Horror & Supernatural
Note: Horror can be tricky for discerning readers. Sometimes, we want to be thrilled - but not disturbed, grossed out, or upset. If you’d like a horror recommendation with just the right amount of thrill for you, please speak to the library staff. Thanks!
Bad Dreams
Haunting dreams start leaking into reality.
A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness
The Nest - Kenneth Oppel
The Night Gardener - Jonathan Auxier
Nightmares! - Jason Segal & Kirsten Miller
The Skeleton Man - Joseph Bruchac
Creepy Objects
You’re done with them, but they’re not done with you...
Among the Dolls - William Sleator
Doll Bones - Holly Black
Splendors & Glooms - Laura Amy Schlitz
The Squampkin Patch - JT Petty
Curses, Witches, & Voodoo
A magical person with malicious intentions drives the plot.
Claws - Mike & Rachel Grinti
Hoodoo - Roland Smith
The Hunt for the Seventh - Christine Morton-Shaw
The Jumbies - Tracey Baptiste
The Last Apprentice [series] - Joseph Delaney
The League of Beastly Dreadfuls: The Witch’s Glass - Holly Grant
The Night Parade - Kathryn Tanquary
Raven’s Gate - Anthony Horowitz
The Rithmatist - Brandon Sanderson
The Specter from the Magician’s Museum - Brad Strickland & John Bellairs
Suddenly Supernatural - Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
The Switch - Anthony Horowitz
Well Witched - Frances Hardinge
Witch Catcher - Mary Downing Hahn
The Witches of Worm - Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Dark Fairy Tales
Dark retellings of common fairy tales or legends.
Castaways of the Flying Dutchman - Brian Jacques
Coraline - Neil Gaiman
The Door by the Staircase - Katherine Marsh
Goldeline - Jimmy Cajoleas
Reckless - Cornelia Funke
A Tale Dark & Grimm [series] - Adam Gidwitz
Frankenstein Returns
The monster comes back!
The Frankenstein Journals - Scott Sonneborn
Ghosts, Hauntings, & Paranormal Events
Who ya gonna call??
All the Lovely Bad Ones - Mary Downing Hahn
The Beasts of Clawstone Castle - Eva Ibbotson
Castaways of the Flying Dutchman - Brian Jacques
Deep and Dark and Dangerous - Mary Downing Hahn
A Drowned Maiden’s Hair - Laura Amy Schlitz
Ghost Dog Secrets - Peg Kehret
The Ghost’s Grave - Peg Kehret
Ghostlight - Sonia Gensler
The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman
A Greyhound of a Girl - Roddy Doyle
The Halloween Tree - Ray Bradbury
The House on Stone’s Throw Island - Dan Poblocki
The Hunt for the Seventh - Christine Morton-Shaw
The Inn Between - Marina Cohen
Legend of the Ghost Dog - Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
The Old Willis Place - Mary Downing Hahn
One for Sorrow - Mary Downing Hahn
The Peculiar Incident on Shady Street - Lindsay Currie
School of the Dead - Avi
The Screaming Staircase - Jonathan Stroud
The Seer of Shadows - Avi
Seven Dead Pirates - Linda Bailey
Shadow House: You Can’t Hide - Dan Poblocki
Stonewords: A Ghost Story - Pam Conrad
Thornhill - Pam Smy*
Time for Andrew - Mary Downing Hahn
What Lives in the Woods - Lindsay Currie
Scritch Scratch - Lindsay Currie
Spookiest Authors
The best authors to check out when you want a thrill!
Holly Black
Joseph Bruchac
Neil Gaiman
Adam Gidwitz
Mary Downing Hahn
Anthony Horowitz
Kenneth Oppel
Brandon Sanderson
Lindsay Currie
Historical Spooky Stories
A haunting supernatural story in a historical setting.
Castaways of the Flying Dutchman - Brian Jacques
A Drowned Maiden’s Hair - Laura Amy Schlitz
Eddie: The Lost Youth of Edgar Allan Poe - Scott Gustafson
Gabriel Finley & the Raven’s Riddle - George Hagen
The Ghost at Crutchfield Hall - Mary Downing Hahn
The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn - Dorothy & Thomas Hoobler
The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman
The House of Dies Drear - Virginia Hamilton
The Man Who Was Poe - Avi
The Night Gardener - Jonathan Auxier
One for Sorrow - Mary Downing Hahn
Splendors & Glooms - Laura Amy Schlitz
Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos - R.L. LaFevers
Thornhill - Pam Smy
Ophie's Ghosts - Justina Ireland
Monsters
Protagonist faces a monstrous presence.
The Abominables - Eva Ibbotson
The Dark is Rising - Susan Cooper
The Dark Pond - Joseph Bruchac
The Devil, The Banshee, and Me - L.M Falcone
The Jumbies - Tracey Baptiste
A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness
Monstrous - MarcyKate Connolly
Mothman’s Curse - Christine Hayles
Nightmare at the Book Fair - Dan Gutman
Not as We Know - Tom Avery
Raven’s Gate - Anthony Horowitz
The Rithmatist - Brandon Sanderson
Skellig - David Almond
Tell the Story to Its End - Simon P. Clark
Where I Belong - Mary Downing Hahn
Supernatural Suspense, Mysteries, & Thrillers
Closed for the Season - Mary Downing Hahn
Groosham Grange - Anthony Horowitz
Skulduggery Pleasant - Derek Landy
Thornhill - Pam Smy
Whisper in the Dark - Joseph Bruchac
Girl in White - Lindsay Currie
What We Saw - Mary Downing Hahn
Shadow Grave - Marina Cohen
For more mysteries to thrill and chill, check out our Mystery list!
Vampires
They vant to suck your blood!
Cirque du Freak [series] - Darren Shan
Vampire Plagues [series] - Sebastian Rook
Werewolves
Werewolf Rising - R.L. LaFevers
Zombies
The Last Kids on Earth - Max Brallier
Scary Story Collections
The Ribbajack & Other Curious Yarns - Brian Jacques
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark - Alvin Schwartz
Scary Tales: Home Sweet Horror - James Preller
Horror Series
Small Spaces - Katherine Arden
City of Ghosts - Victoria Schwab
Spirit Hunters - Ellen Oh