spirit gets loose and comes after Thomas through his toys, Jack steps up to fight. With the help of Mabel, one versed in Holy scripture and hoodoo, and some of the other toys they set out to do battle to save the boy they all love.

Bunting, Eve Lambkins Good 6-8

Kyle was heading home from the art gallery feeling on top of the world because he’d just sold one of his paintings for $100! He stopped to help an older woman who’d had a flat tire. He knew the dangers of talking to strangers but she looked harmless enough…until she stuck him with a needle and everything went black. He wakes feeling seriously ill, vomiting and dizzy. There are 3 other kids there, ranging in age from 4 to 17 and a dog. There’s something very strange, though, only Kyle can’t quite put his finger on it. Then the ceiling of his prison was lifted off and the giant face of Mrs. Shepherd appeared as she looked down at them, as if they were….dolls! Mrs. Shepherd, an insane woman who called them her Lambkins and who had shrunk them down to doll size and put them in a dollhouse had kidnapped the five of them and planned on keeping them indefinitely! Kyle felt the need to do something but the others had already tried everything that is until he found a small rock left behind by John, the Lambkin who had been killed, and a plan began to take shape.

Cary, Kate Bloodline Poor 7 & up

John Shaw returns from the war a scarred man, physically and emotionally. He has recurring nightmares about his commander, Quincy Harker, a brutal, ferocious officer and warrior. As he heals, he discounts the nightmares as just that but when Harker turns up and begins courting his sister, John is forced to face his fears and find out the truth about who Harker really is and save his sister from a fate worse than death.

Dunkle, Clare The House of the Dead Very good 6-8

Have you ever wondered how men like Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights fame got to be the way they are? Tabby Akroyd might just have the answer. Tabby is a young girl taken from an orphanage to be a maid at Seldom House. The house is large, dark and sinister. It seems as though the very walls are watching her. That first night Tabby finds out why...there are ghosts haunting the old house! She first encounters young Izzy, a maid like herself. The girls touch is icy, her eyes black holes. She is terrifying but not the only one. Tabby's young charge arrives a few days later and is incorrigible. He is arrogant, unruly and nearly impossible to befriend, much to Tabby's chagrin. He is meant to be the master of the house but what that means is far more dark and dangerous than either child knows. The more Tabby tries to uncover the truth, the more horrifying discoveries she makes. Escape is imperative but might also be impossible.

Funke, Cornelia Reckless Very good 8 & up

One day he was just gone. No trace, no clues, just an office filled with mysterious artifacts from places unknown are all that's left of Jacob Reckless' father. Jacob, his brother Will and their mother feel an overpowering sense of abandonment. Jacob, always a curious boy, ventures into the office one day and spies a strange looking mirror. He reaches out to touch his reflection and suddenly he's in another world...a world full of ancient secrets and a long-standing war between the humans and the Goyl, a people made entirely of stone. He spends more and more time there. At first, he looks for his father but then the lure of the place and the riches to be had there draw him back. Jacob keeps Mirrorworld a secret from his mother and younger brother Will until the day that Will follows him and changes the course of his life forever. Will is attacked and bitten by a Goyle and he begins to change, stone slowly replacing skin. Jacob must find a way to stop it, no matter what the cost.

Golds, Cassandra Museum of Mary Child Very good 7 & up

Heloise lives in a world of black and gray. She knows the 10 Commandments, both the ones from the Bible and the ones her godmother forces her to live by. "1. Thou shalt not waste time. 2. Thou shalt not wear pretty clothes. 8. Thou shalt eschew the word 'love' and the phenomenon to which it refers." But worst of all, "9. Thou shalt not have a doll." One dreary day, Heloise discovers a loose floor board and underneath, a miracle...a beautiful doll. Heloise is desperate to keep Maria so she keeps her secreted away but her godmother begins to notice a difference in Heloise. The little girl smiles more and seems happier than she's ever been. Soon, however, Heloise's secret is discovered and another, more dreadful secret is revealed. Heloise decides to run away rather than face losing Maria and the horror of the world her godmother created.

