I can’t believe it’s the second week of October already! Halloween is rapidly approaching, which means it’s definitely time to over-indulge in reading my favorite genre of books — supernatural horror.
This month’s Quick Look Books is a two-parter. While I have plenty of scary books to recommend for adults, I also get asked about supernatural reads that would be appropriate for pre-teens and teenagers.
I greatly empathize with the plight of horror-loving teens. When I was growing up, I was forever searching for good scary stories; unless you were into R.L. Stine and Christopher Pike (which, luckily, I was), you were kinda screwed. Thankfully, one of today’s most prevalent genres is Young Adult (YA), so teens have PLENTY of literary choices these days, especially when it comes to horror and supernatural stories.
Here are my recommendations for YA-appropriate novels that will still give your kids a damn good scare.
1. Diary of a Haunting by M. Verano. As if the cover art isn’t creepy enough! This is a truly unsettling read, and I was impressed with how unique some of supernatural events in the book are. A lot of haunted house tropes are over-used, but Verano really thought outside the box with this one. I admittedly enjoyed the first half of the book better, monstly because the second half goes into a made-up history of a cult that just doesn’t seem to fit very well with the story. However, I really liked the hidden messages that appear throughout the novel; they tie into the cult story, and it was fun tracking them as I was reading. Be sure to keep a pen and paper handy! This book seems to be the first in a series, though I haven’t read the other books.
2. Mary: The Summoning by Hillary Monahan. We’ve all heard of the game “Bloody Mary,” in which you go into a bathroom, turn off the lights, and say “Bloody Mary” three times in front of the mirror…and Bloody Mary is supposed to appear. Well, appear she does in this novel, in the mirror and in every other reflective surface you can think of. If your teen spends way too much time checking out her (or his) reflection, you might want to slide this one her/his way! In all seriousness, though, this was one of the first YA supernatural books I read, and I was impressed by how good the story was and how scary some of the scenes were. The premise definitely makes you think twice about the silly sleepover games you play with your friends!
3. The House by Christina Lauren. This is a really original and captivating story about a house that is alive – in the sense that the walls, the floors, the furniture, everything in and about the house is a living entity. And, this house is quite possessive of its sole resident, a loner teenage boy. When the boy meets a girl, romance blossoms, and the house turns from innocently spirited to horrifyingly haunted. I love that so much of this story is steeped in supernatural lore, as well as a bit of Samhain/Halloween mythology. And, surprisingly, the main characters are very rational and pragmatic, despite the fact that they are dealing with supernatural forces. This is a real page turner that kept me guessing about what would happen next.
Note: The teen romance is pretty intense, but it’s a driving force behind the plotline. If you have tweens, you might want to wait until they’re a bit older for this one due to sexual content. We’re not talking a full-on bodice ripper here, but I was pretty surprised at how racy it got.
4. The Diviners by Libba Bray. I love, love, LOVE this series. Bray immediately draws you into whatever she writes by creating atmospheric scenes and endearing characters. Her descriptions are beautiful and terrible all at the same time, and her witty, funny, and smart dialogue always wins me over. Main character Evie is a pistol, and her group of friends is wonderfully diverse and charismatic. And, the creep-factor is REAL in this series, particularly in the first book. Few villains scare me like the Man with the Stovepipe Hat does. The Diviners series will also appeal to historical fiction fans because it’s set in the 1920s, and Bray does a fantastic job of peppering 20s lingo and phrases throughout the books. There are some love triangles between numerous characters, but most romance action is pretty PG.
5. Spooky Massachusetts: Tales of Hauntings, Strange Happenings, and Other Local Lore by S.E. Schlosser. This is for the readers who want real ghost stories. While I’m specifically discussing Spooky Mass here, there are “Spooky” books for almost every state, as well as for some geographic regions, e.g. Spooky New England. Each book contains a great collection of local ghostly and supernatural folklore. The tales are recounted from an eyewitness point of view, which is my favorite way to read a ghost story. It’s almost like someone telling you one over a campfire. Some of these stories are truly ghastly (“The Brick Wall” and “Black Magic” in Spooky Mass), and I was pretty creeped out by numerous entries. I also learned about a few new supernatural beings (“Bean Nighe”), which is always fun, and it was interesting to read different takes on more classic American supernatural tales (“The Jewelry Box” and “The Black Horse”). I had read about the red-haired phantom in “Hitchhiker” before (Rehoboth is infamous for its numerous ghosts), so it was exciting to read another account of this spectre. All of these stories are great, in Spooky Mass and in the other Spooky [State] books; I’ve read a bunch of them! This series is usually sold in gift shops, but I also found a lot of them via the inter-library loan system at my town library. Just make sure all the books are written by author Schlosser.
Does your teen have any great scary story recommendations? Leave them below! And, be sure to check in later this week for Part 2 — supernatural horror recommendations for adults!
