Book picks similar to
Halloween (First Book) by D.J. Herda


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A Poison Apple Boxed Set


Ruth Ames
    Love thrilling ghost stories, spectacular supernatural tales, and spooky mysteries? Then bite into Poison Apple books! In these stories, written by both established authors and fresh new voices, kids face the usual issues-like friendships and crushes-but there's a twist: They're also figuring out how to deal with haunted houses, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, curses, evil twins, and more! Includes The Dead End, This Totally Bites!, Her Evil Twin, Miss Fortune, Now You See Me..., Midnight Howl, Curiosity Killed the Cat, and At First Bite.

Extreme Pumpkins: Diabolical Do-It-Yourself Designs to Amuse Your Friends and Scare Your Neighbors


Tom Nardone - 2007
    Featuring the website's signature Puking Pumpkin, and spanning everything from Drowning Pumpkin, Crime Scene Pumpkin, and Cannibal Pumpkin to Electrocuted Pumpkin and other never-before-seen designs, this gleefully gory guide is nothing short of a manifesto to take back Halloween from the cheerful, the cutesy, and the parent-sanctioned. For the egg-throwing, toilet tissue- streaming, window-soaping teenager in all of us, finally- a whole new way to celebrate October 31.

Witches and Witch Hunts: A History of Persecution


Milton Meltzer - 1999
    From fifteenth-century France to Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692, from Adolf Hitler to Joseph McCarthy, devastating witch-hunts were fed by superstition and have threatened societies with their hysteria.Here is a book that presents the truth behind the frenzy, taking an engaging yet sobering look at prejudice, discrimination, and murder practiced in the name of the betterment of society.

Half-Minute Horrors


Susan RichMelissa Marr - 2009
    Stine, Holly Black, Brett Helquist, and many more. You’ll never look at your closest door, your cat, your sock drawer, or even yourself in the mirror the same way again.

Nightmares!


Jason Segel - 2014
    And now waking up is even worse!Charlie Laird has several problems:1. His dad married a woman he is sure moonlights as a witch.2. He had to move into her purple mansion, which is not a place you want to find yourself after dark.3. He can’t remember the last time sleeping wasn’t a nightmarish prospect. Like even a nap.What Charlie doesn’t know is that his problems are about to get a whole lot more real. Nightmares can ruin a good night’s sleep, but when they start slipping out of your dreams and into the waking world—that’s a line that should never be crossed. And when your worst nightmares start to come true . . . well, that’s something only Charlie can face. And he’s going to need all the help he can get, or it might just be lights-out for Charlie Laird. For good.[This is the first book in a trilogy.]

Rules for Ghosting


A.J. Paquette - 2013
    When Oliver Day and his family show up as house-sitters the day Mrs. Tibbs, a Liberator sent by the Spectral Investigative Council, arrives to teach Dahlia the proper rules for ghosting, Dahlia can't wait to make new friends. But the unscrupulous ghost hunter, Rank Wiley, and the crooked town councilman, Jock Rutabartle, plan to rid Silverton Manor of its ghosts and sell it to the highest bidder. With her home and friendships at stake Dahlia may have to break the rules of ghosting as quickly as she learns them to solve the mystery of her death and save the manor. Equal parts charming and eerie, this ghostly caper hits all the right notes for the middle-grade audience.

Don't Bump the Glump! and Other Fantasies


Shel Silverstein - 1964
    Now available again after three decades, DON'T BUMP THE GLUMP! and Other Fantasies was originally published in 1964, the same year as his most famous picture book, THE GIVING TREE.

ParaNorman


Elizabeth Cody Kimmel - 2012
    No one believes him, of course-everyone just thinks he's weird (including his parents). But when a folktale of a witch who cursed her accusers turns out to be true, it's up to Norman to save the town from pilgrim zombies! He'll also have to take on a very angry witch, an annoying sidekick, his boy-crazy teenage sister, and dozens of moronic grown-ups who get in his way. This young ghoul whisperer finds his paranormal talents pushed to their otherworldly limits in this hilarious and spooky adventure!Featuring gorgeous black-and-white interior illustrations and a story beyond what you'll see in the film, this novel is sure to delight!