Healey, Karen Guardian of the Dead Very good 8 & up

After a year of heartache and worry for her mother, as she struggled but beat cancer, Ellie is ready to be just like every other student at her boarding school. Hanging out with best friend Kevin, day-dreaming about cute, mysterious boys and studying are her only worries. One day she runs into Mark, THE mystery boy and he is more startled than she is. He asks, "Do you know what you are?" then turns and walks quickly away. Things get even more strange and scary as stories of a serial killer who not only kills his victims but takes their eyes, get closer to home. Soon, Ellie's life spirals downward from weird to horrifying as an eerily beautiful woman sets her sights on Kevin who begins acting possessed, a crazy man accosts her, shoving a Bible into her hands saying that she will need to if she wants to save her soul and Mark reveals a dark secret that sends Ellie plummeting into the middle of a harrowing battle for immortality. Those she can trust are few and far between and, in the end, the fate of the world rests squarely on her shoulders.

Henderson, Jason Alex Van Helsing: Vampire Rising Very good 6-9

What's in a name? A pain in the neck, that's what...especially if your name is Van Helsing. Alex has heard it all before; Monster slayer, vampire hunter, but none of that is real. "That doesn't happen" is his father's automatic response. The problems is, he's lying. That does indeed happen at Alex's new school near Lake Geneva. Alex has been getting these strange buzzing sensations lately and he doesn't understand them. Late one night he escapes his cramped dorm room to take a walk around campus. That buzzing feeling begins and he hears a scream. Instinct kicks in and he dashes toward the sound. When he bursts through the trees, he sees a girl with unearthly white skin holding captive a grown man and...sucking his blood! A part of his brain just can't accept what he's seeing but the buzzing forces him to focus. She's real and now she's after him. That's not all he has to worry about. Turns out that his school is not the only educational establishment around. Not too far away and buried deep beneath the earth is an evil and ancient school for vampires which is headed by the most dangerous vampire of all. Icemaker was once human, a very famous human but now all he wants is total vampire domination and the only things standing in his way are Alex Van Helsing and the Polidorium, a group of agents committed to ridding the world of vampires.

Voice of the Undead Very good 6-9

It's only been a month since Alex comes into his own power and finds out who his family really is...the infamous Van Helsing clan who slays vampires! Finding out all of the nightmares and stories he'd always thought were fictional were actually real and even more terrifying is just the beginning for him. Now, he is training with the elite fighting force, the Polidorium so that when the next attack comes, he will be ready. And it does come, sooner than anyone could imagine. Elle, the vamp he most recently defeated, is back and she's on a mission...to kill him! This time, however, there seems to be something much larger going, something involving a voice that is said to be irresistible. What do the vamps want with someone like him and what does it have to do with the girls school just down the road? Alex and his friends are in the thick of it and must figure out what's really happening before it happens because, knowing the vampires, it's going to be bloody awful!

Horowitz, Anthony Groosham Grange Good 7-9

Nothing David ever did was good enough for his parents. His grade were not straight As; he didn't want to follow in his father's footsteps (or rather wheel chair tracks); worst of all...he'd been expelled from school! Then, miraculously, a pamphlet appears in the mail slot advertising a boarding school that seemed to be just what his parents need. Groosham Grange. Even the name sounds ominous to David but, as he has no choice in the matter, off he goes anyway. As the name suggests, this is not an ordinary school. First, students sign their names in a black book with their own blood as ink. The teachers aren't --- quite human. His English teacher, for instance, seems to be held together with bandages...very mummy-like and the French teacher is very hairy and is absent when the moon is full. Meals are an exercise in gastro-horrors and you don't even want to know what they use as a soccer ball! And David thought he hated his old school!

Kessler, Jackie Morse Hunger Very good 9 & up

There are Four Horsemen: Death, Pestilence, War and Famine. They wreak havoc upon the earth and in Lisabeth's life. Lisabeth is drowning in anorexia and depression. Her "Thin" voice berates her and constantly reminds her of how many calories any food she thinks about eating. Her best friend and boyfriend are worried and confront her so she leave them for Tammy, a bulimic who seems to have control of her life and her body. One particularly bad night, Lisabeth takes several of her mother's anti-depressants, intent on taking the whole bottle when the doorbell rings. A young man bearing a striking resemblance to Kurt Cobain stands there holding out a set of old-fashioned scales and says, "Thou art Famine". He is Death and he gives her a choice; ride as Famine or finish the bottle of pills and die. Each day she rides out on her black horse that no one else can see and witnesses the ravaging effects of famine on the earth's people. What she sees makes her sick, her Thin voice whispering in her ear how powerless she is to do anything about it. Finally, she fights back and the voice, like a bully confronted, balks at her new-found courage. She raises her head and straightens her shoulders, ignoring the hunger inside. Maybe, just maybe she can fight back against the demons inside her. But she can't do it alone. Asking for help will require her to summon more courage than anything she's faced yet, even death.

