In the summer of 4th grade, long before halloween books were introduced to me, I remember being forced to watch The Grudge. This should have starved off all the energy I would need for all tales of horror, but then I found Goosebumps. From being unable to sleep thanks to the spirits in The Grudge franchise, I ended up hungering for more. Demons, zombies, vampires, werewolf, and a creepypasta collection to keep up with felt wicked scary. Can you blame me for staying?
Down I went, in search of more horror stories to read. Stine might have been the beginning, but King sure wasn’t the end. This is in part nostalgia, and a curation of horror books to read on Halloween. Can you tell we’re determined to make this October season extra spooky?
We’re starting off light, like the cinnamon on your pumpkin-spice latte. The following are books for younger readers, slowly moving into middle grade.
1. I Say Boo You Say Hoo by John Kane
Rating: 4.22/5
Spooks: Cutes: 4/5
Available as: Kindle edition, Paperback
John Kane’s picture book offers the best interactive element. Readers/listeners follow Boo, a little ghost who lives in a haunted house. The catch is that he is afraid of the dark.
Trick-or-treat:
- Visual and verbal cues
- Perfect for group or individual reading
- Has a surprise memory game-like element
- Offers a memorable experience
For a fun, cute-spooky adventure, we highly recommend you to pick this up for Halloween!
2. Five Little Ghosts by Lily Murray
Rating: 3.96/5
Spooks: Cutes: 3/5
Available as: Hardcover (picture book)
Nothing like a solid lift-the-flap Halloween picture book to keep a young reader entertained. Based on the nursery rhyme “Five Little Ducklings,” this story follows five little ghosts on an adventure through the spooky forest. As they disappear one by one, lift the flaps to discover whatever they are up to!
Though it is deemed best for children between 18 months to 3 years, it is not limited to them. The rhyming and repetitive text make reading aloud easier. The rhyme-based touch adds to the musical element. While you sing-along, we’ll remind you that this book stays way past Halloween.
3. There’s A Ghost In This House by Oliver Jeffers
Rating: 4.44/5
Spooks: Cutes: 4/5
Available as: Hardcover (picture book)
A girl moves into a haunted house, but needs help to spot ghosts. On this adventure, with a chance to meet friendly ghosts along the way, this book offers a surprisingly fun time.
Humorous and highly entertaining, the transparent pages and mix-media illustrations will scare the socks off your young one’s feet in the best possible way. The perfect last-minute Halloween gift, if you need one!
Increasing word-count (for now), here’s a handful of halloween books for (nearly) young adults:
4. Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale Of Mystery By Deborah and James Howe
Rating: 3.89/5
Spooks: Cutes: 3.5/5
Available as: Paperback, Audiobook
The Monroe family has a new pet. Harold the dog, and Chester the cat attempt to find out the truth about the newest family addition. It looks like a suspicious bunny, with fangs…?
While Bunnicula operates mostly as a middle-grade book, the plot revolves around animal characters on an adventure. Interestingly, it works as a story when read to younger children as it keeps the readers (or listeners) guessing if the bunny is a vampire or not.
5. The Eerie Elementary Series by Jack Chabert
Rating: 4.03/5
Spooks: 3.5/5
Available as: Paperback
In this first installment of the Eerie Elementary Series, Sam Graves’ discoveries with The School Is Alive! don’t end. As school hall monitor, he teams up with his friends to fight against the evil school.
Attempting to one-up the famous Goosebumps, this series is ranked top among children’s spine-chilling chapter books. Deemed perfect for 1-3 Graders, the short sentences and vivid plot keeps the reader/listener engaged, making it perfect for newly independent readers as well. This is your chance to lure your hesitant reader in, along with some cool illustrations in tow!
6. Welcome to Dead House by R.L. Stine
Rating: 3.85/5
Spooks: 3/5
Available as: Paperback, Audiobook
Perfect beginning into the world of horror, this first in the famed Goosebumps series is bound to stay with you for years. While a lot of readers keep coming back to this series years into their reading journey, this series offers a sort of quiet nostalgia despite gory plots.
