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Summer Reading Is Killing Me! Part 2: Tween and Middle School Reads

It turns out I actually don’t have to do much work to provide you with a good list of scary books for summer reading. Andrea Lipinski has done most of the work for me in the New York Public Library’s blog with a post titled Dark, Creepy, Spooky, Scary Crossover Books.

We’ve actually reviewed a bunch of these here, although I’m not sure we completely agree with her age recommendations. You might check out our reviews to see what we thought. There are some great books on the list, though!

Reviewed here:

Eighth Grade Bites: The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod (first in a series)

Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brogsol (this was a Stoker nominee last year in the YA category)

A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz

Tales from Lovecraft Middle School: Professor Gargoyle by Charles Gilman (first in a series)

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (a Newbery Award winner)

Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry (a Stoker Award winner in the YA category last year, and first in a series– followed by Dust & Decay)

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (a Stoker nominee last year)

Three Quarters Dead by Richard Peck

Zom-B by Darren Shan (first in a series that will eventually comprise thirteen books)

Strange Angels by Lili St. Crow (first in a series)

 

Here are some additional suggestions from our own Middle School List. With a very few exceptions, we’ve reviewed nearly all of these:

 

Zombies

Generation Dead by Daniel Waters

Generation Dead: Kiss of Life by Daniel Waters

Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

The Dead by Charlie Higson

The Enemy by Charlie Higson

Zombie Queen of Newbery High by Amanda Ashby

You Are So Undead to Me by Stacey Jay

Zombie Blondes by Brian James

 

Supernatural Horror

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keately Snyder

The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab

Cryer’s Cross by Lisa McMann

The Seer of Shadows by Avi

The Other Side of Dark by Sarah Smith

Blackbriar, Fingers and others by William Sleator

Stranger With My Face, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and others by Lois Duncan

Ghosts I Have Been, Thirteen Past Dead, and others by Richard Peck

Monster’s Proof by Richard Lewis

Skeleton Man and others by Joseph Bruchac

Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins

Bad Girls Don’t Die by Katie Alender

From Bad to Cursed by Katie Alender

Mercy by Rebecca Lim

 

Vampires

Sucks to be Me: The all-true confessions of Mina Hamilton, Vampire (maybe) by Kimberly Pauley

Still Sucks to be Me: The all-true confessions of Mina Smith, Teen Vampire by Kimberly Pauley

Parliament of Blood by Justin Richards

Blood Ninja by Nick Lake

Look for Me by Moonlight by Mary Downing Hahn

The Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis Klause

Vampire Loves by Joann Sfar (graphic novel)

 

Werewolves

Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause

Wereworld by Curtis Jobling

Under My Skin by Judith Graves

 

Anthologies

Bloody Horowitz by Anthony Horowitz (collection)

Fear by R.L.  Stine

 

 

Posted on May 9, 2013 by , Reply

Wonderbrary: Where The Scary Series Books Are

I just want to point you to Wonderbrary, a very nice site that lists many of the self-identified horror fiction series for children, for those who have powered through the 90+ Goosebumps books. I’m sometimes asked for this information, and this site has done several posts with the express purposed of identifying these series. Unfortunately it does not appear to have been updated recently, but if you’re looking for information on scary series books published prior to 2011, this provides a nice list, including cover art.

Posted on March 3, 2013 by , Reply

Katherine Applegate Wins the Newbery Award!

If you grew up in the 1990s, chances are that you’ve read something by Katherine Applegate, known then as K.A. Applegate, author of the incredibly popularAnimorphs series for middle grade readers. Those books are still around, so if you work as a children’s librarian or have a kid of the right age, you might still be familiar with them.

That series isn’t what won her the Newbery, but you might get a kid who liked (or likes) the Animorphs books curious enough to take a look at the book that won her the Newbery, The One and Only Ivan, which is based on the true story of a gorilla that lived in a glass box for many years as an attraction at a circus themed mall. It’s written from the gorilla’s point of view, and just as with the Animorphs books, explores what it’s like to feel like an animal (here’s a link to a Q&A she did with Publisher’s Weekly around the time of its publication).

It’s difficult to break out of your comfort zone, and make the jump from one kind of writing to another, but aren’t you glad she did? Congratulations, Katherine!

Posted on January 30, 2013 by , Reply
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