Took: A Ghost Story


Mary Downing Hahn - 2015
    He figures Brody’s probably just trying to scare him since he’s the new kid . . . a “stuck-up snot” from Connecticut. But Daniel’s seven-year-old sister Erica has become more and more withdrawn, talking to her lookalike doll. When she disappears into the woods one day, he knows something is terribly wrong. Did the witch strike? Has Erica been “took”?

The Witching Game


Annette Cascone - 2012
    The game never worked. It wasn’t supposed to. But when Lindsey and her friends play “Bloody Mary…” in front of a strange antique mirror, the game quickly turns into a nightmare! One by one their wishes start coming true, with horrifying results.Something evil is lurking behind the looking glass…and Lindsey and her friends learn much too late that wishes don’t come free—and that “Bloody Mary…” is definitely not just a game!

The League of Beastly Dreadfuls


Holly Grant - 2015
    Join the League. . . .   Anastasia is a completely average almost-eleven-year-old. That is, UNTIL her parents die in a tragic vacuum-cleaner accident. UNTIL she’s rescued by two long-lost great-aunties. And UNTIL she’s taken to their delightful and, er, “authentic” Victorian home, St. Agony’s Asylum for the Criminally Insane.But something strange is going on at the asylum. Anastasia soon begins to suspect that her aunties are not who they say they are. So when she meets Ollie and Quentin, two mysterious brothers, the three join together to plot their great escape!

The Crossroads


Chris Grabenstein - 2008
    Fifty years ago, a crazed killer caused an accident at the nearby crossroads that took 40 innocent lives. He died when his car hit a tree in a fiery crash, and his malevolent spirit has inhabited the tree ever since. During a huge storm, lightning hits the tree, releasing the spirit, who decides his evil spree isn’t over . . . and Zack is directly in his sights.Award-winning thriller author Chris Grabenstein fills his first book for younger readers with the same humorous and spine-tingling storytelling that has made him a fast favorite with adults.

Rare Beasts


Charles Ogden - 2003
    Fraud. Footie pajamas. Twins Edgar and Ellen live alone -- their parents disappeared years ago, and who can blame them? -- in the quaint, little town of Nod's Limbs, in a grim, gray house overlooking the cemetery and the junkyard. They spend their days avoiding Heimertz, the mysterious accordion-playing caretaker; pestering Pet, a hairy, one-eyed creature of indeterminate species and gender; and wreaking havoc on the hapless citizens of Nod's Limbs. But wreaking havoc can incur expenses, so the twins come up with a unique fund-raising scheme: They'll nab the pets of Nod's Limbs and transform them into exotic animals they can sell for big bucks. Not a bad plan, if one of the purloined pets wasn't a lethargic python with a raging appetite....

Dead Boy


Laurel Gale - 2015
    Crow Darlingson isn’t like other kids. He stinks. He’s got maggots. His body parts fall off at inopportune moments. (His mom always sews them back on, though.) And he hasn’t been able to sleep in years. Not since waking up from death. But worse than the maggots is how lonely Crow feels. When Melody Plympton moves in next door, Crow can’t resist the chance to finally make a friend. With Melody around he may even have a shot at getting his life back from the mysterious wish-granting creature living in the park. But first there are tests to pass. And it will mean risking the only friend he’s had in years.

Bone Hollow


Kim Ventrella - 2019
    Gabe’s voice is distinct, and the evolution of his conflict reinforces the humanity amid the magic. A heck of a good read about the bright side of some durn bad luck.” –Kirkus Reviews, starred reviewGabe knows it was foolish to save that chicken. On the roof. In the middle of a storm. Yet Gabe also knows that his guardian, Ms. Cleo, loves the chicken more than him. After falling off the roof, Gabe wakes up to find his neighbors staring at him tearfully. To his confusion, none of them seem to hear Gabe speak. It's almost as if they think he's dead. But Gabe's NOT dead. He feels fine! So why does everyone scream in terror when he shows up to his own funeral? Gabe flees with his dog, Ollie, the only creature who doesn't tremble at the sight of him. So when a mysterious girl named Wynne offers to let Gabe stay at her cozy house in a misty clearing, he gratefully accepts. Yet Wynne disappears from Bone Hollow for long stretches of time, and when a suspicious Gabe follows her, he makes a mind-blowing discovery. Wynne is Death and has been for thousands of years. Even more shocking . . . she's convinced that Gabe is destined to replace her.