Do you feel that chill in the air? It's time to bring out the scary stories!
We believe horror is for everyone. Whatever your age and whatever your preferred level of freight—there's a book for you. That's why this book list features all kinds of stories from slightly spooky picture books to action-packed middle-grade horror-comedies to teen gothic romances. All perfect for cozying up and reading under the full moon!
Picture Books
Aggie and the Ghost
Written and illustrated by Matthew Forsythe
Simon & Schuster Canada, 2025
IL: Ages 4-8 RL: Grades 2-3
Aggie is very excited to live on her own—until she finds out her new house is haunted. But no fear, the situation is nothing that can’t be fixed with a carefully considered list of rules: No haunting after dark. No stealing socks. No eating all the food.
But the ghost doesn’t like playing by the rules and challenges Aggie to an epic game of tic-tac-toe—winner gets the house.
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Beverly, Bat Your Service
Written and and illustrated by Kelly Collier
Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2025
IL: Ages 4-8 RL: Grades 2-3
Beverley the Bat loves having guests at his big, old house—or he would, if anyone ever stopped by. Then one day a human family moves in. Beverley rolls out the welcome mat by filling the house with eau de rotten egg (Grandma’s favourite), cooking delicious Bolognese de millipede for dinner, and thoughtfully shredding the clothes the family brought to make comfy nests.
But for some reason the humans don’t seem to appreciate Beverley’s gestures. How can the little bat become the host with the most?
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Chicka Chicka Tricka Treat
Written and illustrated by Julien Chung
Beach Lane Books, 2025
IL: Ages 4-8 RL: Grades 2-3
The classic alphabet chant gets a Halloween twist as the letters sneak their way up the tree, all donning their spiffiest costumes. But when a witch swoops in, and the letters come tumbling down, will that be the end of their Halloween fun…or just the beginning?
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Into the Goblin Market
Written by Vikki VanSickle
Illustrated by Jensine Eckwall
Tundra Books, 2024
IL: Ages 4-8; RL: Grades 2-3
A picture book ode to Christina Rossetti's classic poem and a clever homage to familiar fairy-tale villains, this story about two sisters will enthrall readers with its beautifully detailed art and enchanting writing.
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Vampire Jam Sandwich
Written by Casey Lyall
Illustrated by Nici Gregory
Tundra Books, 2025
IL: Ages 3-7 RL: Grades 1-2
You may not have heard of the Vampire Jam Sandwich. But it's time you learned the truth. Once upon a time, a vampire (maybe his name is Terrence) took a bite of a jam sandwich (maybe he thought the jam was... something else). And you know what happens when a vampire bites you...
That's right. The jam sandwich has become... A VAMPIRE JAM SANDWICH. Terrifying, stalking the streets at night, sneaking into people's homes in an endless search for MORE JAM!
Junior Fiction
Bog Myrtle
Written and illustrated by Sid Sharp
Annick Press, 2024
IL: Ages 6-11 RL: Grades 2-3
Two sisters, one stubbornly cheerful (Beatrice) and one relentlessly grumpy (Magnolia), live in a drafty old house with a family of helpful spiders. When Beatrice is gifted magic yarn from a giant forest spider obsessed with sustainability named Bog Myrtle, she and the spiders set to work knitting up a perfectly warm sweater. But greedy Magnolia sees only the opportunity for profit, and quickly converts the old house into a magic sweater factory. The exhausted spiders are driven to strike, and Bog Myrtle is not pleased...
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Ghost Girl
(Orca Echoes)
Written by Brooke Carter
Illustrated by Alyssa Waterbury
Orca Book Publishers, 2023
IL: Ages 6-8 RL: Grades 2-3
It’s Samhain, a time when the spirits can cross over into the living world, and the old mansion has secrets whispering in the rafters and unused rooms. When Sly and their grandmother hear a voice calling, Sly unlocks a cabinet that reveals a ghost girl who is trapped in a mirror. Then they accidentally speak the words of the spell that enchanted the girl in the first place, and Sly and their grandmother risk being imprisoned in the mirror as well. With the clock ticking until the end of Samhain, it’s up to Sly to solve the ghost’s riddles and puzzles and locate a long-lost book of spells in hopes of freeing them all.
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The Skull: A Tyrolean Folktale
Written and illustrated by Jon Klassen
Candlewick Press, 2023
IL: Ages 6-9 RL: Grades 2-3
In a big abandoned house, on a barren hill, lives a skull. A brave girl named Otilla has escaped from terrible danger and run away, and when she finds herself lost in the dark forest, the lonely house beckons. Her host, the skull, is afraid of something too, something that comes every night. Can brave Otilla save them both?