Kizer, Amber Meridian Good 9 & up

Imagine every waking moment of your life animals die all around you. You find them in your room, at school, everywhere. Eventually, people start calling you the angel of death and you believe it. Meridian has lived this way all of her life. She can't imagine her life getting worse. On her 16th birthday, however, it does. As she steps off the bus, a car speeds up,heading directly for her. She just manages to get out of the way but other teenagers aren't as lucky. Suddenly, she is consumed by unimaginable pain, as though she'd been hit. Meridian isn't given time to fully recover from this when her parents pack her off to her great aunt's house in Colorado, saying that she is in grave danger and so is her family. Once in Colorado, she learns the secret that her mother was so desperate to keep. She is a Fenestra, a window between the living and the dead and, if she is to survive, she must learn not only to control her gift but to fully accept it. She must learn how to help people die. There is a balance to be maintained and she is an important part of it. Her job is a dangerous one and not just because the spirit she helps can pull her through with them but because the Nocti, those who take souls to hell, want her and her kind dead.

McDonald, Joyce Shades of Simon Gray Fair 8-9

Strange things are happening in the small town of Liberty Tree. The population of peepers, tiny frogs, has exploded into plague-like numbers. They cover every surface and their shrill voices are loud enough to disturb even the residents of a graveyard. The weather is freakish as well. One day it’s a broiling 85 degrees and the next there snow covers everything in a blanket of white. Even at the local high school, geeks are accepted into the popular crowd and poor students are suddenly getting grades that are good enough to get them accepted into prestigious universities.

Simon Gray, a computer geek, heads home one evening and skids, headlong, into the towns landmark, the Liberty Tree. Most townsfolk blame the peepers whose squashed bodies made the road very slick but there are a few who wonder whether it was an accident and others who are scared stiff of something. Simon is the only one unconcerned. He is in a coma to the outside world but Simon finds himself outside of his body walking around the town but most often ending up by the Liberty Tree where he wonders what it is that he can’t remember.

McNamee, Graham Acceleration Very good 7 & up

"The feel of the soft, worn leather makes me cringe---feels too much like skin." This is the thought that Duncan has when he finds the journal. His job working in the lost and found of the subway is boring him nearly to tears. There's no sun, no trees, no windows but the temperature, even on the hottest day, is cool, which is the only perk. The journal is one of many lost books that has found its way here but its pages hold the secrets of a murderer in training. Duncan tries to turn it in to the police but they shrug it off, like it was something he had created for fun. He decides to enlist the help of his friend Vinny to find try to find the guy himself. They research serial killers and apply what they learn to what they read in the journal. They find his "comfort zone" and Duncan even spots one of his potential victims, just as she is described in the journal. They have become stalkers but will their efforts thwart the murderer?

Bone Chiller Very good 7 & up

Do you believe in Bigfoot? The Abominable Snowman? No? I used to be right with you...they're the stuff of legends, stories to tell around the campfire. That is until I was attacked by something I can't even believe myself! Worst of all, it bit me and now my body is changing but into what, I don't know.

Danny and his dad moved to a very small, cold town in Canada. There's a military base in town so many of the residents are connected to it. That includes Ash, a very beautiful and very tough girl who knocks Danny flat the very first time she meets him...literally! Danny was challenged to a boxing match at the local gym he'd been working out in and his opponent came out swinging and clocked him so hard he saw stars. They've been friends ever since but, lately, it seems like something different, something exciting might be happening! Danny's other two friends, brothers Pike and Howie, round out Danny's circle of friends. One night, they are heading home from an intense evening of teenage rebellion when Danny hears something following him. Suddenly, out of nowhere, it attacks. The creature is like nothing he's ever seen before. It's ghastly white, hairless with teeth long and deadly-sharp. It's an impossible creature yet there it is. Weirdly, it lets him live but only after stinging his hand. The following morning, he's almost convinced himself that it was an hallucination...until he sees the small blue mark on the back of his hand and snaps pictures of it's tracks in the dirt. Things only get more distressing from there. His friend Howie is attacked, as well, and the teens go into full-on fighting mode. They can't let themselves be taken like centuries of other young people have been but it's only a matter of time before that creature comes for them.

