October is a busy month, and it kind of wore me out. One thing I did to make it easier to share some of the great booklists out there during the time that includes Teen Read Week and Halloween was to post them on our Facebook page. Over the past few years we haven’t really posted there very much but it is an easy way for me to post a link to something cool right away when I find it. Unfortunately, our Facebook page doesn’t actually have a lot of viewers, which means that if the only way you get information from Monster Librarian is through our blogs, then you probably missed out on seeing some pretty cool stuff (even if you “liked” our page, Facebook’s evil plan to force us to pay for advertising means our reach isn’t necessarily all that great, so actually visiting every once in a while instead of waiting for us to show up in your news feed is a good way to see what’s going on).
So I thought I’d share some of the links to booklists that I posted there that I don’t think got posted here while I was working on developing original content here. Some of them are pretty cool, and all of them are just a little different.
Bewitching Tales: Great Books for Halloween Reads from School Library Journal.
Pretty self-explanatory.
The Devil’s 10 Best Appearances in Literature at Flavorwire.com.
I’d argue with some of these choices, but it is an interesting list. Actually, it’s an interesting idea for a list as well.
Find Your Next Supernatural Read by Carli Spina at The Hub, the blog for the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA).
A nice list of YA choices.
Horror in YA Literature is a Staple, Not a Trend by Kelly Jensen in School Library Journal.
I love this article. If you are interested in YA at all, read it!
Genre Guide: Horror for Teens at The Hub.
It’s really nice to see teen horror get its own genre guide. And about time.
Ten Best Halloween Read-Aloud Picture Books for Kids at BookRiot.
There are some nice choices here, and it’s always nice to see the early elementary crowd get some recognition– they love the scary stuff, too!
Top 10 Horror Fiction for Youth: 2013 by Gillian Engberg from Booklist Online.
Pretty self-explanatory.
Top 10 Horror Fiction: 2013, by Brad Hooper from Booklist Online.
Also self-explanatory. It’s nice to have a summary of good recent titles, though.
RA for All: 31 Days of Halloween– Love for Monster Librarian by Becky Siegel Spratford at RA Horror for All.
Becky had a different post on reader’s advisory in horror fiction every day of the month, including a very interesting series of guest posts from the folks at Booklist. I just happened to link to this particular day because I’m proud to be included here, but really, anyone interested in reader’s advisory in horror fiction ought to visit here regularly.
10 Novels That Will Scare the Hell Out of You by Julie Buntin at The Huffington Post.
These are all titles that tie into the haunted house subgenre.
The Top Ten Horror Stories by Stephen Jones from Publishers Weekly.
Anthologist Stephen Jones, editor of A Book of Horrors, shares his top ten favorite horror short stories.
Halloween Reads @ your library from MonsterLibrarian.com
This is not the only original booklist I’ve produced over the last month or so, but it is one that’s directly related to Halloween. I put together new and original content and booklists every year at this time, so it’s worth it to browse not only this year’s archives for October, but past years as well. This list is part of something new I’m trying where I focus on a particular topic or creature (I’ve already touched on The Phantom of The Opera, The Invisible Man, and witches) for a list of books or media that can be used to promote horror through library collections, so look out for the “@ your library” posts for related booklists.
Halloween Reading: Joseph D’Lacey’s Top Ten Horror Books from The Guardian.
This is a list of choices made by horror author Joseph D’Lacey.
Quiet Horror, Still the Darling of the Horror Genre by Paula Cappa.
Paula writes about a genre of horror that has gone unnoticed for some time and is just recently gaining a little recognition– quiet, or atmospheric, horror. Paula’s blog is a great place to visit for older examples of stories in this genre, but more current titles (like Alison Littlewood’s A Cold Season) are now sneaking into the mainstream as well.
5 Must-Read Werewolf Novels from Barnes & Noble.
The werewolf genre is another one where the audience is depressingly underserved. Here are a few titles to give you a place to begin in making suggestions. The essential word there is “begin”.
The 5 Scariest Short Stories on the Market!