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Teddy vs. the Snuggle Menace
(Secrets of Ravensbarrow, Book 3)
Written and illustrated by Braden Hallett
Annick Press, 2025
IL: Ages 8-12 RL: Grades 3-4
In Book 3, Teddy is being tormented by the adorable horror known as Hashbrown—a frightful corgi who gnaws on his frazzled nerves with “unfettered corgish malice.” Thank goodness Teddy’s beloved cat, Mr. Fuzzikins, knows how to soothe an anxious soul—that is, until Mr. Fuzzikins transforms from a snuggly floof into the indomitable Hunter Hollowfang.
Determined to protect Teddy at any cost, Hunter disappears into the forest with a promise to confront its most formidable forces. Before long, he’s built a fearsome reputation for taking on the ravenous giant trainyard dog; the odorific, shape-shifting alien worm; and even the mutinous hamsters of doom. But Teddy can't accept that his cuddly buddy is gone for good, so with the help of his misfit friends, he sets off on a perilous quest to bring Mr. Fuzzikins home.
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Wednesday Wilson Looks on the Fright Side
(Wednesday Wilson, Book 4)
Written by Bree Galbraith
Illustrated by Morgan Goble
Kids Can Press, 2025
IL: Ages 6-9 RL: Grades 2-3
How does a girl get trick-or-treaters to come to her house? Leave it to Wednesday Wilson to find a way in this fun and innovative early-reader Halloween story!
Wednesday Wilson is devastated to learn her house is on the Do-Not-Knock List for Halloween trick-or-treaters because her moms don't give out candy. Thankfully, Wednesday has come up with an awesome idea for a treat that's sure to draw crowds to her house despite the list: slime! Even better, she's got a plan to turn slime into her next business venture. There are just a few things she'll have to overcome first to pull off Halloween, such as a haunted house, a giant robot spider and the scariest thing of all—the Emmas!
Middle-Grade Fiction
Death by Whoopee Cushion
Written by Vicki Grant
Tundra Books, 2025
IL: Ages 10-14 RL: Grades 5-6
The best Halloween costumes. The funniest pranks. An endless supply of chocolate fudge that looks exactly like dog poo. Most kids would love it if their parents owned a joke shop.
One day Manya finds two police officers in the store. A trick cigar bought at Pranks-A-Million burned off a customer’s eyebrows. Later, one of their Toe Jam Donuts makes someone sick. Just a couple of pranks gone wrong? Maybe. But when a whoopee cushion kills an innocent person, the joke is over. The cops swoop in and arrest Manya’s parents for murder.
Suddenly, it's up to Manya to prove their innocence.
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Haunted Canada Graphic Novel, Volume 2: Four More Terrifying Tales
Written by Joel A. Sutherland
Illustrated by Hannah Barrett, Mike Feehan, Maya KcKibbin and Matt Salisbury
Scholastic Canada, 2025
IL: Ages 9-12; RL: Grades 4-5
Perfect for those who love graphic novels and fans of the bestselling series, these four stories have it all: creepy Canadian settings, hair-raising history and super-scary storytelling. Illustrated in full colour, these blood-curdling tales are sure to keep any reader turning the pages—and awake at night...
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The Mystery of the Haunted Dance Hall
Written by Charis Cotter
Tundra Books, 2025
IL: Ages 9-12 RL: Grades 4-5
Bee's mom has a job in New York City for the summer, so Bee is being sent to summer camp. She's not excited about it. Being around other people is hard for her, plus she knows nothing about campfires, she's not a good swimmer and she's never even been in a canoe.
When she first arrives, things go pretty much as she expected. The other girls either make fun of her or ignore her, and the woods surrounding the camp give her the creeps: she keeps hearing elusive music coming from somewhere in the distance, and there's something unearthly about it...
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Nightmare Jones: Poems
Written by Shannon Bramer
Illustrated by Cindy Derby
Groundwood Books, 2025
IL: Ages 9-12 RL: Grades 4-5
Shannon’s 28 poems in Nightmare Jones send delightful shivers down the spine. Written in a variety of styles and forms, they encompass magic realism and influences from fairy tales, folklore and ghost stories, alongside more contemporary explorations of unusual creatures, misunderstood monsters and commonplace human fears (both ridiculous and sublime!). Cindy Derby’s evocative line and watercolour illustrations inhabit these weird and wonderful works with her characteristic flair for the strange and witchy wonders of the world.
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Waking the Dead and Other Fun Activities
Written by Casey Lyall
Greenwillow Books, 2024
IL: Ages 8-12 RL: Grades 3-4
Finalist for the 2025 Arlene Barlin Award for Science Fiction and Fantasy.
