Happy Halloween!  To mark the date, we are delighted to welcome Sam Pope to the blog to give her run-down on her top five spooky books for children, the second of two blogs. Sam is the brilliant author of The Haunting of Lindy Pennyworth, a brooding psychological horror published by UCLan publishing.

Sam's Top 5 Spooky books YA /children’s version

I love a good, scary read. It’s hard to pick just five of my favourites, but here are some (in no particular order) that really get my pulse racing!

1. Anya’s Ghost, by Vera Brosgol

For me, graphic novels work so well in the Gothic genre. In Vera Brosgol’s debut, Anya could be any teenager – she feels unconfident, unhappy in her body, embarrassed by her family and lacks a friendship group at school. She thinks she’s solved the final problem on this list when she discovers a new best friend … at the bottom of a well who’s over a hundred years old. This is a really sensitive portrayal of the trials of the teenage years, but it packs a scary punch that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

2. The Lockwood & Co series, by Jonathan Stroud

This is an amazing series which I recommend to both children and adults. It’s really tricky to write a scary and funny ghost story but Stroud does this brilliantly in the five books of this series. The premise is this: the UK has been overrun with ghastly ghosts that threaten the lives of the living once the sun sets. Only children can see, and therefore hunt down, the ghosts so Lucy, our feisty narrator, moves to London to find a ghost-hunting agency she can work with. She encounters the charismatic Lockwood – who reminds me somewhat of Sherlock Holmes in his brilliance – and his partner George. There is plenty of tea-drinking, rapier-wielding and genuine scares in these stories.

3. Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror, by Chris Priestly

To be honest, most books I’ve read by Chris Priestly scare the pants off me. He has a talent for inducing real fear and this book is a perfect example. In this book, Uncle Montague entertains (or should I say terrifies?) his nephew with a series of spooky tales by the fireside. Each one is terrifying in itself … but it gets even worse. For these stories aren’t make-believe; they are Uncle Montague’s dreadful memories of what has happened in his past. There are some very scary moments in this book – be warned!

4. Breathe, by Cliff McNish

In this story, our hero, Jack, is always in danger of his next asthma attack. You might think this is his biggest fear but, when he moves into his new house, he finds a bigger threat to him and his mother: the spirits of the dead. The trouble is, only he can hear their screaming and see their presence. I think this is one of the scariest books I’ve ever read, and that includes books written to frighten adults, so you will need to be careful if you pick this up – it’s not for the fainthearted.

5. Thornhill, by Pam Smy

Graphic novels are the perfect medium to relate spooky tales and author and illustrator Pam Smy does this brilliantly in Thornhill. Using monochromatic illustrations, she tells the story of Ella, a lonely child who has just moved into a new home overlooking what appears to be a derelict house… or is it? Smy combines illustrations and words so cleverly – in effect she is telling two stories and both are equally chilling.