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
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