Scary Books: Home

Ryan and his friends don't think twice about stealing some money from a wishing well. After all, who's really going to miss a few tarnished coins? The well witch does. And she demands payback...

When witches kidnap her dad, Mup is swept up in a wild tide of magic that carries her to another world. Can she reunite her family and find her way back?

Twelve-year-old Mary Hayes can't stand her orphanage for another night. But then a mysterious woman named Madame Z appears at the orphanage requesting to adopt Mary. Soon, Mary is at Madame Z's being fed a hearty Russian meal. When Mary begins to explore the strange nearby town with the help of her new friend, Jacob, she learns that all may not be as it seems.

The master puppeteer, Gaspare Grisini, is so expert at manipulating his stringed puppets that they appear alive. Clara Wintermute, the only child of a wealthy doctor, is spellbound by Grisini's act and invites him to entertain at her birthday party. But when Clara vanishes that night, suspicion of kidnapping falls upon the puppeteer and, by association, Lizzie Rose and Parsefall.

Most children think twice before braving a haunted wood filled with terrifying beasties to match wits with a witch, but not Masha. The fearsome witch of folklore needs an assistant, and Masha needs an adventure. She may be clever enough to enter Baba Yaga's house-on-chicken-legs, but within its walls, deceit is the rule. To earn her place, Masha must pass a series of tests, outfox a territorial bear, and make dinner for her host.

In the fifth installment of National Book Award winner M.T. Anderson's Pals in Peril series, the intrepid heroes are home from their Delaware crime-stopping excitement, only to discover that Lily's mom has become possessed by a menacing zombie who wants to take over the world!

Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania--derailing the War Between the States and changing the nation forever.

The zombie apocalypse begins on the day Rabi, Miguel, and Joe are practicing baseball near their town's local meatpacking plant and nearly get knocked out by a really big stink. Little do they know the plant's toxic cattle feed is turning cows into flesh-craving monsters!

In the zombie-infested, post-apocalyptic America where Benny Imura lives, every teenager must find a job by the time they turn fifteen or get their rations cut in half. Benny doesn't want to apprentice as a zombie hunter with his boring older brother Tom, but he has no choice. He expects a tedious job whacking zoms for cash, but what he gets is a vocation that will teach him what it means to be human.

Who is the Invisible Detective? To the people of London, in 1936, he's a shadowy crimefighter whose face has never been seen. Truth is, he's the creation of four extraordinary children who solve mysteries in his name. And neither an army of murderous zombie mannequins nor a subterranean monster can stop the Invisible Detective once the kids are on the case. Meanwhile, in present day, 14-year-old Arthur Drake finds the casebook of the Invisible Detective in a strange antique store.

Twelve-year-old Katherine Bateson believes in a logical explanation for everything. But even she can't make sense of the strange goings-on at Rookskill Castle, the drafty old Scottish castle-turned-school where she and her siblings have been sent to escape the London Blitz. What's making those mechanical shrieks at night? Why do the castle's wall seem to have a mind of their own? And who are the silent children who seem to haunt Rookskill's grounds?

Ophelia Harrison used to live in a small house in the Georgia countryside. But that was before the night in November 1922, and the cruel act that took her home and her father from her. Which was the same night that Ophie learned she can see ghosts.

The Night Gardener follows two abandoned Irish siblings who travel to work as servants at a creepy, crumbling English manor house. But the house and its family are not quite what they seem. Soon the children are confronted by a mysterious spectre and an ancient curse that threatens their very lives. With Auxier's exquisite command of language, The Night Gardener is a mesmerizing read and a classic in the making.

When eleven-year-old Ollie lost her mother in a plane crash, she sought solace in her books. One day, Ollie discovers a chilling ghost story about a girl, Elizabeth Morrison, who is being chased through cornfields filled with scarecrows by two brothers with deadly intent. When she finds the graves of Elizabeth Morrison and her tormentors, Ollie starts to think this book is more than just a book.

Rosa Ramona Díaz has just moved to the small, un-haunted town of Ingot--the only ghost-free town in the world. She doesn't understand how her mother--a librarian who specializes in ghost-appeasement--could possibly want to live in a place with no ghosts. Jasper Chevalier has always lived in Ingot and has never seen a ghost. Then an apparition thunders into the festival grounds and turns the quiet town upside down. Something otherworldly is about to be unleashed, and Rosa will need all her ghost appeasement tools--and a little help from Jasper--to rein in the angry spirits and restore peace to Ingot before it's too late.

Stranger Things meets The X-Files in this eerie, heart-pounding middle grade adventure about a young boy and girl who must protect their small town from otherworldly forces threatening to destroy it.

Ever since Cass almost drowned (okay, she did drown, but she doesn't like to think about it), she can pull back the Veil that separates the living from the dead . . . and enter the world of spirits. Her best friend is even a ghost. So things are already pretty strange. But they're about to get much stranger. When Cass's parents start hosting a TV show about the world's most haunted places, the family heads off to Edinburgh, Scotland. Here, graveyards, castles, and secret passageways teem with restless phantoms. And when Cass meets a girl who shares her "gift," she realizes how much she still has to learn about the Veil -- and herself.

We Need Diverse Books founder Ellen Oh returns with Spirit Hunters, a high-stakes middle grade mystery series about Harper Raine, the new seventh grader in town who must face down the dangerous ghosts haunting her younger brother. A riveting ghost story and captivating adventure, this tale will have you guessing at every turn!

