Cover of Bee Bakshi and the Gingerbread Sisters. Two girls in a canoe, one with a cat around her neck, row across a lake with a giant full moon behind them, trees around them, and a spooky looking bird with a red eye in front of them.

Spooky Chapter Books

Posted on October 15, 2024| By | In Book Reviews

Spooky Chapter Books!

It’s the perfect time of year to encourage your kids to read by giving them a spooky book. This list is perfect for those in elementary and middle school grades.

Cover of Bee Bakshi and the Gingerbread Sisters. Two girls in a canoe, one with a cat around her neck, row across a lake with a giant full moon behind them, trees around them, and a spooky looking bird with a red eye in front of them.

Bee Bakshi and the Gingerbread Sisters by Emi Pinto

Bee is bummed to be spending her summer at the lake with her family. She’d much rather be with her best friend. The magical house across the lake turns her into the cool girl she always wanted to be, but at what cost? She has nightmares and feels a chill in her bones, and fears that the witch in the woods is coming for her.

 

 

Cover of City of Ghosts. Black sky, white buildings that look like clouds, and a girl and a cat walking through the cloud-like mist. The girl and cat are indistinct, with no features.

City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab

Since her near-drowning, Cass can pull back the Veil between the living and the dead. She likes having a foot in both worlds. When her family goes to Scotland to film a show about paranormal activity, Cass meets someone who shares her gift, and she reveals how much Cass still needs to learn about the city of ghosts to survive. This is book one of a series.

 

Cover of The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding. The book has a background of black, with different portraits of people barely visible. The portrait in the center is of a white fox that looks very sly.

The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding by Alexandra Bracken

Prosper thinks he is the most ordinary member of his family, until he discovers there’s a demon living inside him. He has a short period of time to expel the demon before the takeover is complete, but will he learn enough, fast enough, to survive? This also has a sequel, The Last Life of Prince Alastor.

 

 

Cover of Ghost and Bone. The cover is dominated by the title in a white branch font that looks spooky. Above the title is a carriage pulled by skeletal horses, and a city is in the distance.

Ghost and Bone by Andrew Prentice

Oscar has a Curse – everything he touches dies, and while he is alive, he can turn into a ghost whenever he wants. To make things even more strange, he’s now on a journey with two skeletons to the city of ghosts, and maybe, going to find out who he really is.

 

Cover of Gallowgate. White masked person with large skeletal hands is in the center of the cover, with towers on either side of the head, and an intricate gate below them.

Gallowgate by K.R. Alexander

Sebastian Wight is sent to Gallowgate to learn how to fight the ghosts and ghouls threatening the human world. He has the power to transverse the lands of the dead, but it’s the human world that has caused him the most trouble. In his new school, he finds people as eccentric as he is and who are willing to join him in the fight with the dead.

 

Cover of Grave Mistakes. The cover has a goldleaf frame with a family inside - a father, son, daughter, zombie daughter, ghost son and ghost mother, as well as grumpy man in the middle (their dad's assistant).

Grave Mistakes by Kitty Curran

For a more humorous ghost story, read about the Dade family. Molly is hiding that her dead mom and brother are still with their family (as a ghost and a poltergeist, respectively), and that her younger sister Dyandra is zombie. But even with all of her supernatural relatives, she still has to prepare for her school concert, work on a group project with her nemesis, and do normal kid things, all while trying to look solemn when someone mentions her mother or brother. She also has to find out who killed them, and why, before that person kills her as well.

Mary Beth Adams is the Community Engagement Librarian for Alamance County Public Libraries. You can reach her at madams@alamancelibraries.org.