Finding the Just-Right Spooky Chapter Book for your Halloween Reading!
By Kristina Acosta, Youth Librarian, Herman and Kate Kaiser Library
October has finally arrived! While you sip on your pumpkin coffee, your young one may be asking for something spooky to read-- ‘tis the season after all! But, what’s too spooky and what’s not spooky enough? Check out the books listed below starting with 1 pumpkin as a mild introduction all the way up to 3 pumpkins for the spooky spectaculars.
🎃= mild
🎃🎃= a bit scarier
🎃🎃🎃= pretty spooky!
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🎃= mild
🎃 The School is Alive, the first in the Eerie Elementary series by Jack Chabert.
Sam finds out his school is alive and plotting the demise of its students. It is his job to save his peers as he has recently been promoted to hall monitor.
🎃 The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
An orphan boy finds a home in a graveyard and his new family are none other than the ghosts who live there.
🎃 Grave Mistakes by Kitty Curran
Molly and her twin poltergeist brother must solve a mystery to save the family. Oh, and don’t forget her zombie sister and ghost mother!
🎃 The Skull by Jon Klassen
A brave girl escapes terrible danger to find a house with an odd host, a skull. She must be brave again as they both face something that comes out every night.
🎃🎃= a bit scarier
🎃🎃 Ghoulia by Barbara Cantini
Join a lonely zombie as she tries to make new friends at a Halloween party.
🎃🎃 Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
A collection of ghost stories and other weird happenings drawn from American folklore.
🎃🎃 Scary Stories for Young Foxes by Christian McKay Heidicker
6 short stories about zombies, witches, ghosts, and more follow the fox kits as they try to survive in an unforgiving wilderness.
🎃🎃🎃= pretty spooky!
🎃🎃🎃 All the Lovely Bad Ones: a Graphic Novel adaptation by Mary Downing Hahn; adapted by Scott Peterson, Naomi Franquiz, and Brittany Peer.
Visit a quiet Vermont inn with ghost sightings and supernatural pranks that turn serious quickly when the siblings wake up something that should not have been disturbed.
🎃🎃🎃 The Doll Graveyard by Lois Ruby
Two kids move into a new home with a very odd and mysterious graveyard in the back. The worst part is... the things that are buried won’t stay in the ground!
🎃🎃🎃 Read at Your Own Risk by Remi Lai
Hannah and her friends play with a Ouija board that unleashes a spirit and begins to communicate with her through her diary.
