While some may say the holiday season starts with Thanksgiving, we’re kicking it off earlier this fall with Halloween! Books with kooky, spooky themes and dramatic page-turns are a great way to pull in readers. And as the days get shorter, it’s the perfect time to spend evenings on the couch with terrifically twisted or terrifying tales.
PICTURE BOOKS & EARLY READERS
- As Night Falls: Creatures That Go Wild After Dark Written by Donna Jo Napoli & Illustrated by Felicita Sala Random House, 2023, hardcover, $18.99 Ages 3–6 Animal sounds fill the night as nocturnal creatures come alive in the dark.
- Creepy Crayon Written by Aaron Reynolds & Illustrated by Peter Brown Simon & Schuster, 2022, hardcover, $18.99 Ages 4–8 No matter how hard Jasper tries to get rid of it, a purple crayon with a mind of its own keeps turning back up.
- How to Eat a Book By Mr. and Mrs. MacLeod Union Square Kids, 2022, hardcover, $17.99 Ages 4–8 Be careful when you prepare to eat a book—it might eat you first, just like with these kids!
- There’s a Ghost in This House By Oliver Jeffers Philomel, 2021, hardcover, $27.99 Ages 4–8 A girl is sure her house is haunted… can you find the ghosts?
- The Skull By Jon Klassen Candlewick, 2023, hardcover, $19.99 Ages 6–9 A retelling of a folktale about a girl who runs away and finds a house, a skull, and a secret.
MIDDLE GRADE
- Elf Dog & Owl Head Written by M. T. Anderson and Illustrated by Junyi Wu Candlewick, 2023, hardcover, $18.99 Ages 8–12 An illustrated tale about a lonely boy, a magical dog, and a journey where they must stay on the right path or be lost forever.
- A Comb of Wishes By Lisa Stringfellow Quill Tree, 2023, paperback, $7.99 Ages 8–12 Kela finds a magical mermaid comb and uses it to try to bring back her dead mother, with unforeseen consequences.
- It Found Us By Lindsay Currie Sourcebooks, 2023, hardcover, $16.99 Ages 8–12 Hazel and her brother search for his missing friend after a game of hide-and-seek in a haunted cemetery.
- Wait Till Helen Comes: The Graphic Novel Witten by Mary Downing Hahn & Illustrated by Meredith Laxton Clarion, 2022, paperback, $15.99 Ages 8–12 Molly’s new stepsister Heather is obsessed with a grave near their house whose ghost may be possessing her.
- Camp Scare By Delilah S. Dawson Delacorte, 2023, paperback, $8.99 Ages 10–14 Parker makes a new friend at camp, and terrible things start happening to her bullies.
YOUNG ADULT
- Into the Light By Mark Oshiro Tor Teen, 2023, hardcover, $19.99 Ages 14–18 Manny must return to the religious community that abandoned him to save his sister.
- Lying in the Deep By Diana Urban Razorbill, 2023, hardcover, $18.99 Ages 14–18 Jade’s ex-boyfriend is killed while they are on a semester-long cruise, and she must find the real killer to clear her name.
- My Dear Henry: A Jekyll & Hyde Remix By Kalynn Bayron Feiwel and Friends, 2023, hardcover, $19.99 Ages 14–18 Gabriel’s love Henry is expelled from their school, and in his place appears Hyde, who is hiding a dark secret.
- She is a Haunting By Trang Thanh Tran Bloomsbury, 2023, hardcover, $18.99 Ages 14–18 Jade is spending the summer in Vietnam with her dad, who is refurbishing an old house, but ghosts and nightmares plague her visit.
- This Delicious Death By Kayla Cottingham Sourcebooks Fire, 2023, paperback, $11.99 Ages 14–18 After a global pathogen turns humans into cannibals, four ghouls who subsist on SynFlesh attend a festival that turns deadly.