Top Five Scary Books:

 1. Havoc Junction by Joe DonnellyThis book is just plain creepy. A woman rescues her children from her ex-husband, who has shacked up with a literal witch. The witch curses the fleeing woman, making her drive onto a never-ending highway filled with ghosts and demons.

I passed it onto my mother when I was done and it scared the beejesus out of her too!

2. Hair Raising compiled by Penny MatthewsI spent a whole day reading this collection of short stories to my babysitter when I was around nine years old. I went into her bedroom that night (I was scared of the dark) and when I woke her up she thought I was the headless woman from one of the stories. We still talk about it at least twenty years later!

This collection contains a story by one of my all time favorite authors Victor Kelleher, who is on this list for another book.

3. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie RyanThis is my recommendation to anyone who wants an accessible zombie novel.

This novel starts with a village surrounded by fences, beyond which lies a forest filled with zombies. When the fence is breached, a group of teenagers are forced to search for more than zombies in the Forest of Hands and Teeth.

If you read it before next year you can say you are one of those who read it before it was turned into a movie. And make sure you read the other two in the trilogy: The Dead-Tossed Waves and The Dark and Hollow Places.

4. Bloodlines by Janice HarrellI maintain that this was one of the best vampire series I ever read as a teenager (the remainder of the series is Bloodlust, Bloodchoice and Blood Reunion.) I have been meaning to revisit it, but my to-be-read pile is starting to look like the Empire State Building.

After the death of their mother, twins Paul and Anne have to live with their mysterious aunt, who introduces them to their vampire legacy (she pretends to jog at night and has electric candles in her uber-classy house, where she sleeps in a coffin due to being a vampire!)

5. Del-Del by Victor KelleherI read Del-Del when I was pretty young. I remember it was super scary, mainly because the main character Sam spends so much time in his closet talking to himself (or to Del-Del.)

Sam begins to behave badly a year after the death of his sister. His parents think he will get over it until it starts to look like demonic possession by Del-Del. This book is actually a psychological journey through grief, but as a child it read more like a horror novel.

Check Out Ingrid’s Book:

When the World was Flat (and we were in love)

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Synopsis:

Looking back, I wonder if I had an inkling that my life was about to go from ordinary to extraordinary.

When sixteen-year-old Lillie Hart meets the gorgeous and mysterious Tom Windsor-Smith for the first time, it’s like fireworks — for her, anyway. Tom looks as if he would be more interested in watching paint dry; as if he is bored by her and by her small Nebraskan town in general.

But as Lillie begins to break down the walls of his seemingly impenetrable exterior, she starts to suspect that he holds the answers to her reoccurring nightmares and to the impossible memories which keep bubbling to the surface of her mind — memories of the two of them, together and in love.

When she at last learns the truth about their connection, Lillie discovers that Tom has been hiding an earth-shattering secret; a secret that is bigger — and much more terrifying and beautiful — than the both of them. She also discovers that once you finally understand that the world is round, there is no way to make it flat again.

An epic and deeply original sci-fi romance, taking inspiration from Albert Einstein’s theories and the world-bending wonder of true love itself.

Author Bio:

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Ingrid Jonach writes books for kids and teens. Her debut young adult novel When the World was Flat (and we were in love) was released in September 2013 by global imprint Strange Chemistry.

She is also the author of the picture book A Lot of Things and the chapter books The Frank Frankie and Frankie goes to France published by Pan Macmillan Australia.

Ingrid has worked as a journalist and public relations consultant, and has a Bachelor of Arts in Professional Writing with Honors in Communications.

She lives down under — in Canberra, Australia — with her husband Craig and their pug dog Mooshi.