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It Happened At Halloween- Scary Books for the Middle Grades

There’s an awkward age between 10 and 14, where picture books don’t seem to be enough anymore, but some kids (or maybe their parents or teachers) aren’t quite ready for the intensity and content of YA fiction. There are some great books for kids this age, though, with pivotal scenes that take place at Halloween, so if you’re looking to mix it up a bit and add some books for this age group to your Halloween display, check the shelves for these titles.

 

Bunnicula by James Howe

This will fall at the lower end of the age range in terms of reading level, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be enjoyed by older kids. Really, how can anyone resist a cute, cuddly vampire bunny? There are several sequels and another spinoff series, Tales from the House of Bunnicula, for younger readers.

 

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

This book starts with a major character, Turtle Wexler, taking a dare to enter a haunted house on Halloween. Of course, the dead body she finds inside is just the beginning of a complicated puzzle of a mystery. The Westing Game is an award winning book, and rightfully so. Kids who liked Chasing Vermeer will probably also like The Westing Game.

 

Horror at the Haunted House by Peg Kehret

When Ellen Streeter signs up to participate in the historical society’s haunted house fundraiser, she doesn’t expect to encounter a real ghost. Kids who like fast-paced horror and mystery will love this book. Peg Kehret is a fantastic writer who has written dozens of books with plenty of mystery and suspense, including a series called Frightmares, so once kids are hooked, they can keep going with her books for a long time!

 

The Ghost Witch by Betty Ren Wright

Jenny moves into a house haunted by the ghost of a local witch, who is delighted to have the opportunity to scare children again at Halloween.  This book falls in the lower end of the age range, as it is aimed at grades 3-5, but Betty Ren Wright has written some gems of ghost stories for kids who are slightly older as well, including The Dollhouse Murders and Crandall’s Castle.

 

Ghosts I Have Been by Richard Peck

There aren’t too many narrators in children’s literature that are as memorable as Blossom Culp. Blossom is from the other side of the tracks, too smart and outspoken for her own good, with a crazy mother who works as a psychic. Also, she can see ghosts. On the Titanic. Peck hits all the right buttons to grab kids this age with this book, and the outhouse scene that takes place on Halloween is hysterical. There’s a previous book, The Ghost Belonged To Me, where she plays a secondary role, and a sequel, The Dreadful Future of Blossom Culp, which is terribly dated now (although still a fun read), but this is Blossom Culp at her best.

 

The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keately Snyder

When April moves into Melanie’s apartment building the two girls form an unlikely friendship as both are swept away by April’s imagination. Together they find an abandoned yard where they can create their own world of ancient Egypt as authentically as possible. If that doesn’t sound scary, just imagine it at night, on Halloween, with a killer on the loose. The main characters here are mostly middle schoolers, so it’s probably best to hand it to kids reading at that level. The story does feel a little dated, but that answers the obvious question of why the kids aren’t carrying cell phones.

 

The Best Halloween Ever by Barbara Robinson

The six Herdman children are a constant source of chaos for their town. They’ve caused so much trouble on Halloween in the past that the mayor cancels trick-or-treating in favor of a Halloween celebration at the elementary school. Of course, nothing can slow down the terrible Herdmans…  can Halloween be saved after all? This is the third book starring the Herdmans, who first appeared in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, followed by the less well-known The Best School Year Ever. All three books are funny and suspenseful, and this one also has some scares. The Best Halloween Ever is a good choice for kids reading on a lower level, and older kids may enjoy it too.

The Grey King by Susan Cooper

Most of the books I’ve mentioned are solidly set in the “real world”, be it contemporary or historical. The Grey King is far removed from anything resembling that. This is the story of Will, a boy who is sent to convalesce with relatives in rural Wales after a serious illness. Except that Will is much more than a boy, and he’s in Wales to do much more than heal. The Grey King is the fourth book in Susan Cooper’s high fantasy series The Dark is Rising, but stands alone beautifully, and of all the books, I think this is the most readable and most memorable.  I was assigned it in sixth grade, and it has always stuck with me, maybe because of the riddle that begins it:

On the day of the dead when the year too dies

Must the youngest open the oldest hills…

It’s part of a long, cryptic, and graceful poem that foreshadows the entire plot of the book… if you can figure it out. The day of the dead part, though, should be obvious. This is not the easiest read, as there is a lot of Welsh in the text, and it’s impossible to identify or pronounce most words in Welsh, but it is completely worth it.

 

Set these out for your 10-14 year old readers, and give them a chance at a spooktacular Halloween read!

 

 

Posted on September 30, 2012 by , Reply

Help A Reader Out: A Halloween Dog

 

A mystery keyword searcher asked:

What kids’ book for Halloween has a dog on the cover?