McPhail, Catherine Dark Waters Very good 6-8

The McCann name is synonymous with trouble and Col is just one link in a long family chain of hellions. His father had been killed while driving a getaway car during a robbery. His older brother Mungo was carrying on the tradition with a vengeance. Even for Col, his name meant that whenever there was trouble at school, he was the most likely suspect. On a cold, winter morning Col skips school to go to the loch, the place he goes for peace and quiet. Suddenly, his reverie is disrupted by a young boy venturing out onto the partially frozen waters, despite the sign posted all around warning of thin ice. When the ice breaks, plunging Dominic into the icy loch, Col reacts before thinking and saves him, nearly killing himself in the process. When he awakens in the hospital, he finds that he is a hero and people treat him differently. Soon after the ordeal, Col begins to have nightmares about something he saw in the loch, something hiding at the edge of his memory, something that terrifies him. As more and more pieces begin to surface, Col is forced to face some ugly truths about his beloved brother. Somehow he must reconcile his loyalty to his family and his ever increasing desire to do what is right.

Miles, Elizabeth Fury Good 9 & up

Em and Gabby have been best friends forever. They compliment each other...Gabby brings in a little free-spirited fun into Em's life and Em gives Gabby a dash of stability and common sense. Nothing could ever break them apart, right? Wrong. Zach is Gabby's boyfriend and Em can't seem to get him out of her mind. When Gabby goes away for the Christmas holiday, things get heated. Chase is from the poor side of the tracks. He lives in a trailer with his single mom and tries desperately to seem like everyone else in his wealthy high school. Fitting in often means doing things that you regret later, cruel things that make you hate yourself. The problem is that those things have a way of catching up with you and biting you pretty hard. When three mysterious and beautiful girls show up in town, both Em and Chase are caught up in a slow dance with fate and sometimes, fate can be deadly.

Pearce, Jackson Sweetly Good 7 & up

Hansel and Gretel meets Little Red Riding hood in this fantasy horror by Atlanta author Jackson Pearce. Gretchen and her twin sister Abigail were out playing with older brother Ansel when suddenly a monster appeared. All three children ran but only two arrived home safely...Abigail was never seen again. Their childish memory labeled this monster as a witch. As they grew older, neither could shake the fear and guilt of their sister's loss. When they turn 18, their stepmother throws them out of the house and they head out to find a peaceful place. What they find, instead, is a seemingly sleepy Southern town with terrible secrets of it's own. Sophia Kelly is a local sweetshop owner. Her candies are almost magical, they are so good. For the first time, Gretchen and Ansel enjoy peace and contentment. It's short-lasted, however. Each year, just after Sophia's chocolate festival, several of the towns girls disappear. Gretchen becomes more suspicious and Ansel falls more in love but neither is ready for the true connection between Sophia and the disappearances.

Pfeffer, Susan Beth Blood Wounds Very good 8 & up

Poblocki, Dan Stone Child Very good 6-8

"The blue station wagon had just come around a sharp bend in the road when the creature stepped out of the woods. Eddie was the first to see it---a blur of black hair and four long, thin legs. It looked at him with red-rimmed yellow eyes and a gaping mouth full of sharp teeth." Eddie and his family are heading to their new home in a small, quaint town called Gatesweed. It just happens to be the hometown of Eddie's favorite mystery author, Nathaniel Olmstead. As it happens, Olmstead's whole life seems to be a mystery. While he was living there, strange creatures attacked neighborhood pets and a young boy disappeared from his room, never to be seen again. Olmstead, himself, simply vanished one day. Eddie and his new friend and fellow Olmstead fan, Harris find an unknown manuscript written completely in code. When the terrifying creatures from Olmstead's books begin to appear for real, they realize that there must be clue hidden in the book that will rid the town of the horrors before the final and most powerful creature is let through and destroys the world.