The title here is misleading, as these are not new stories by any means, but the list does show that quiet horror is starting to get some notice again.
13 of the Year’s Creepiest Books from The Book Case at BookPage.com.
This is a list of recent titles, and you’ll probably recognize some of the names.
The 5 Creepiest Anime Series of All Time from Geek Magazine.
Yikes. I’ll stick with Fruits Baskets, thank you very much.
9 Children’s Books That Absolutely Terrified Us from The Huffington Post.
It’s always nice to see Der Struwwelpeter on these kinds of lists. Well, maybe nice is not the right word. The author here made some interesting choices that I suspect many people may disagree with.
10 of the Creepiest Books That Kids Love at Babble.com.
I love this list because it contains books outside the usual suspects, like Heckedy Peg by Audrey Wood, a book that I LOVE and used to read aloud in storyhours all the time.
Horror Stories: 25 Must-Read Books that Inspired Scary Movies at Complex.com.
Very cool list– the author comes down on the side of “the book is better than the movie”, but either way, I think it’s a win.
So there you have it. Lots and lots of links to booklists of all kinds, for children, teens, and adults, from creepy anime to haunted houses. It takes a long time to compile a month’s worth of booklists, so please visit us on Facebook to see what other treasures I turn up!
The Restless Dead: Ten Original Tales of the Supernatural, edited by Deborah Noyes. With authors like Kelly Link and Annette Curtis Klause contributing, you will surely find something here to give you the creeps.
Fear: 13 Stories of Suspense and Horror, edited by R.L. Stine. This collection has an interesting collection of writers, including F.Paul Wilson and Heather Graham, who write thrillers for adults, and Peg Kehret, who writes middle grade mysteries and suspense. So it’s not surprising that the collection is somewhat of a mixed bag– but there’s also quite a lot of variety!
All Hallows’ Eve: 13 Stories by Vivian Vande Velde. This is an individual collection, and again, these are stories of the supernatural and spooky rather than the gory. Vivian Vande Velde is a fantastic writer and this could be a good way to see if you like her stuff before trying out a longer work. And, of course, this collection is thematically about Halloween, so how could I leave it out?
Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link. One of the stories in this book, “The Wrong Grave”, is also in The Restless Dead, mentioned above. So if you tried that and liked it, definitely pick up Pretty Monsters. These are not typical scary stories, but they’ll definitely creep you out! Kelly Link is a favorite author of mine, and I really recommend this one.
Ghostly Gallery: Eleven Spooky Stories for Young People edited by Alfred Hitchcock. This is just one of a series of short story anthologies that Hitchcock published in the 1970’s and that were available in libraries and through Scholastic book orders in the 1980s as well. It’s really a tragedy that these volumes and others like them are no longer in print, as most of the early exposure I had to scary stories was through these types of books.
Roald Dahl’s Book of Ghost Stories edited by Roald Dahl. You may think of Roald Dahl as a children’s author, but he also wrote for adults and really, even in his children’s books, proves that he is a master of the macabre. His choices here include many older, classic, ghost stories, from authors such as Sheridan Le Fanu, Edith Wharton, and Robert Aickman. These are literary horror stories, some quite frightening, so I’d recommend it for older teens.
The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural by Patricia McKissack, illustrated by Brian Pinkney. These stories have the eerie feeling of truth to them, possibly because of McKissack’s introduction, where she describes listening to the stories the adults around her told when she was a child. This is a Caldecott Award winner, and also a Coretta Scott King award winner, but beyond that, it’s just really good storytelling, made even better by the dramatic illustrations. I have this on Kindle, and I’ve got to say, this is one of the books that you really need to hold in your hands and see the artwork complementing the story across a double page spread, to truly appreciate. Don’t let the award for children’s book illustration fool you: this book is often used with and appreciated by middle school aged kids and older.
The Scary Stories Treasury: Three Books to Chill Your Bones, Collected From Folklore, edited by Alvin Schwartz and illustrated by Stephen Gammell. Make sure you have the books illustrated by Stephen Gammell. I don’t care how old you are, these are still scary. And I’m definitely not the only one to think so– read 
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