Victor Frankenstein, a Swiss scientist, has a great ambition: to create intelligent life. But when his creature first stirs, he realizes he has constructed a monster. Abandoned by its maker and shunned by everyone who sees it, the monster turns on its creator and haunts Dr. Frankenstein with murder and horrors to the very ends of the earth.

What do you get when you mix together werewolves, vampires, mad scientists, wizards, aliens, alternate dimensions, tiny people, Transylvania, ancient curses, giant frogs, evil clones, ghosts, lawyers, shape-changers, fallen angels, journeys through hell, zombie warriors, body snatchers, and two clever kids in whose hands rests the fate of Earth? This adventure-comedy-fantasy-mystery book!

When strange late-night letters start arriving at home, Emily's parents set off to investigate. But when her parents disappear completely and Emily is left home alone to face the weird strangers that begin to appear at her door, she takes all of the clues at her disposal and makes for the place where the letters came from -- the mysterious Night Post. What she'll discover is the secret world of the Midnight Hour -- a Victorian London frozen in time, full of magic and monsters.

Journey through the woods in this sinister, compellingly spooky collection that features four brand-new stories and one phenomenally popular tale in print for the first time. These are fairy tales gone seriously wrong, where you can travel to "Our Neighbor's House"--though coming back might be a problem.

Scary stories. Everyone loves to hear them and everyone loves to tell them. Contributed by storytellers who work in school and after-school settings, these stories have been crafted for telling out loud and have been tested before the most discerning critics -- kids themselves.

Nothing goes better with a gooey s'more and a glowing campfire than a good ghost story. This collection of scary classics and frightening folktales will send shivers up your spine.

According to Chinese tradition, those who die hungry or unjustly come back to haunt the living. Some are appeased with food. But not all ghosts are successfully mollified. In this chilling collection of stories,Ying Chang Compestine takes readers on a journey through time and across different parts of China.

Welcome to a world where everything seems normal. At least, at first. But the sinister and truly terrifying lurk just beneath the surface.

Corinne La Mer claims she isn't afraid of anything. Not scorpions, not the boys who tease her, and certainly not jumbies. They're just tricksters made up by parents to frighten their children. Then one night Corinne chases an agouti all the way into the forbidden forest, and shining yellow eyes follow her to the edge of the trees. They couldn't belong to a jumbie. Or could they?

Part fantasy, part travelogue--this graphic novel transports readers to the intersection of the natural and supernatural worlds. Onibi: Diary of a Yokai Ghost Hunter follows the adventures of two young foreigners as they travel to a remote and mysterious corner of Japan. Along the way, they purchase an old camera that has the unique ability to capture images of Japan's invisible spirit world.

Meet one of Japan's most popular characters of all time-Kitaro, the One-Eyed Monster Boy.

Have you ever heard an urban legend? In this trio of terrifying tales, three boys have a close brush with the unknown as they encounter ghostly horses who run the streets at night, phantom farm children whispering in their ears, and a deceased former classmate who may be less dead than everyone thought. . . .

Could Dr. Frankenstein's machine ever animate a body? Why should vampires drink from veins and not arteries? What body parts are best for zombies to eat? (It's not brains.) This fascinating encyclopedia of monsters delves into the history and science behind eight legendary creatures, from Bigfoot and the kraken to zombies and more.

Want a good scare? Try reading about severed heads that blink, killer viruses that eat their human host, and real-life werewolves (just for starters)! Scared yet? That's okay - feeling scared is natural and useful. Want to know more about these and other fears? Pick up this one-of-a-kind book, an illustrated investigation into all the stuff that's frightened us out of our wits for centuries and the gruesome, gory, gut-churning science behind it.

A hiker spots a large, ape-like creature walking through the woods. Neighbors discover hoof prints on their roofs. Swimmers see a dark, snake-like shadow moving under the water. Creatures, part of Full Tilt's Origins: Urban Legends series, examines the origins and reported sightings of four mysterious creatures.

Since the beginning of humanity, many people have supported the idea of spirits, ghosts, and an afterlife. This book explores some well-known and frightening real-life encounters and looks to what scientific approaches have been tested to prove or disprove the existence of these otherworldly presences.

Great medical triumphs have taken place at hospitals. But are these medical buildings also a great place to go looking for ghosts? According to some, they are.

Zach, Poppy, and Alice have been friends forever. And for almost as long, they've been playing one continuous, ever-changing game of pirates and thieves, mermaids and warriors. Ruling over all is the Great Queen, a bone-china doll cursing those who displease her. Their friendship might be over, until Poppy declares she's been having dreams about the Queen--and the ghost of a girl who will not rest until the bone-china doll is buried in her empty grave.

The master puppeteer, Gaspare Grisini, is so expert at manipulating his stringed puppets that they appear alive. Clara Wintermute, the only child of a wealthy doctor, is spellbound by Grisini's act and invites him to entertain at her birthday party. When Clara vanishes that night, suspicion of kidnapping falls upon the puppeteer and, by association, his assistants, Lizzie Rose and Parsefall. As they seek to puzzle out Clara's whereabouts, Lizzie and Parse uncover Grisini's criminal past and wake up to his evil intentions.