Not only are scary stories super popular with kids, they fit right in with holiday traditions. Did you know that telling ghost stories is a Christmas Eve tradition? Here are some scary stories for the young readers in your life.
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For younger kids:
Beneath the Bed and Other Scary Stories by Max Brallier (Scholastic, 2019). These just-right scary stories are perfect for the easy-reader audience they're aimed at. They're definitely scary enough to please kids who really want a shiver down their spine, but the reading level is great for kids who are just starting chapter books.
Home Sweet Horror by James Preller (Feiwel & Friends, 2013). The Scary Tales series by James Preller is a great horror series with actual scares for the new chapter book reading crowd.
For older kids:
Small Spaces and Dead Voices by Katherine Arden (Putnam, 2018 & 2019). These two books are two of my favorite scary stories to come out recently. They star the same characters, but can stand alone. If you're just going to get one, get the first one, Small Spaces. In Small Spaces, 11-year-old Olivia rescues a book and the ghost story in the book becomes all too real when scarecrows come to life on a school field trip. In Dead Voices, Olivia and her new friends face a super haunted ski lodge on winter break.
A Path Begins (The Thickety series) by J.A. White (Katherine Tegen Books, 2014). When Kara Westfall was a young child, her mother was convicted of the worst of all crimes, witchcraft. Even since then, Kara and her family have been outcasts. When Kara finds her mother's grimoire, she starts to experiment with the spells there and starts an adventure to save her world from the evil that resides in The Thickety.
Spirit Hunters by Ellen Oh (HarperCollins, 2017). When Harper and her family move into a new house, creepy things start to happen. Her little brother Michael seems to be talking to someone none of the rest of them can see. Fans of haunted house stories will eat this one up. Grab the sequel, The Island of Monsters, for a double dose of scares.
The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste (Algonquin, 2017). Corinne knows that jumbies are made up stories to scare little kids, but when she goes into the mahogany forest to retrieve her mother's necklace, something follows her out. And it will be up to Corinne and some true friends to save her island home from the most powerful jumbie they've ever known. There are three books in this series, so pick them all up for your brave middle grade readers.