Oh, this is one of my favorites– as a librarian and a parent. Most likely you are thinking of The Hallo-Wiener by Dav Pilkey, also the genius behind Dogzilla, Kat Kong, and the famed Captain Underpants books. It’s one of my favorite read alouds for preschool-3rd grades. Here’s hoping you check back and find the answer you’re looking for!

Posted on September 25, 2012 by , Reply

Halloween Is Coming! Bring on the Poetry!

I have heard so many people say “I hate poetry”! To quote Erasure “It doesn’t have to be like that”. There are AWESOME poems out there to make you sit up and take notice– words brought to life on the page, spoken or sometimes sung to you, or by you, or with someone else. Some are long, others short. Some will rhyme, and others don’t. Maybe you’ll find one to scare you, or make you laugh, or inspire you to create something of your own. Here are a few of my favorites. Some I’ve shared with my kids, and others they haven’t yet grown into. But with poetry alive in our home, they’ll get to experience them here (and maybe at school– you don’t have to hate it just because you learned it at school) and I hope you will take a chance on a few of them, too.

 

The Bat by Theodore Roethke

I first remember reading this poem in Cricket magazine when I was about nine years old. It was accompanied by a terrifying black and white pencil illustration. I’ve never forgotten it. I can still picture that page in my head and it still creeps me out.

 

Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll

One of the great things about this poem is that most of the words don’t make any sense. So when someone complains to you that it makes no sense, you can tell them it’s really not supposed to. It evokes a intense visual response– with a line like “the Jabberwock, with eyes of flame”, how could it not? And it’s fantastic to read aloud, especially with someone else. In spite of, or maybe because of, the complete nonsense of the vocabulary, my son could recite it (and did, with glee) when he was four years old.

 

The Loch Ness Monster’s Song by Edwin Morgan.

I had a hard time finding the text of this online, and when I did, I was surprised at how it looked (I didn’t like how it was presented, so there is no link). I first encountered this in a book of children’s poetry meant for reading aloud, called A Foot in the Mouth (edited by Paul Janeczko and illustrated by Chris Raschka), and I remembered it as looking different in terms of spacing and placement of words on the page. When I looked back, it was amazing to see what a difference page design made in my ability to read and enjoy this poem, so go find the book. It is a relatively new one. The Song of the Loch Ness Monster is a “sound poem”, meant to be read out loud, but you will spend a lot of time tripping over your tongue as you attempt to do so. Again, complete (if enjoyable) nonsense, but any adult who attempts to read it to a child is guaranteed to cause giggles. Luckily, Morgan recorded it (link) so you can hear the way the poem is intended to sound, and it does sound very much like the song one might expect from this watery cryptid.

 

The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes

Okay, The Highwayman is a really long one and it is found sometimes in high school English textbooks. And it does have some challenging vocabulary, and it does take place well into the past. But it’s also a tremendous ghost story with tragedy and romance. I was sold on it after Loreena McKennit recorded it to unearthly music on her album Book of Secrets. Here’s a video illustrating the song. It was also the inspiration for a racy romance novel called The Landlord’s Black-Eyed Daughter, but that’s neither here nor there.

 

Little Orphant Annie by James Whitcomb Riley

Yes, absolutely, I have recommended this poem more than once. It is delightful and scary, and Riley’s true love for all children shines here. This is another to read aloud, and it too is fairly simple to remember if you do it enough. Riley wrote in dialect but he used simple language, and he sure knew how to tell a story. Sadly, there isn’t a good in-print copy of this poem (Joel Schick’s The Gobble-uns’ll Git You Ef You Don’t Watch Out is out of print), but if you whisper it around a campfire, you won’t really need one. Anne Hills put the poem to music in this video. It appears on her 2007 album Ef You Don’t Watch Out. It does not look like it’s easily available through Amazon but she does have a MySpace page– here is a link to the song there. (I’m psyched that she has recorded an entire album of Riley’s poems. Indiana fourth grade teachers, take note.)

 

The Tyger by William Blake

I first encountered this poem in the 1975 edition of Rose, Where Did You Get That Red? by Kenneth Koch. I might have been five or six at the time, and I read it over and over. It does have a companion poem, The Lamb, but The Tyger was the one I read again and again. The vision of the tyger “burning bright/through the forests of the night” is powerful, a spark for the imagination to illuminate the darkness (Amelia Atwater-Rhodes’ first YA vampire novel, In The Forests Of The Night, clearly referenced this). This could be a really frightening read-aloud for some kids, so step with care… but hey, it’s Halloween soon.

 

The Hearse Song by Anonymous

Also known as “The worms crawl in”. Yes, it is completely gross and morbid, and I am not the world’s biggest fan of this one. But kids seem to love it. It is rooted in folklore and the oral tradition, and a version can be found in Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories to Tell In The Dark.

 

Check one (or more) of these out as a Halloween treat. Tell me if you like it. And if you have other suggestions, let me know!

 

 

Posted on September 25, 2012 by , Reply
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