I am the world’s biggest wuss. Seriously, I am. I’m fine with blood and gore, but anything even remotely creepy and I’m a wibbling mess. While I like the concept of Halloween, I really can’t handle the scarier aspects. This applies to pranks, movies and books. So when I was trying to decide what kind of Halloween top ten to post, an obvious solution came to mind: Halloween books for young readers! I mean, lots of them are still too scary for me, but there are more I can handle than in the adult oeuvre.
Coraline – Neil Gaiman
I love Coraline. I love that it’s spooky yet whimsical, that Coraline is such a brave and curious child, and that her name is Coraline, not Caroline. The move is also one of my favourites.
The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman
I know, I know. It’s kind of cheating to have two books by the same author in my list. But there’s really no way around it, because both deserve to be on it. The Graveyard Book takes place in a graveyard and has plenty of ghosts and monsters. It’s also a favourite of mine on account of how it balances a story for children with subtext that will make it an interesting read for adults.
The Witches – Roald Dahl
This book, in retrospect, is an odd choice to read to a child. It’s pretty terrifying, actually. But it was one of my favourites when I was a kid, and on account of witches and fear, belongs in the Halloweeny list.
The Harry Potter Series – J.K. Rowling
On account of magic and pure awesome.
The Diviners – Libba Bray
This wasn’t my favourite read, but it was thoroughly chilling. Definitely not for the faint of heart – ghosts, murders, magic, mayhem… plenty to keep you up nights.
The Girl with All the Gifts – M.R. Carey
I adored this book. It’s a zombie-fest but also a heartwarming story of love and loyalty.
The Twilight Saga – Stephenie Meyer
I mean, vampires. That’s about it, really.
The Mortal Instruments – Cassandra Clare
This series is full of magical and fantastical characters – everything from angels to vampires to warlocks and fairies. It’s got plenty of scary moments (particularly the scene at the Hotel du Mort) as well as some touchy-feely teenage crush stuff.
Shades of London Series – Maureen Johnson
I’m not caught up on this series (I’ve only read the first two books), but I can tell you the first book in this series was excellent. Set in London, it deals with one of the most famous serial killers of all time as well as ghosties and other bad things. Definitely has a creep factor.
Nightmares! – Jason Segel
I haven’t read the whole of this yet, so I can’t say much about it other than that it seems to fit the theme and it’s written by Jason Segel (of How I Met Your Mother fame) and really what else do you need to know?
Alright, that’s my Halloween list for tiny children and wussy adults! Now over to you guys – did I miss any? Which of these are on your Halloween favourites list? Share in the coments!
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly link-up feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week TTT has a different topic, and everyone who links up has to create a link of ten items that fit that topic. To see past and upcoming topics, go here.
I don’t know why, I found Coraline seriously disturbing. The movie not so much, but the book, for sure! Maybe it was the illustrations.