Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion

Here is a thread to discuss books you’re considering or suggesting for Task 3: Read a middle grade horror novel.

Goodreads has The Clackity, listed for this, and I have that one downloaded, but didn't get very far, because someone else was waiting for it, and I just got it back.

I own The Ocean at the End of the Lane, so I might re-read that. I'll definitely check out other books on their list, though.

I was on a committee for a local book award this past year, and had to read a bit of middle grade horror for it, so here are a few recommendations:

Bloom
Camp Scare
The Clackity
Daybreak on Raven Island
Dust & Grim
The Ojja-Wojja
The Stars Did Wander Darkling

I'd highly recommend Katherine Arden's Small Spaces quartet for this prompt. They're all very well written and legitimately frightening.

Coraline or The Graveyard Book (though that last one stretches a bit towards YA) would also both be excellent choices, as would The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste.

I love middle-grade horror and very much want to be reading more of it (I never read as much of it as I mean to). I've been wanting to do The Jumbies, Small Spaces, Spirit Hunters, The Clackity, and The Keeper, so hopefully I get to one of these.

And obviously I have to second anyone recommending Coraline, which is one of the best MG horror novels out there.

Middle-grade horror is great! This year I read the Halloween Moon by Joseph Fink and This Appearing House by Ally Malinenko.

The Clackity and Tales to Keep You Up at Night are on my to-read list.

I am planning to read Ghost Squad.

I won't do actual horror because nightmares. The closest I can get is Graveyard Scavenger Hunt or Ophie's Ghosts.

Re-read Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Victoria Schwab's Cassiday Blake books would be good options for this

I plan to read Terrifying Tales (Guys Read, Vol. 6).

I highly recommend The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls, by Claire Legrand.

I recommend Nell & the Netherbeast by Adi Rule!

I really liked There's Someone Inside Your House last year. There was also a movie / streaming video made a couple of years ago on this story.

Elspeth wrote: "I really liked There's Someone Inside Your House last year. There was also a movie / streaming video made a couple of years ago on this story."

I'd say this is YA though - the characters (and situations) are a bit too old for MG

This one is not a genre that is on my TBR so I just grabbed The Collector from https://verbatimbooks.com/ in North Park, San Diego and see what I think!

Joanna wrote: "I was on a committee for a local book award this past year, and had to read a bit of middle grade horror for it, so here are a few recommendations:

Bloom
Camp Scare..."

These are great recs - I didn't know that Colin Meloy had written another book, and Ojja-Wojja looks like a fun graphic novel!

If I can't find any of those, I'll probably go with Small Spaces as well.

There's also the classic Bunnicula series, and if anyone is also doing the Popsugar challenge, it would work for "from an animal's POV" as well.

Anything by Katherine Arden is fantastic. Last year I read The Visitors by Greg Howard. I love horror and even though these were middle grade they gave me some chills:)

Amelia wrote: "Middle-grade horror is great! This year I read the Halloween Moon by Joseph Fink and This Appearing House by Ally Malinenko.

The Clackity and Tales to Keep You Up at Night are on my to-read list."

Thanks for the rec! I'm not a huge horror or middle grade fan so I wasn't really sure what to do for this, but I love Welcome to Nightvale so I'm definitely gonna grab The Halloween Moon.

I finally settled on Small Spaces, but I considered several others:
-The Night Gardener
-The Nest
-Out to Get You: 13 Tales of Weirdness and Woe

Reading The Clackity for this task. So far it’s pretty good, about half finished.

I am also doing the "Around The Year" reading challenge so I have chosen Camp Scare for this prompt as it also aligns with their prompt of "Fewer than 2024 ratings on Goodreads".

I'll be reading RL Stine's Night of the Living Dummy, now that I've realized we have the complete original Goosebumps series. I bought them for the son back in the 90s(?), and they've been sitting in the bookcase in his old room, now a guest room, all of this time. I didn't even know they were there, really, because I hadn't set foot in his room from the time we bought the house in 2000 until he moved out in 2009. And that was simply to convert everything to a guest room. We left the books he didn't take where he had kept them. I've simply been dusting the bookcase all this time without really noticing any of the titles. I'd still be clueless about them if I hadn't told him about my difficulties fulfilling this prompt, and he gave me that exasperated, 'Are you getting Alzheimer's already?' look that only adult children can pull off.

Mum... Look on my shelves for all the kid horror you could ever want. You bought all of it for me!

Yah, like I'm going to remember what books I bought in the bloody 90s, when I'm lucky to remember what nail polish I wore last week (Dior Glow, for the record).

On My List of Possibilities
Spirit Hunters
The Last Cuentista
The Girl and the Ghost

I read Alone by Megan E. Freeman. It's not traditional horror, the horror is a preteen left to survive alone on the planet.

I'm set to read Coraline for this in the next few weeks.

I read The Screaming Staircase

I read City of Ghosts by V.E. Schwab set in Edinburgh, Scotland.

I just read Temple Alley Summer, a translated Japanese ghost story that's rather mild on the horror level, and quite enjoyed it.