Haunted houses: not for the feint of heart!
The haunted house trope is a favorite for many of us (thanks, Scooby Doo). It usually includes some sort of building, such as a house or hotel, which has strange and peculiar goings-on that the main character must contend against. With the recent Disney remake of The Haunted Mansion movie and October on our doorstep, we thought it would be fun to compile a list of fiction books featuring haunted houses for middle grade and young adult readers.
Proceed… if you dare!
Middle Grade
The Nightmare House
- By Sarah Allen
- Where to find it: New Juvenile Fiction under “J FIC Allen”
- View it on our catalog
Summary from our catalog: A middle-grade novel about a girl who sees possessed souls and ventures into a haunted house in the forest on a mission to save them, and defeat her own demons, in the process.
Where the Lost Ones Go
- By Akemi Dawn Bowman
- Where to find it: Juvenile Fiction under “J FIC Bowman”
- View it on our catalog
Summary from our catalog: A young pre-teen girl deals with the loss of her grandmother and the appearance of ghosts in a haunted house.
The International House of Dereliction
- By Jacqueline Davies
- Where to find it: New Juvenile Fiction under “J FIC Davies”
- View it on our catalog
Summary from our catalog: Ten-year-old Alice is moving for the eleventh time. She’s lived in so many houses, each more broken than the last, that home to Alice is nothing more than a place you fix and then a place you leave. After all, who needs a permanent home when you’re a whiz at fixing things? But when Alice arrives at her new home, she can’t take her eyes off the house next door, the stately dark house that hulked in the dimming light. The once-grand mansion, now dilapidated and condemned, beckons Alice; it’s the perfect new repair job! As Alice begins to restore the House to its former splendor, she senses strange presences. Is there a heartbeat coming from the House’s walls? Is someone looking at her? Soon she realizes she’s not alone. Three ghosts have been watching, and they need Alice’s help to solve their unfinished business. Will Alice be able to unravel the mysteries of the House and find her forever home . . . before it’s too late?
Megabat
- By Anna Humphrey
- Where to find it: Juvenile Fiction under “J FIC Humphrey”
- View it on our catalog
Summary from our catalog: Daniel Misumi has just moved to a new house. It’s big and old and far away from his friends and his life before. AND it’s haunted… or is it? Megabat was just napping on a papaya one day when he was stuffed in a box and shipped halfway across the world. Now he’s living in an old house far from home, feeling sorry for himself and accidentally scaring the people who live there. Daniel realizes it’s not a ghost in his new house. It’s a bat. And he can talk. And he’s actually kind of cute. Megabat realizes that not every human wants to whack him with a broom. This one shares his smooshfruit. Add some buttermelon, juice boxes, a light saber and a common enemy and you’ve got a new friendship in the making! This charming, funny story is brought to life by Kass Reich’s warm and adorable illustrations. There’s never been a bat this cute–readers will be rooting for Megabat and Daniel from page one
This Appearing House
- By Ally Malinenko
- Where to find it: Juvenile Fiction under “J FIC Malinenko”
- View it on our catalog
Summary from our catalog: A strange house appears on Jac’s street on the five-year anniversary of her cancer diagnosis, and when she gets trapped inside she will have to confront horrors from her past to find a way out.
Mason Mooney: Paranormal Investigator
- By Seaerra Miller
- Where to find it: New Juvenile Graphic Novels under “J GN Mason Mooney”
- View it on our catalog
Summary from our catalog: Join Mason as he tackles ghosts, witches and grumpy teenagers to prove once and for all who the REAL talent in the world of paranormal creatures is. If anyone can take on the ghosts in the Grimbrook’s haunted house – it’s him. And no one else. But with an evil curse looming over him and the house’s inhabitants, is Mason a bit out of his depth? Or is this just the challenge he needs to finally see some sense?
Spirit Hunters
- By Ellen Oh
- Where to find it: Juvenile fiction under “J FIC Oh”
- View it on our catalog
Summary from our catalog: Harper doesn’t trust her new home from the moment she steps inside, and the rumors are that the Raine family’s new house is haunted. Harper isn’t sure she believes those rumors, until her younger brother, Michael, starts acting strangely. She knows that the memories she’s blocking will help make sense of her brother’s behavior and the strange and threatening sensations she feels in this house, but will she be able to put the pieces together in time?
The Odds
- By Lindsay Puckett
- Where to find it: New Juvenile Fiction under “J FIC Puckett”
- View it on our catalog
Summary from our catalog: This is the story of Begonia, who was abandoned at a retirement home when she was a baby. You might think that’s the worst thing that could happen to someone, but for Bug, the worst is yet to come. You see, Swamp Root Manor isn’t just any old house. It’s alive, it’s haunted, and everyone in it is…a little bit Odd. Everyone except Begonia. And while she’s waiting for her Oddity to arrive, the manor is running out of money, thanks in no small part to all of Bug’s hospital bills. But Begonia refuses to let Swamp Root close. If she could just tap into her Oddity, she could use its power to save the manor and all fifty-two of her grandparents. But she is only days away from her 11th birthday and if she doesn’t get it by then, it will never come. She will be removed from her home and sent to the normal world. Her memory will be wiped. And her family will be gone. So, Bug has to do the unthinkable… join forces with the most annoying boy in the world to track down their Oddities. Together they battle humans, ghosts, their own self-doubt, and sometimes even each other in order to save the only family she’s ever known.
Young Adult
Holly Horror
- By Michelle Jabès Corpora
- Where to find it: New Young Adult Fiction under “Y FIC Corpora”
- View it on our catalog
Summary from our catalog: When teenage Evie moves with her mother and brother to a new home known by locals as the Horror House, where a teen mysteriously vanished without a trace many years ago, she becomes haunted by a terrifying bonneted specter.
Midnight at the Houdini
- By Delilah S. Dawson
- Where to find it: New Young Adult Fiction under “Y FIC Dawson”
- View it on our catalog
Summary from our catalog: Anna enters a surreal hotel where no one ever leaves, and when the clock strikes midnight, she will be trapped there forever, unless she decides to break all her rules to break free from its magic.
White Smoke
- By Tiffany D. Jackson
- Where to find it: Young Adult Fiction under “Y FIC Jackson”
- View it on our catalog
Summary from our catalog: Believing her new home to actually be alive, especially when her brother almost dies, Marigold and her new blended family won’t be safe until she brings the truth to light once and for all.
Sincerely, Cornelius 