Scare Your Pants Off

 This week we have been talking about books that scare your pants off - scary books and the horror genre (ugh!). I am NOT a horror fan at all. I like a good thriller, but that's it, nothing too scary or gory for me, but I am moving out of my comfort zone with these book recommendations. As always with my book recommendations, these books can be found at your local library, as well as your school library!

Goosebumps Series by R.L. Stine

The Goosebumps series are classic, scare your pants off stories, in a safe place. The books go from the weird things are happening, to the scarier Night of the Living Dummy that features the coming to life of a ventriloquist dummy. Goosebumps are a good starting point for older elementary and middle grade readers. If this is not scary enough, they can then move up to scarier. If this is perfect, they can stay right here. Though I have to admit, when I recommend it to students, I get a lot of eye rolls. I do think the newer Goosebumps books are a bit scarier than the older ones. 

Mary Downing Hahn

Mary Downing Hahn books have been a solid hit with 3rd and 4th graders looking for something a little more spooky, and would be a great choice for middle grade students looking for a good scare as well. Wait Till Helen Comes is a classic ghost story about Molly, her brother Michael and their 7-year old step-sister Heather. Heather is rather mischievous, but when she starts playing down by the pond her behavior gets downright dangerous and she warns Molly & Michael, "wait till Helen comes".   These books are a nice step up from Goosebumps with a little more scare factor in a classic ghost story featuring tweens/early teens as the protagonists. 

Five Nights at Freddy's: Fazbear's Frights by Scott Cawthorn

I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to feature in this genre, as I don't have a lot of a background in it. As I perused the library shelves I found the Five Nights at Freddy's series. It was very reminiscent of Goosebumps,  but knowing the franchise it is definitely scarier and more grotesque than Goosebumps. I liked that there are a number of stories in each volume making this palatable for teens looking for a quicker read. The book has a recommended reading age of 12+.

Bonus! I found this book, Five Nights at Freddy's: The Week Before by Scott Cawthorn while I was looking for a picture of the other series. This is a newer series and it looked great as it's an "interactive" book, translate as "choose your own adventure" book. It has great reviews and has a recommended reading age of 8+, but given the age group of the other books, I would look through this one before recommending it to those younger than 10-12. I found this book on Amazon.

*photos courtesy of Amazon.