Book Nook: Algonquin Young Readers - Creepy Books for Fall

Got a kid who likes things a little bit spooky? Check out one of these books, perfect for October! 

If you’re already browsing Michael’s and Anthropologie for Halloween décor, if you consider Wednesday Addams a personal role model, if you love gorgeous art and lyrical writing, then you’re going to love BEATRICE LIKES THE DARK.

This picture book so beautifully crafted that it will be at home on any grownup’s coffee table. At the story’s heart are two sisters, spooky Beatrice and sparkly Roo, and their mirrored yearning for acceptance, accommodation, and mutual celebration. After all, no matter how weird and irritating your sister is, you love her just the same!

For die-hard fans of Stephen King and classic slasher flicks, DEAD FLIP offers an updated take on a classic genre for YA readers. Sara Farizan brings her trademark referential humor and witty narration to this ode to ‘80s horror, featuring stories of marginalized characters not often told in this genre. All that, plus a haunted pinball machine!

In OUR SHADOWS HAVE CLAWS, bloodthirsty vampires are hunted by a quick-witted slayer; children are stolen from their beds by “el viejo de la bolsa” while a military dictatorship steals their parents; and anyone you love, absolutely anyone, might be a shapeshifter waiting to hunt. Edited by Yamile Saied Méndez and Amparo Ortiz and featuring a brilliantly curated list of bestselling and award-winning YA authors like Julia Alvarez, Lilliam Rivera, Claribel Ortega, and Maritza and Maika Moulite, this cross-genre anthology of Latin American monster stories offers something for everyone.

As the weather turns colder, there’s no better time to return to Elizabeth C. Bunce’s Edgar®-Award-winning Myrtle Hardcastle Mystery series. In the fourth book in the series, IN MYRTLE PERIL, intrepid and Irrepressible twelve-year-old investigator Myrtle Hardcastle returns to investigate the case of a missing heiress lost at sea… and the search leads her to a Victorian hospital, with her loved ones at great risk. This fantastic fourth installment promises scandal and drama, Victorian rule-breaking, early forensics, code cracking, and a packed cast full of delightful and eccentric friends and foes.