The Nighmary's Good 6-8

Timothy and Abigail are average middle school students, except for one thing. They are cursed! It all started years before, when Abigail's grandmother, Zilpha, was a little girl and something horrible happened. She witnessed her friend being kidnapped by a very sick man. When she turned him in, he was taken away. Her story was fictionalized by her uncle when he started writing a series of detective stories starring Zelda, teen super sleuth. Years later, Timothy stumbles across one of the books and begins reading. Soon, he begins to see things...horrible, frightening things. At first, he thinks he's going crazy but then his best friend Stuart sees a monster in the pool and his teacher is haunted by the old jars full of formaldehyde-infused creatures. Abigail has not escaped notice. She is haunted by two girls from her old school. Timothy and Abigail team up to try and figure out what's going on. They realize that the things that haunt them are things that they most fear and that someone is making it happen. An ancient artifact, the fictional novel written about Zelda and baseball cards all help solve the mystery but at what cos

Plum-Ucci, Carol The She Very good 8 & up

What is truth? Does memory affect it, especially when it's a memory from long ago? Evan wonders if his memory has colored the truth of what happened to his parents when he was eight. He remembers his father's frantic Mayday on the ship-to-shore radio. He remembers his mother's terrified screams. He remembers the ungodly shriek that drowns out almost everything. There was no wreckage from the boat; no bodies washed ashore. It was as if Something had just sucked them under. The She is said to be a long-forgotten sea monster who got so jealous of lovers sailing the waters above her that she destroyed them, ship and all. Could The She have been responsible for his parents death? Now, even though he's 17 and much too old to believe in such lore, their disappearance has still not been explained. When a girl from his school needs his help working through her own loss, old memories and new mysteries begin to surface. Will his quest for the truth lead him to a logical explanation of what happened 9 years earlier or will he discover things about his family that were better left hidden?

Priestly, Chris Mister Creecher Excellent 7 & up

Ryan, Carrie The Forest of Hands and Teeth (1) Excellent 8 & up

All of her life, Mary’s mother had told her stories of “outside” and the ocean that waits for them. The ocean is endless water as far as the eye could see with shining sands of the purest gold. Mary dreams of tasting salt and feeling the waves lap at her feet. When she wakes, however, it’s to a nightmare world where the Sisters and the Guardians fight to keep their small village alive and safe from the Unconsecrated. Years ago, something horrible happened and a virus was let loose on the world. In very short order, people who used to be living, breathing human beings were turned into walking corpses with a savage hunger for flesh and blood. Small pockets of people dot the earth, completely cut off from one another. Mary’s village is ruled with the iron hand of the Sisters. Their stone cathedral is where all teaching and praying goes on. One horrible day, Mary’s mother wanders too close to the fence meant to protect them and is bitten. In a matter of hours, she dies then…returns. Mary makes the tragic decision to release the creature who once loved and nurtured her to the forest. After her brother rejects her for that decision, Mary is taken in by the Sisters, destined for a life of servitude. The only problem was that Mary didn’t believe in God. She couldn’t bring herself to pray or to forget the stories her mother told her. She’s too curious and that unquenchable desire to KNOW changes the path of her life forever.

Sedgwick, Marcus White Crow Very good 8 & up

Winterfold is a backwoods kind of place where one might come for peace and quiet but things are not peaceful there. The sea is an ever-present force slowly re-claiming the little town, inch by inch but its encroachment is not the cause of the darkness that seems to hang about. The history of the village is shrouded in mystery which involves Winterfold Hall and its past inhabitants. Legend has it that a local rector becomes obsessed with the afterlife and what it holds. When a stranger, Dr. Barrieux, arrives, the rector's obsession is realized in horrifying experiments that he and the good doctor perform on the townspeople. It did not end well for them. Fast forward to 2011...Rebecca and her father, a police chief, have come to Winterfold to escape the press after a difficult case that ended badly. She is unsure of his guilt or innocence and their relationship suffers because of it. Ferelith is from Winterfold and more than a little strange. The two strike up a wary and unlikely friendship. Each day seems to reveal Ferelith as somehow, dangerous but Rebecca is beyond caring...until the day that Ferelith plays a horrible joke on her. What follows is a bizarre descent into madness or, possibly hell...what will come for you, an Angel or the Devil?

