Dare to Be Scared: Horror Stories for Teens

This week, we're getting in the Halloween mood with some great horror novels for teens . . . .

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
For three years, seventeen-year-old Cas Lowood has carried on his father's work of dispatching the murderous dead, traveling with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat, but everything changes when he meets Anna, a girl unlike any ghost he has faced before.

Lord Loss by Darren Shan

Presumably the only witness to the horrific and bloody murder of his entire family, a teenage boy must outwit not only the mental health professionals determined to cure his delusion, but also the demonic forces only he can see.

Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis

Lola Nox is sent to live with her estranged maternal grandmother in the mining town where her horror movie director father's most iconic film was set, when paranormal incidents and whispers of a century-old monster make her question if she'll make it out alive.

The Sacrifice Box by Martin J. Stewart

Five former friends must discover which of them broke the rules when objects they sealed in an ancient stone box come to life in twisted forms and dead things reanimate.

More Horror Stories --

#MurderTrending by Gretchen McNeil

As I Descended by Robin Talley

Blood Countess by Lana Popovic

Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power

Burning by Danielle Rollins

Daemon Hall by Andrew Nance

The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White

Dreaming Darkly by Caitlin Kittredge

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco

The Haunted by Danielle Vega

His Hideous Heart: Thirteen of Edgar Allan Poe's Most Unsettling Tales Reimangined

The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd

The Mary Shelley Club by Goldy Moldavsky

Messenger of Fear by Michael Grant

Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand

There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins

What Big Teeth by Rose Szabo

The Wrong Train by Jeremy de Quidt

Check these books out on display at the Arnold Branch through October 30, 2021.

Can You Solve the Mystery?

 This week, I'm sharing chapter book mysteries.  Here are a few of my favorites . . . .

Charlie & Frog: A Mystery by Karen Kane
While staying with his grandparents in Castle-on-the-Hudson, Charlie stumbles upon a mystery but must learn American Sign Language to keep up with Frog, a deaf girl who wants to help solve it.

The Haunted Serpent by Dora M. Mitchell
New kid in school Spaulding Meriwether teams with cool kid Marietta, her euphonium-playing sister Lucy, and popular jock Kenny to investigate a mysterious boa constrictor that lives next door to Spaulding that may have eaten its owner.

The Uncanny Express by Kara LaReau
When their Aunt Shallot, aka Magique, Queen of Magic, goes missing on the Uncanny Express, Jaundice, Kale, and the famous detective Hugo Frommage seek to solve the mystery and rescue the magician.

The Real McCoys by Matthew Swanson

Elementary school detective Moxie McCoy looks for a missing school mascot and a new best friend, with the help of her annoying little brother.

More Mysteries --
Ernestine, Catastrophe Queen by Merrill Wyatt

The Guggenheim Mystery by Robin Stevens

The Harlem Charade by Natasha Tarpley

Kazu Jones and the Denver Dognappers by Shauna M. Holyoak

Mystery in the Mansion by Lauren Magaziner

Premeditated Myrtle by Elizabeth C. Bunce

Room One: A Mystery or Two by Andrew Clements

Strike Three, You're Dead by Josh Berk

Under Locker and Key by Allison K. Hymas

The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair by Amy Makechnie

The Unknowns: A Mystery by Benedict Carey

Who Killed Darius Drake? by Rodman Philbrick

Check these books out on display at the Arnold Branch through October 1, 2021.

I Don't Remember: Stories of Memory Loss & Amnesia for Teens

It's always fun to read a book and try to discover the hidden secrets.  And there is nothing more secretive than lost memories.  So this week, I'm sharing teen stories about amnesia and memory loss.  Here are a few of my favorites . . . .

The Leaving by Tara Altebrando
Years after six kindergarteners go missing, five return as teens and struggle to reacclimate to life with their families in spite of trauma and an inability to remember about their experiences. None of them remember the sixth victim, Max, the only one who hasn't come back. Which leaves Max's sister, Avery, wanting answers and is determined to find her brother.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Sixteen-year-old Thomas wakes up with no memory in the middle of a maze and realizes he must work with the community in which he finds himself if he is to escape.

The Forgetting by Sharon Cameron
Canaan is a quiet city on an idyllic world, hemmed in by high walls, but every twelve years the town breaks out in a chaos of bloody violence, after which all the people undergo the Forgetting, in which they are left without any trace of memory of themselves, their families, or their lives--but somehow seventeen-year-old Nadia has never forgotten, and she is determined to find out what causes it and how to put a stop to the Forgetting forever.

Stolen by Vivian Vande Velde
A girl finds herself running through the forest at the edge of a village with no memory of anything, even her own name, and later learns that she might be twelve-year-old Isabelle, believed to be stolen by a witch six years before.


More Stories --
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson
Breaking Beautiful by Jennifer Shaw Wolf
Damsel by Elana K. Arnold
The Dead I Know by Scot Gardner
Destroy All Monsters by Sam J. Miller
Forgotten: A Novel by Cat Patrick
Grown: A Novel by Tiffany D. Jackson
House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland
The Last Thing I Remember by Andrew Klavan
Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin
Mind Games by Shana Silver
The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr
Pretty Girl-13 by Liz Coley
Reverie by Ryan La Sala
Remember Me Always by Renee Collins
The Ruinous Sweep by Tim Wynne-Jones
Shadow State by Elyse Brayden
Surface Tension by Mike Mullin
With Malice by Eileen Cook

Check these books out on display at the Arnold Branch through September 24, 2021.