Sometimes it’s hard to rest in peace. A young trainee witch, a family power gone haywire, a dearly departed grandma, an undead boy, and an evil witch—that’s a recipe for the perfect summer vacation. Both hilarious and heartfelt, this fast-paced mystery about life and death (and afterlife) is for fans of Spirit Hunters and The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl.
Young Adult Fiction
Bad in the Blood
Written by Matteo L. Cerilli
Tundra Books, 2025
IL: Ages 14 and up RL: Grades 9-10
Matteo L. Cerilli's debut novel Lockjaw is a finalist for the 2025 Arlene Barlin Award for Science Fiction and Fantasy.
In a world where magical beings, fey, are mistrusted and often institutionalized, a human brother and fey sister must team up to solve a bizarre murder in this 1920s-inspired queer teen fantasy novel.
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Beast
Written by Richard Van Camp
Douglas & McIntyre, 2024
IL: Ages 14 and up RL: Grades 9-10
This latest feat of storytelling magic by celebrated author Richard Van Camp blends sharply observed realism and hair-raising horror as it plays out against a 1980s-era backdrop replete with Platinum Blonde songs and episodes of Degrassi Junior High. Unfolding in the fictional town of Fort Simmer—the setting of previous Van Camp stories—Beast delivers a gripping, spirited tale that pits the powers of tradition against the pull of a vengeful past.
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The Dark Cove Theatre Society
Written by Sierra Marilyn Riley
Annick Press, 2025
IL: Ages 12 and up RL : Grades 8-9
In this captivating YA debut, The Dark Cove Theatre Society illustrates both the intoxicating and insidious nature of success and the price we are often forced to pay for it. Passages of found text—glimpses of the school’s handbook, secret letters, and other peeks into life at the Academy—seamlessly woven into the plot will immerse readers even further into the lush, magnetic world of Dark Cove.
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Qallupilluit: The Takers of Children
Written by Louise Flaherty and Neil Christoper
Illustrated by Megan Kyak-Monteit
Inhabit Media, 2025
IL: Ages 12 and up RL: Grades 8-9
David heads to the beach to play on the ice. But he quickly realizes he’s not alone. A webbed hand emerges from the water, and soon David finds himself cornered by sea monsters. David uses his wits and agility to escape them. But when he makes it back to his family, he learns that his little brother is missing—and had followed him to the ice. David races back to the ice to look for his brother, but will he be able to find him and escape the menacing qallupilluit a second time?
Based on creatures from traditional Inuit stories, Qallupilluit: The Takers of Children is a chilling cautionary tale.
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Songs for Ghosts
Written by Clara Kumagai
Tundra Books, 2025
IL: Ages 14 and up RL: Grades 9-10
Seventeen-year-old Adam has just broken up with his boyfriend Evan and is not looking forward to the excruciating awkwardness at school for the rest of term or a whole summer stuck at home with his dad, stepmom and baby brother, Benji.
But then Adam discovers a diary in some boxes in the attic and is quickly enthralled by their poignant story. They were written by a young woman living in Nagasaki in 1911. Adam is enraptured by her life and loves, becoming totally absorbed in her story. And then he starts to be haunted by her ghostly presence...
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Where the Dark Stands Still
Written by A.B. Poranek
Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2024
IL: Ages 14 and up RL: Grades 9-10
Finalist for the 2025 Arlene Barlin Award for Science Fiction and Fantasy.
Liska knows that magic is monstrous, and its practitioners are monsters. She has done everything possible to suppress her own magic, to disastrous consequences. Desperate to be free of it, Liska flees her small village and delves into the dangerous, demon-inhabited spirit-wood to steal a mythical fern flower. If she plucks it, she can use its one wish to banish her powers. Everyone who has sought the fern flower has fallen prey to unknown horrors, so when Liska is caught by the demon warden of the wood—called The Leszy—a bargain seems better than death: one year of servitude in exchange for the fern flower and its wish.
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The Whisperings
Written by Joel A. Sutherland
Tundra Books, 2025
IL: Ages 14 and up RL: Grades 9-10
Joana and her younger brother Peter aren't used to setting down roots. Ever since the violent murder of their mother, their father can't stay in one place for long, haunted by the literal ghosts of the past. He has what he calls "the Whisperings," and will do anything to protect his children from the horrors that torment him.
When the family moves to Burlington, Vermont, Joana thinks they've finally found a place to call home. They rent the lower half of a creepy yet comfortable mansion downtown, and Joana actually begins to fit in at school, thanks in part to Willem, a handsome (and single) classmate.
But a near-death experience awakens the Whisperings in Joana, and she soon realizes her family isn't the only family living in the house...
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Book list curated by Spencer Miller