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Chilling Book Covers

By Mariah
I thought that it might be fun to do a spooky blog post for October and find the most chilling book covers in our library. But oh boy was I wrong. Fun is not be the word I would use to describe this little project that I naively gave myself. I haven't even read any of these books and the covers alone gave me actual goosebumps. They say not to judge a book by its cover, but I totally do and these look absolutely terrifying. So if you're looking to read something very scary, this cover-judging post is for you. Enjoy!


The Girl in the Locked Room
By Mary Downing Hahn
Boston ; New York : Clarion Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018. Fiction. 193 pages.

Mary Downing Hahn is known for writing children's ghost stories like The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall, Guest, and her most recent book The Thirteenth Cat. I could have made a chilling book cover post solely about her books, but decided on a variety instead. You should check out the rest of her book covers if you get the chance. All the Lovely Bad Ones: A Ghost Story is especially creepy.

By Andrew Prentice
New York : Delacorte Press, 2019. Fiction. 210 pages.

I think the only thing scarier than a ghost or a skeleton is a skeleton-ghost-horse. Why do their eyes need to be all glowy like that?? I'm literally giving myself chills by looking deeply at this cover. It looks like there are some unsuspecting children riding in the carriage and I just want to yell at them, "What are you doing? Get out of there!" If this book cover is too much for you, then I would not read the summary description for this book... 


By R.L. Stine
New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2018. Fiction. 396 pages.

Old shacks should never, ever look like skulls; especially skulls with gravestone teeth. Enough said.


By Ellen Oh
New York, NY : HarperCollins, 2017. Fiction. 276 pages.

At first glance, it looks like this girl is out on a bike ride on a lovely, breezy night. The house doesn't look too haunted until you see what's lurking in the attic window. You might have to zoom in to really see it, but once you do, you'll never un-see it.


By Daka Hermon
New York : Scholastic Press, 2020. Fiction. 308 pages.

The focal point for this cover isn't that scary. Clearly, the child is afraid of whatever they're looking at, but it isn't too bad. If you bring your focus to the background however, you'll see why every hair on my body stands on end when I look at this book. Imagine having that thing behind you, and then try not to have shivers run down your spine. 
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