Shepherd, Megan The Madman's Daughter Very good 10 & up

Juliet, once a young lady with wealthy parents, is now a maid, cleaning the hospital in which her father had worked. He was the greatest surgeon in all of London. That was before, though...before the rumors and scandal had run him out of town and killed her mother. She'd always assumed that he died, as well. One night, on a dare, Juliet and several others sneaked into the hospital's surgery theater and found a group of young men performing surgery, but not just any surgery; vivisection, which was against the law. Stunned and hating the sound the rabbit was making, Juliet ended its life and found a slip of paper with familiar handwriting on it. Her father...these were his notes. Following clues given her by the young surgeons, she found herself face to face with Montgomery, her father's assistant and a boy she'd known for most of her life. She is shocked to learn that her father is, indeed alive, and living on an island near Australia. She is determined to go and find the answers to her many questions but, what she doesn't yet know is that those answers are dark and dangerous ones that will threaten to destroy her.

Showalter, Gena Intertwined Good 10 & up

Being a teenager is hard! You have to deal with hormones, bullies, new schools, girlfriends or boyfriends, the list could go on forever. These issues are the least of Aden's worries. He has 4 other souls sharing his one body! Not only do they talk to him constantly, each has a supernatural power; time travel, raising the dead, divination, and possession of another body. Needless to say, Aden has been in an out of institutions for most of his life. Now he is at D and M Ranch and actually likes it. One day, however, he sees a beautiful girl and his life is turned upside down. For once, the voices in his head are silent...completely! He's never experienced anything like it and will do just about anything to feel that peace again. When he is around Mary Ann he no longer finds himself transported back in time to a younger version of himself; he can walk past someone and not know when he or she will die; the dead stay dead and he can't take over another person's body. At first, things are wonderful. Aden and Mary Ann become good friends but then strange and terrible things start to happen and Aden realizes that he's going to have to tell Mary Ann the truth about himself but at what cost?

Sleator, William The Last Universe Excellent 7 & up

We all have places that give us the creeps. For Susan, it's the garden out back where strangeness seems to hang from every branch. When her brother, Gary, gets sick, he insists on being taken to the garden everyday and Susan is assigned the job. The deeper into the garden they venture, the more strangeness gathers around them. Paths shifting and ending up somewhere else; a boxwood maze that gives them glimpses into something else; a cat that seems to just know things...soon Susan and Gary realize that their fates could be changed forever but at what cost?

Shusterman, Neal Red Rider's Hood Good 7 & up

Red, so named because of his very cool, blood-red, classic Mustang, lives in the rough part of town and lately, it's gotten even rougher. There have always been gangs to deal with. The Crypts are a gang of girls but they stay pretty much on their side of town. The Wolves, however, have gotten more bold and when a few of them mug his grandmother and steal his Mustang, Red can no longer ignore them. He decides that the only way to defeat them is to do it from inside. The only problem is that the Wolves are not actually human...they are werewolves! He has some secret information that is valuable to them, which is his way in but, as he becomes more involved with them, the power and freedom that they possess begins to appeal to Red. Eventually, he will have to make a decision for whom to fight and then fight to the death.

Tolan, Stephanie The Face in the Mirror Very good 6-8

Jared's life is about to be changed forever and he's none too excited about it! His grandfather, with whom he's been living with had a stroke and can no longer take care of him. His mother is an aspiring actress (and has been for many years) and doesn't want the responsibility which is why he's living with his grandfather in the first place. The only option left is to live with the father he's never met and worse, he has a younger half-brother, Tad, who turns out to be a royal pest. His father is a famous actor in a theater company which Jared will be joining. They will be performing Richard III in a small town theater. The theater has been restored to it's former glory and rumors of ghosts abound. No one believes in ghosts, least of all Jared, until some very strange things begin to happen that no one can deny.

Vance, Susanna Deep Very good 8 & up

Two girls are brought together by extraordinary circumstances that change their lives. One girl, Birdie, is the asthmatic only child of doting parents about to embark on the family trip of a lifetime... a year in the Caribbean. The other, Morgan, is the only surviving child of free-spirited parents who set sail 17 years earlier to travel the world.