Dead House follows siblings Amanda and Josh who move into an old house in Dark Falls. Something is off, but their parents think otherwise. Nothing meeting a bunch of friends cannot do. Except if they want to be friends forever…
There’s no beating Stine endings, until you read these. Let us know if, like me, you’ve changed your mind too!
7. The Witches by Roald Dahl
Rating: 4.18/5
Spooks: 3.5-4/5
Available as: Paperback, Audiobook
A young boy lives with his grandmother upon the tragic loss of his parents. He comes to learn that witches exist. His fiercely-protective grandmother tries to evade the claws of the neighborhood witch. Can they do more than recognize witches?
In a humorous attempt to debunk witches, Dahl offers this unlikely “fairy-tale.” To provide more information regarding the lesser-known aspects, The Witches has proven to last in mind of readers who have grown up reading Dahl. Scary in retrospect, it is still a worthy choice from among the 2018 Banned Books list.
8. The Hollow Boy: Lockwood & Co.by Jonathan Stroud
Rating: 4.38/4
Spooks: 3.5/5
Available as: Hardcover, Audiobook
The third installment in the Lockwood & Co. series, The Hollow Boy follows the effective extermination of spirits by the members of Lockwood & Co. While they do have their hands full with cases that baffle Scotland Yard, the members’ personal drama also gets in the way. Will they save themselves from more trouble?
Perfect move from children’s to YA, this book evolves from a team of paranormal investigators. Easing into the setting, it employs the paranormal hand-in-hand with mystery and investigative plots.
9. Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark by Alvin Schwartz
Rating: 4.06/5
Spooks: 4-4.5/5
Available as: Paperback
This Children/Middle Grade/YA paranormal short stories book reads like staring into the eye of the devil. An instant cult-classic, it was challenged thanks to the nightmarish artwork provided by Stephen Gammell. There’s a reason why this book made it onto the list of 1980s halloween books, and scary doesn’t begin to describe it.
With every story about 2 pages or so, the plots have it simple and do the job – enjoyable, and plenty of jumpscares. They may wear off for older adults, but provide the perfect premise for dark macabre. A film adaptation of this book has not done the original illustrations any justice, so keep your eyes peeled!
Given classics like Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting At Hill House, Stephen King’s Carrie, and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, it has become increasingly difficult to find decent halloween horror books. Perhaps this is the case, exceeding the top halloween box office picks. For the YA readers, go feast:
10. Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
Rating: 3.92/5
Spooks: 1/5
Available as: Hardcover
A curious mix of fiction and photography, this plot opens on Jacob’s tragic discovery of Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children.
What he also learns:
- An abandoned orphanage on a mysterious island
- Haunting vintage photographs
- Children on the island who are more than peculiar
- They may be dangerous, hence quarantined
Bringing in a decent dose of time-travel and historical fiction, Riggs weaves a paranormal plot around the pictures. While the readers are divided between the consistency of the plot, the pictures definitely save the day.
RELATED READING: 9 Comedy Horror Books To Tickle Your Bones
11. Clown In A Cornfield by Adam Cesare
Rating: 3.73/5
Spooks: 4.5/5
Available as: Hardcover, Audiobook
Kettle Springs has been struggling since their only factory shut down. The town blames the kids. Especially as the juniors and seniors at Kettle Springs High hosted the party at which Arthur Hill’s daughter died. The kids blame the adults. In a constant battle between old and new, Quinn Maybrook moves in with her father. She wanted a fresh start, but all she got was a homicidal clown waiting to kill.
This small-town slasher novel is a perfect Halloween pick for this autumn. Bringing in elements of Teen Scream, this plot exudes pure chaos throughout. The well-thought out end diligently does its part, as do the plentiful jumpscares.
12. The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White
Rating: 4.46/5
Spooks: 4/5
Available as: Kindle edition
In 1883 London, the Veil between the living and the dead was thinned. The Royal Speaker Society watched over violet-eyed mediums who communed with spirits. Silas Bell, 16, would rather give up sight than obey. Trying to escape his fate, with an arranged marriage in tow, he is shipped to Braxton’s Sanitorium and Finishing School on account of Veil sickness.
What is also revealed:
- Novel sports a haunted sanatorium, historical fiction, gothic plot
- Silas Bell is a boy, not a girl
- He needed a decade’s worth of tutoring to hide his autism
- That the ghosts at his new school beg him for help
A neat halloween pick, to read and pick apart.
