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.

Dare To Be Scared

This week, I'm sharing scary chapter books for kids in grade school.  Here are a few of my favorites . . .

The Seer of Shadows by Avi
In New York City in 1872, fourteen-year-old Horace, a photographer's apprentice, becomes entangled in a plot to create fraudulent spirit photographs, but when Horace accidentally frees the real ghost of a dead girl bent on revenge, his life takes a frightening turn.

Cirque du Freak: A Living Nightmare by Darren Shan
Two boys who are best friends visit an illegal freak show, where an encounter with a vampire and a deadly spider forces them to make life-changing choices.

The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier
Irish orphans Molly, fourteen, and Kip, ten, travel to England to work as servants in a crumbling manor house where nothing is quite what it seems to be, and soon the siblings are confronted by a mysterious stranger and secrets of the cursed house.


More Scary Stories --
The Book of Bad Things by Dan Poblocki
The Boy Who Cried Werewolf by J.H. Reynolds
Case File 13: Zombie Kid by J. Scott Savage
Charlie and the Grandmothers by Katy Towell
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Darkness Creeping: Twenty Twisted Tales by Neal Shusterman
Doll Bones by Holly Black
The Doll Graveyard by Laura Ruby
Guys Read: Terrifying Tales by Jon Scieszka
Literally Disturbed: Tales to Keep You Up at Night by Ben H. Winters
Mothman's Curse by Christine Hayes
Nightbooks by J.A. White
Strange Star by Emma Carroll
Whisper in the Dark by Joseph Bruchac

Check these books out on display at the Arnold Branch through November 8, 2019.

Read If You Dare: Teen Horror Stories

Last week, I shared chapter book ghost stories.  This week, I think I'll share some of my favorite teen horror books . . . .

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.

Prom Dates from Hell by Rosemary Clement-Moore
High school senior and yearbook photographer Maggie thought she would rather die than go to prom, but when a classmate summons a revenge-seeking demon, she has no choice but to buy herself a dress and prepare to face jocks, cheerleaders, and Evil Incarnate.


More Teen Horror Books --
Alone by Cyn Balog
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Genevieve Tucholke
The Cemetery Boys by Heather Brewer
City of the Dead by Sharon Stewart
Dr. Frankenstein's Daughters by Suzanne Weyn
Eat, Brains, Love by Jeff Hirsch
The End Games by T. Michael Martin
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco
The House by Christina Lauren
Long Lankin by Lindsey Barraclough
The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd
A Midsummer Night's Scream by R.L. Stine
The Sacrifice Box by Martin Stewart
Slasher Girls & Monster Boys by April Genevieve Tucholke
This Is Not a Test by Courtney Summers
The Waking: Dreams of the Dead by Thomas Randall
The Wrong Train by Jeremy de Quidt

Check these books out on display at the Arnold Branch through December 7, 2018.

Dare to Be Scared!

With Halloween fast approaching, this week I thought I would share some horror books for teens.  Here are a few of my favorites . . . .

The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle
Every October Cara and her family become mysteriously and dangerously accident-prone, but this year, the year Cara, her ex-stepbrother, and her best friend are 17, is when Cara will begin to unravel the accident season's dark origins.

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.

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.

On the Day I Died: Stories from the Grave by Candace Fleming
In a lonely Illinois cemetery one cold October night, teen ghosts recount the stories of their deaths in different time periods, from 1870 to the present, to sixteen-year-old Mike, who unknowingly picked up a phantom hitchhiker.


More Teen Horror Novels --
Bonchiller by Graham McNamee
The Death Collector by Justin Richards
The Devil's Engine: Hellraisers by Alexander Gordon Smith
Dr. Frankenstein's Daughters by Suzanne Weyn
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
The Hand of the Devil by Dean Vincent Carter
The House of Dead Maids by Clare Dunkle
In the After by Demitria Lunetta
Long Lankin by Lindsey Barraclough
Pretty Monsters: Stories by Kelly Link
Runied by Paula Morris
The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff
Samurai Awakening by Benjamin Martin
Slasher Girls & Monsters Boys by April Tucholke
This Is Not a Test by Courtney Summers
The Waking: Dreams of the Dead by Thomas Randall

Check these books out on display at the Arnold Branch through November 10, 2017.

Dare to Be Scared (Part 5)

On the night before Halloween, I'm going to share my all-time favorite horror books 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.

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride
Sam LaCroix, a Seattle fast-food worker and college dropout, discovers that he is a necromancer, part of a world of harbingers, werewolves, satyrs, and one particular necromancer who sees Sam as a threat to his lucrative business of raising the dead.

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.

Unspoken by Sarah Brennan
Loving a boy she has never met but with whom she has communicated telepathically all of her life, Kami Glass investigates screams heard in the nearby woods and sees lights in a long-empty manor house only to discover that her hometown has been hiding a murderer.

The House of Dead Maids by Clare B. Dunkle
Eleven-year-old Tabby Aykroyd, who would later serve as housekeeper for thirty years to the Brönte sisters, is taken from an orphanage to a ghost-filled house, where she and a wild young boy are needed for a pagan ritual.

It Came from the Library . . . Monstrous Books

Do you like books that give you a few good chills?  Books that you need to read with the lights on?  Then try one of these . . .

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride
Sam LaCroix, a Seattle fast-food worker and college dropout, discovers that he is a necromancer, part of a world of harbingers, werewolves, satyrs, and one particular necromancer who sees Sam as a threat to his lucrative business of raising the dead.

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.

The House of Dead Maids by Clare B. Dunkle
Eleven-year-old Tabby Aykroyd, who would later serve as housekeeper for thirty years to the Brönte sisters, is taken from an orphanage to a ghost-filled house, where she and a wild young boy are needed for a pagan ritual.

Bloodline by Kate Cary
Nineteen-year-old John Shaw returns from World War One and is haunted by nightmares of not only the battles but the horrifying discovery that his regimental commander is descended from Count Dracula.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
Through twists and turns of fate, orphaned Mary seeks knowledge of life, love, and especially what lies beyond her walled village and the surrounding forest, where dwell the unconsecrated, aggressive flesh-eating people who were once dead.

More Monstrous Books
The Book of Dead Days by Marcus Sedgwick
The Death Collector by Justin Richards
Gothic! Ten Original Dark Tales by Deborah Noyes
Raven's Gate by Anthony Horowitz
Bonechiller by Graham McNamee
Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler