Magic, Monsters, and Mayhem: 15 Middle-Grade Books for Halloween Reading
October 2, 2023
November 2023 Children’s & YA New Releases
October 9, 2023
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15 (and more) YA Tales of Horror, Ghosts, and Other Monstrous Things

The Black Girl Survives in This One (Flatiron Books, 2024) is “a YA anthology of horror stories centering Black girls who battle monsters, both human and supernatural, and who survive to the end.” The anthology is edited by Desiree S. Evans and Saraciea J. Fennell, and will be available next year. While you wait for that one, here are 15 YA books to explore for the Halloween season and beyond. For more YA reading, see Thrills and Chills: 30 MG & YA Books for Halloween Reading.

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1. All These Sunken Souls: A Black Horror Anthology

Circe Moskowitz | Amberjack Publishing | October 17, 2023 | Amazon | Bookshop


2. The Forest Demands Its Due

Kosoko Jackson | Quill Tree | October 3, 2023 | Amazon | Bookshop


3. Shadow Coven (The Witchery, Book 2)

S. Isabelle | ‎Scholastic Press | September 19, 2023 | Amazon | Bookshop


4. Monstrous

Jessica Lewis | Delacorte Press | September 12, 2023 | Amazon | Bookshop


5. There’s No Way I’d Die First

Lisa Springer | Delacorte | September 5, 2023 | Amazon | Bookshop



6. I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me

Jamison Shea | Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) | August 29, 2023 | Amazon | Bookshop


7. Night of the Living Queers: 13 Tales of Terror & Delight

Shelly Page | Alex Brown | Wednesday Books | August 29, 2023 | Amazon | Bookshop


8. Sign of the Slayer

Sharina Harris | Entangled Teen | August 29, 2023 | Amazon | Bookshop


9. The Dark Place

Britney S. Lewis | Disney Hyperion | August 8, 2023 | Amazon | Bookshop


10. I’m Not Supposed to Be in the Dark

Riss M. Neilson | Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) | May 9, 2023 | Amazon | Bookshop



11. We Don’t Swim Here

Vincent Tirado | Sourcebooks Fire | May 2, 2023 | Amazon | Bookshop


12. Blood Debts

Terry J Benton-Walker | Tor Teen | April 4, 2023 | Amazon | Bookshop


13. My Dear Henry: A Jekyll & Hyde Remix

Kalynn Bayron | Feiwel and Friends | March 7, 2023 | Amazon | Bookshop


14. Delicious Monsters

Liselle Sambury | Margaret K. McElderry (Simon & Schuster) | February 28, 2023 | Amazon | Bookshop


15. White Smoke

Tiffany D. Jackson | HarperCollins/Tegen | September 14, 2022 | Amazon | Bookshop


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