13. House Of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland
Rating: 4.01/5
Spooks: 4/5
Available as: Hardcover, Audiobook
Iris Hollow, 17, has always been strange. While she cannot recollect how it happened, she and her two older sisters share identical half-moon scars at the base of their throats. When her oldest sister, Grey, goes missing, she follows a bizarre trail of breadcrumbs into the past of what had happened. Closer to the truth, can she withstand all things dark and dangerous?
Perfect for fans of dark fairytales looking to attempt horror. This book offers a posh mix of Fantasy/Horror/Paranormal/Mystery/Thriller, with a sprinkle of magic realism. High among audiobooks, this disturbingly strange plot will have you hooked and way past your bed time.
14. The Haunting by Alex Bell
Rating: 3.82/5
Spooks: 2.5/5
Available as: Paperback
Waterwitch’s history is particularly chilling. It is said that Cornish Inns are haunted. When Emma was ten, an accident at Warwitch left her wheelchair-bound. Cursed ship remnants used to rebuild the guesthouse, where Emma is determined to return seven years later. With vengeful spirits and curses that grow stronger, will she survive?
This installment in the Red Eye series is a supernatural fantasy mystery horror. An enjoyable quick read, with enough quirks to keep it memorable.
15. Summer Rental by Rektok Ross
Rating: 3.49/5
Spooks: 3-3.5/5
Available as: Paperback
Mean Girls X Scream. This stranded island book comes with a survival plot. On the last weekend before college, Riley March and her friends decide to party at Palm Key Island. The catch is that everyone on the trip is hiding something. When one friend goes missing, and with a hurricane cutting them off from access to civilization, body count is increasingly dropping.
With a serial killer on the loose, everyone is a suspect. Will they survive, when all secrets come to light? A summer read, this mystery thriller horror also brings with it an I Know What You Did Last Summer vibe.
16. Tastes Like Candy by Ivy Tholen
Rating: 3.62/5
Spooks: 1.5/5
Available as: Kindle edition
Invitation to Senior Scavenge at Pritchett High is a big deal. Violet Warren and her friends are lucky. Or are they? Amidst the scavenger hunt, it is discovered that someone else has planned a different game. A slasher, to be precise. With his personal motives, and friends dying left and right, Violet’s fight for survival becomes exceedingly important. How did she end up winning a free-pass to hell?
Reads like a 90s slasher movie, with a slow beginning. While it comes with predictability, readers admit the kills lean towards inventive creativity. For either nostalgia or a quick pick among books that are set on halloween, this is a decent option.
Halloween vibes and creepy books for adults sound like Hawaiian pizzas – tricks or treats? We’re digging deep here, and finding more than your average bones.
17. My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna Van Veen
Rating: 3.8/4
Spooks: 3/5
Available as: Paperback, Audiobook
“Hysterical” FMC Roos Beckman has Ruth for a spirit companion. Until wealthy young widow Agnes Knoop strikes up a connection. Agnes whisks Roos to the crumbling estate her husband leaves behind. The dreadful festering in the halls is undeniable, so is the attraction between Roos and Agnes. Then, a murder takes place. Can Roos protect everything she holds dear?
A few more consideration points:
- Sapphic, LGBTQ+
- Gothic shocker with opulent imagery
- Multi-timeline with seances
- Edgar Allen Poe, Shirley Jackson for muses
- A premise that keeps you guessing
Creepy books do more than provide unnerving covers. They fester, as they should.
18. The Theory of Haunting by Sarah Monette
Rating: 3.7/5
Spooks: 2/5
Available as: Paperback, Audiobook
Everyone has heard of the notorious house, Thirdhop Scarp. So has Kyle Murchison Booth, Parrington Museum’s archivist. The notoriety began when homeowner J.A. Cathcart was found cradling his eldest daughter’s heart in the palm of his hands after having murdered the whole family.
New owner, Marcus Oleander, gathers arcane orders at the residence. He has managed to influence the daughter of the museum’s founder, Miss Griselda Parrington. To discredit Oleander’s occult teachings, the founder summons Booth on the grounds of investigation. Will the house reveal its secrets?
