Scare Me, by K.R. Alexander, has a fun haunted house premise that takes the story down a creepy path.

In the happy town of Happy Mills, the town holds its haunted house contest. This annual event takes place in a creepy old manor. The challenge: teams of kids must devise unique and unexpected ways to scare and frighten the people who come to the event. The team with the scariest scare wins. Sound simple, right? Wrong.

Something changes this year, and all the teams are up against something they can’t beat: the manor house itself! The manor house awakens and is set to terrify and devour everyone inside. Can anyone survive?

This first book of the series Willa of the Wood, by Robert Beatty, isn’t technically a horror story, but it has enough frightening elements to create the right spooky mood.

Marked as both a Goodreads Choice and Amazon Editor’s Pick, this book tells the tale of Willa, a night spirit of the Great Smoky Mountains, who is also a thief- and a good one at that. But she only steals from the Dayfolk. So when she inadvertently gets caught in the day world, Willa finds a dark hollow and comes face to face with a terrifying force. With the destruction of her home imminent, Willa must stand against this consuming darkness to save her people and her world.

This fun, Halloween-timed book, Ghost Squad, by Claribel A. Ortega, has an entertaining Ghostbusters feel. A Teacher’s Pick on Amazon, Lucely Luna’s best friend, Syd, accidentally wakes up malicious and dangerous spirits who place a curse on their home of St. Augustine.

With the imminent destruction of the town at hand, Lucely has no choice but to team up with Syd’s grandmother, who is a witch, to fight the evil spell and save the town’s people and her firefly spirits before it’s too late!

This book is both spooky and sweet and will keep any Middle school reader hooked.

In this fun and slightly scary story, 1-2-3-4, I Declare a Thumb War, by Lisi Harrison and Daniel Kraus, Whisper, Frannie, Sophie, Gemma, and Zuzu, are friends who handle Misery Falls Middle School drama by day and tell each scary stories by night. But this year things are different because it’s the 100th anniversary of the death of the town’s most (in)famous killer, Silas Hoke.

Things get eerily creepy when a strange text message leads the girls into the very cemetery where Silas Hoke is buried! And things only get creepier when thanks to a surprise encounter, Whisper tells the scariest tale they’ve ever heard – and it’s one they won’t soon forget.

Whispering Pines, by Heidi Lang and Katie Bartkowski, combines otherworld creepiness with mystery problem-solving.

Kae and her mother move to Whispering Pines to make a fresh start after Kae’s father goes missing. But, in this strange town, no one seems worried when kids go missing and then show up with no eyes!

Kae knows there is nothing normal about missing kids and missing eyes. Her friend Caden is also hiding a dark secret, and he needs someone to believe him. Can Kae trust him?

This new series which is also a Teacher’s Pick, City of Ghosts, by Victoria Schwab, combines spine-tingling creepiness with humor, heart, and adventure.

After Cass drowns and is brought back to life, she can enter the world of spirits. As luck would have it, Cass’s parents decide to host a TV show about the world’s most haunted places. The show takes them to Edinburgh (Scotland) which is filled with graveyards, old castles and plenty of ghosts.

When Cass meets a girl with the “gift” she realizes that she still has a lot to learn about the world of spirits. And, that the spirit world is much more dangerous than she realizes.

An Amazon Editor’s Pick, The Clackity, the first book in a series by Lora Senf, has plenty of chills and goosebumps, while also balanced with charm and heart.

Evie Von Rathe lives with her Aunt Desdemona in the 7th most haunted town in America – Blight Harbor. Her aunt tells her to stay away from the abandoned slaughterhouse at the edge of town. So that’s exactly where Evie goes, and there she meets a creature called The Clackity.

The Clackity is a wily character who takes Des hostage and makes a deal with Evie. She can get Des back in exchange for the ghost of a serial killer who lived in Blight Harbor 100

Another great series to keep middle schoolers turning pages, Small Spaces, by Katherine Arden, was voted Best Book in 2018 by Kirkus Reviews. It is also an Amazon Teacher’s Pick!

After a great tragedy, Ollie loses herself in books and reads a story about a girl, her brothers, and a “smiling man” who grants wishes – but at a terrible price. In a graveyard, Ollie discovers the graves of the people she was reading about!

A series of events leads to a warning for Ollie and her friends to “RUN,” and to keep to small spaces. Because at Nightfall, “they’ll come for the rest of you” (shudder).

Spirit Hunters, by Ellen Oh, is half a mystery thriller, and half a scary tale.

Harper is the new 7th grader in town and has to deal with stories that her family’s new home is haunted. The problem is that she feels it too. Then, her younger brother, Michael, starts acting weird.

Harper has a strange sensation that she’s seen this all before. But where and how? She has to put the pieces together to understand what’s happening with her brother. And, why she feels so threatened in her own house. Can she break through her memory block to find the truth in time?

Let’s face it. No one does creepy and spooky quite like Holly Black. In Doll Bones, a Newberry Honor winner, Zach, Poppy, and Alice play games of imagination where they name a china doll the Great Queen, who has the power to punish those who displease her.

When Zach’s father says it’s time to give up make-believe, Poppy starts having dreams about the Queen – and the ghost of a girl who wants to doll buried in her grave.

Feeling they have no choice, the trio embark on a journey to lay their Queen to rest. When nothing goes right and spooky things begin to happen, they wonder if the Queen is really