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.

Good Vs. Evil: Who Will Win?

This week, I'm sharing teen books featuring battles between good and evil.  Here are a few of my favorites . . .

Legacies by Mercedes Lackey & Rosemary Edghill
After her family is killed, Spirit White is taken to Oakhurst Academy, a combination orphanage and school for those with magical powers, where she and her new friends investigate when students start mysteriously disappearing.

Dark Lord, the Early Years by Jamie Thomson
Evil Dark Lord tries to recover his dignity, his power, and his lands when an arch-foe transports him to a small town, into the body of a thirteen-year-old boy.

Od Magic by Patricia McKillip
Brenden Vetch's gift for connecting with the agricultural world helps him land a job as the gardener for the wizard Od at her school in the city of Kelior, where Od uncovers Brenden's true powers and helps him save the school from evil rulers.

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.

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin
A boy grows to manhood while attempting to subdue the evil he unleashed on the world as an apprentice to the Master Wizard.


More Books --
Abarat by Clive Barker
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Tucholke
Defy by Sara B. Larson
Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige
Earthbound by Aprilynne Pike
Frogkisser! by Garth Nix
Geek: A Fantasy Novel by E. Archer
The Glass Casket by McCormick Templeman
Half Bad by Sally Green
Itch by Simon Mayo
Long Lankin by Lindsey Barraclough
The Nethergrim by Matthew Jobin
Playing in Traffic by Gail Giles
Raven's Gate by Anthony Horowitz
Seriously Wicked by Tina Connolly
Shadowshaper by Daniel Jose Older
A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston
Towering by Alex Flinn
The Vindico by Wesley King
Wax by Gina Damico
William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope by Ian Doescher

Check these books out on display at the Arnold Branch through July 20, 2018.

Fierce Females -- They Don't Need a Hero, They Are the Hero

I love stories with a great female lead.  It's wonderful to read of the girl saving the day instead of waiting meekly for a guy to do it.  So here are some of my favorite fierce females in teen stories . . .

Graceling by Kristin Cashore
In a world where some people are born with extreme and often-feared skills called Graces, Katsa struggles for redemption from her own horrifying Grace, the Grace of killing, and teams up with another young fighter to save their land from a corrupt king.

Avalon High by Meg Cabot
Having moved to Annapolis, Maryland, with her medievalist parents, high school junior Ellie enrolls at Avalon High School where several students may or may not be reincarnations of King Arthur and his court.

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.

Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber
Perry's parents insist that he take Gobi, their quiet, Lithuanian exchange student, to senior prom but after an incident at the dance he learns that Gobi is actually a trained assassin who needs him as a henchman, behind the wheel of his father's precious Jaguar, on a mission in Manhattan.

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
When a plane crash strands thirteen teen beauty contestants on a mysterious island, they struggle to survive, to get along with one another, to combat the island's other diabolical occupants, and to learn their dance numbers in case they are rescued in time for the competition.


More Fierce Females --
Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld
Dangerous by Shannon Hale
Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor
Divergent by Veronica Roth
Dumplin' by Julie Murphy
Dust Girl by Sarah Zettel
Fallout by Gwenda Bond
Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
Hunter by Mercedes Lackey
I Become Shadow by Joe Shine
Impossible by Nancy Werlin
Picture Me Gone by Meg Rosoff
Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins
Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein
A School for Unusual Girls by Kathleen Baldwin
Seeker by Arwen Dayton
Sorrow's Knot by Erin Bow
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
The Wicked and the Just by Jillian Coats


Check out these books on display at the Arnold Branch through April 8, 2016.

Read These Books with the Lights On!

Horror books are always fun to read!  Even though Halloween is a couple of weeks in the past, we still like to get chills as we read a scary book.  Here are some of my favorite horror books for teens ...

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.

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.

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.

Sunshine by Robin McKinley
Sunshine is abducted by a vampire, and as she waits through the night, fearing the worst, she forms an unlikely bond with her captor.

Jinx by  Meg Cabot
Sixteen-year-old Jean "Jinx" Honeychurch, the descendant of a witch, must leave Iowa to live with relatives in Manhattan after the first spell she casts goes awry, but she will have to improve her skills to stop her cousin from practicing black magic that endangers them and the boy they both like.


More Teen Horror --
Ashes by Ilsa Bick
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Tucholke
Bonechiller by Graham McNamee
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
The Crossroads by Chris Grabenstein
Dr. Frankenstein's Daughters by Suzanne Weyn
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
In the After by Demetria Lunetta
A Midsummer Night's Scream by R.L. Stine
My Swordhand Is Singing by Marcus Sedgwick
Nightmare City by Andrew Klavan
Pretty Monsters: Stories by Kelly Link
The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff
Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry


Check out these books on display at the Arnold Branch through November 25, 2015.