19. Penpal by Dathan Auerbach
Rating: 3.86/5
Spooks: 4/5
Available as: Paperback
Auerbach’s Penpal encompasses the journey of short interconnected stories from online horror forum to a novel. Here’s why this book stands out:
- The narrator traces the bizarre events of his tragic childhood
- Transitioned to a novel from a series of creepypasta reddit threads
- A collection of creepy stories that readers love or hate
- Every chapter ends with a cliffhanger
- If you can overlook the structure of the writing, the creepiness will get to you
20. The Auctioneer by Joan Samson
Rating: 3.7/5
Spooks: 2.75/5
Available as: Paperback, Audiobook
This 1975 slow-burning horror classic has proven greed in a small town can be dangerous. Far too dangerous, if it seeks an unassuming victim. With strange, tension-filled events that could have happened to anyone, John Moore becomes the target. His wife, Mim, daughter, and mother, are also caught in its web.
Auctioneer Perly Dunsmore’s greed cannot be contained by Moore’s small town, Harlowe, New Hampshire. The tight-knit community unravels when he yearns to “improve” the development of the town via auctions. Highly entertaining, The Auctioneer is an atmospheric book, lending to fear at every turn.
RELATED READING: 13 Best Vampire Romance Books Of All Time
21. This House Isn’t Haunted But We Are by Stephen Howard
Rating: 3.8/5
Spooks: 3/5
Available as: Kindle edition
In remote North Yorkshire Moors lies a rural cottage. A couple mourning the loss of their young daughter see it as a renovation project opportunity. When grief is met with increasing eeriness, will they believe their daughter is back to haunt them? Or is it something more sinister?
Interestingly, Howard has brought in sly humor to the plot. The house makes up for character on its own. On meditation of grief and coping, the POVs of characters add to the convincing emotional depth.
22. Woodworm by Layla Martínez
Rating:4.10/5
Spooks: 2.5/5
Available as: Audiobook, Kindle edition
A house that breathes contains bodies and secrets. When a small-time hustler builds a house to control his wife, their daughter and grand-daughter cannot leave after many years into the future.
The two isolated women, subject to public scorn, follow the mysterious disappearance of a young boy, along with the spirits of their home. Described as a Spanish class-conscious horror, Woodworm is a feminist novella with elements of magic realism, tackling violence, feminine rage and generational trauma.
23. Bat Eater And Other Names For Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker
Rating: 4.13/5
Spooks: 4.2/5
Available as: Hardcover
Cora Zeng has witnessed her sister being pushed in front of a train. Now, she is a crime scene cleaner in Chinatown. Brutal murders and suicides don’t bother her anymore. Until she is confronted by a murderer who leaves her with a faint whisper of “bat eater.”
In due time, as the murderer remains uncaught, the horror seeps into Zeng’s life. When the gates of hell open, the Hungry Ghost Festival cannot keep the ghosts at bay. Bat carcasses and bodies of East-Asian women litter the crime scenes. Surely, ignorance is not bliss?
24. We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson
Rating: 3.9/5
Spooks: 3-3.5/5
Available as: Paperback, Audiobook
A peculiar girl, and a dark family secret. Neurotically perverse, this gothic psychological horror follows Mary Katherine aka Merricat’s family who live in relative isolation. Things take a turn when a cousin arrives at the estate. Can murder simply be swept under the rug? You will hear Merricat’s voice in your head far after you’ve turned the last page. If there’s one spooky x audiobook on your list, look no further.
25. Night Shift by Stephen King
Rating: 4.04/5
Spooks: 4/5
Available as: Paperback
Ordinary people and everyday objects take on a horrifying alternative in this anthology. Nothing is as it seems. Given this is King’s first short story collection, there is a hunger in every story waiting to be told/read. Children of the Corn, The Boogeyman, and Graveyard Shift have been deemed classics.
Some from this anthology have also been made into movies. With King, we can only say that his stories bite.
Conclusion
Good thing, you do not have to be in a mood for Halloween to read scary halloween books. If you are looking to add more to your already-growing TBR for Halloween (or otherwise), you’re free to blindly follow us in the dark. We promise not to lure you to some scary place. Boo!
