If your young readers want to keep the spooky season going, pick up these ghost stories for children of all ages at the local library:
Dust 'n' bones, by Chris Mould – Ten terrifying classic and original ghost stories. Suitable for Grade 4 and up, this book of ghost stories will send shivers down your spine! Enjoy five re-told classic stories and five original ghost stories by Mould, illustrated throughout in black-and-white and colour.
Gilbert the Ghost, by Guido van Genechten – For preschoolers, after being banished for not being scary enough, Gilbert the Ghost and his cat Meow create a wonderful sanctuary for his friends in an abandoned tower.
The Loch Ness Punster, by Kate Klise – For Grade 4 and up, 12-year-old Seymour Hope and his ghostly “mother” Olive go to Scotland to claim a castle inherited from Ignatius Grumply's punster uncle, Ian, but while they tend an aged tortoise and face an unscrupulous developer, Iggie deals with Ian's ghost and an inept insurance agent.
The Elevator Ghost, by Glen Huser – Quirky babysitter Carolina Giddle moves into the Blatchford Arms, a spooky apartment building rumoured to be haunted, and enchants her young charges with ghost stories they find eerily familiar. For Grade 3 and up,
The Ghost of the Bermuda Triangle, by Laurie Sutton – Readers in Grade 2 and older will read about Scooby Doo and the gang on the Magical Mystery Cruise through the Bermuda Triangle. Choose which mystery to pursue – dangerous criminals, confused passengers or a real ghost.
The 12 screams of Christmas, by R. L. Stine – When "frenemies" Kate and Courtney need a quiet place to rehearse for their school's Christmas play, their teacher suggests an old house that might just be haunted. Grade 4 and up.
The Whispering Skull, by Jonathan Stroud – For Grade 4 and up, Lockwood & Co. are hired to investigate Edmund Bickerstaff, a Victorian doctor who reportedly tried to communicate with the dead, while Lucy is distracted by urgent whispers coming from the skull in a ghost jar.
Five Little Ghosts, by Patricia Hegarty – Preschoolers will enjoy this board book following five little ghosts as they enter an empty house and find many ways to occupy themselves, including painting, skateboarding, taking a bath and watching television.
The Night Gardener: a scary story, by Jonathan Auxier – Yikes! This is scary. When orphaned Irish siblings Molly and Kip arrive to work as servants at a creepy, crumbling English manor house, they discover that the house and its inhabitants are not what they seem. Think: trees that eat people. Grade 4 and up.
Moomin and the Little Ghost, by Tove Jansson – Preschoolers will delight in the Moomin family who are relaxing on holiday ... with the exception of Moomin. Visited nightly by a little ghost, Moomin gets more and more scared. His friends and family don't know how to help. Then one night, Moomin's beloved friend – Snorkmaiden, goes missing and Moomin bravely sets off to find her.
Doll Bones, by Holly Black – For Grade 4 and up, Zach, Alice and Poppy, friends from a Pennsylvania middle school who have long enjoyed acting out imaginary adventures with dolls and action figures, embark on a real-life quest to Ohio to bury a doll made from the ashes of a dead girl.
Joy Huebert is a public services librarian at the Oak Bay branch of the Greater Victoria Public Library. She writes here twice a month with her picks for young and adult readers.