Upon arriving in St. Martins, Birdie and her parents are befriended by a young, handsome Aussie yachtsman, who is not what he seems. Morgan has abandoned her parents who have become alcoholics after the death of their oldest daughter and is sailing alone. The two are captured by a madman and must help each other survive the most frightening experience that either has ever been through.

Wallace, Rich Restless Good 7 & up

Herbie has taken on a lot in the past few weeks. He’s decided that he’s going to play two sports in one season just because his coach said he’d “wimp out on the first day” of either football or cross-country. He is out late one night running through a graveyard when he feels someone following him. He slows to look but sees nothing. This feeling of being followed stays with him for the rest of his run and makes him more than a little uneasy but also a little intrigued. He begins to make his run through the cemetery a regular thing and each time his experiences with this presence become more intense. One evening he actually sees the young man who’s been following him but instead of flesh and bone making contact with him, the man seems to materialize out of thin air and touches him for only an instant then he is gone. Each night afterward, Herbie senses, and on occasion, see other spirits, including that of his older brother, Frank, who died when Herbie was young. Herbie, Frank and the ghost of Eamon, the original spirit he encountered, are intertwined in their search for understanding of each one’s experiences in life and in death and how to move on from them.

Wooding, Chris The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray Excellent 7 & up

The Old Quarter of London was once peaceful and beautiful but now is infested with horrific creatures of the night, the wych-kin. Thaniel and Cathaline are wych-hunters and armed with an uncanny sense of where these creatures lurk, they fight battle after battle with the wych-kin, trying to free their city. On patrol one night, Thaniel meets Alaizabel, a crazed, possessed but beautiful young woman. In discovering the mystery of who she is, Thaniel and Cathaline realize that there are far more sinister forces at work in the city than the wych-kin and they are the only ones who can stop them.

Malice Very good 7 & up

Hey, have you heard about Malice? It's a comic book but, if you gather the certain effects, chant the right words six times, you'll be taken into Malice, the world inside the comic! What? You don't believe me? Well, just try it and see. But don't blame me when Tall Jake comes calling! Malice is very real and very terrifying, as Seth and Kady find out when their friend Luke goes missing. He told Seth about the comic and doing the ritual and all the creepy things that happened afterwards; then he disappeared. Seth and Kady will have to use all their wits and be braver than they've ever been to survive Malice...a second time!

Poison Very good 7 & up

Sometimes names so perfectly suit their owners that it's frightening. Poison is just such a person, at least to her family. She has always been ornery, stubborn and contrary, but particularly toward her stepmother. The one person for whom she reserves her affection is her little sister, Azalea. When she discovers that the child has been snatched by the Phaeries and replaced with a changeling, she is determined to get her back. Her quest leads her out of the only home she's ever known and into a world far beyond her wildest imagination or nightmares. She only has her cleverness and friends she meets along the way to help her face some of the most terrifying creatures in the world. When she discovers who is behind everything and why, her life and the lives of those around her are forever changed.

Yovanoff, Brenna The Replacement Very good 8 & up

Mackie Doyle is not like the rest of us. He is excellent at mimicry. He lives in a small town, goes to school, has friends and a family but he is not human. Early one morning when he is a baby, he wakes to find his sister staring at the ugly, inhuman child in the crib. Emma is not afraid. She reaches into the crib and grasps his hand and hangs on for the next 16 years. Emma loves him fiercely, defensively. His best friends don't ask too many question. They just accept that he is "other". Nothing stays the same forever, though and now he is very sick. The mortal world with it's iron, blood and holy ground is slowly killing him. When another baby goes missing, suddenly all the work to make himself unnoticeable is undone. Now, he must face those creatures who are like him but not, who can save or destroy him and decide where he belongs.

Zafon, Carlos Ruiz The Prince of Mist Very good 7 & up

Up for a good, CREEPY tale? The Prince of Mist will not disappoint. Mr. Carver, a watchmaker, moves his family from the city to a small coastal village to get away from the effects of WW II. From the moment of their arrival, strange things happen. The lovely home they'd bought came with a deadly tale. The young boy who lived there drowned under mysterious circumstances. Max and Alicia Carver, both resenting being uprooted. They meet Roland, the grandson of the lighthouse keeper, who has a strange story of his own, as the children soon find out.