Skip to main content

If You Like: Scary Books to Listen To


I am a sucker for a good audio book. If you like scary audios like Small Spaces by Katherine Arden, City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab, or my personal favorite The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud, then these five new scary listens just might make you spookily happy.

Also, there is something about listening to a scary story that just makes the tale all the creepier. It could be that when I listen to scary stories I imagine the times that I sat around a campfire with friends telling tales that would hopefully keep us up all night in our tents listening to every little wilderness sound. Or when we were huddled around a dark living room in sleeping bags trying to scare each other so that we would stay up all night together. I don’t know. But there is something about listening to a good scary story. If you too like listening to scary stories and in honor of Halloween and all things that are deliciously terrifying, here are some of my more recent favorite audio books to listen to. 

These books can be found on Libby by Overdrive. 




By Julie Murphy 
Narrated by Katie Ladner 
HarperCollins Publishers Inc. | Balzer + Bray, 2023 
Duration: 06:29:52 

Maggie is horrified to learn that her mother sent her to Camp Sylvania (a fat camp) instead of the performing arts camp that she thought she was going to for the summer. When Maggie notices that things aren’t what they seem—and that there may be a vampire at camp—she and her friends have to figure out a plan to save themselves and the rest of the campers. 




By Stefan Bachmann 
Narrated by Justine Eyre 
HaperCollins Publishers Inc. | Greenwillow Books, 2020 
Duration: 06:50:51 

Zita Brydgeborn received a letter stating that she had inherited a distant castle. It comes with random servants and in entrenched in a battle between good and evil (with a fair bit of monsters and relatives that are from the beyond) that could potentially consume her. As Zita tries to untangle the truth of her past, who she is, and what is going on; she must also learn magic and make a stand that could make or break everything. 




By Susan Tan 
Narrated by Dana Wing Lau 
Books on Tape | Listening Library, 2023 
Duration: 05:15:25 

Mo is a twelve-year-old girl who has had many hard things happen to her in a short amount of time. Due to a fire, her family loses their home and she is terrified of potential fire dangers. Mo also is sad that her step-dad (that she viewed like her real dad) left and started another family. And to top everything off, the town that they move to (they moved into her uncle’s house) has a mysterious past with a ghost elephant that not everyone can see but for some reason tends to haunt Mo. 




By Dee Hahn 
Narrated by Tim Campbell 
Blackstone Audio, Inc. | Blackstone Publishing, 2022 
Duration: 07:32:03 

Spade is a grave thief that comes from a family of grave thieves. When he is assigned to rob a specific grave, things don’t go as planned. In order to save his family from what happened, Spade must go on a quest with Ember (the Queen’s niece) and ultimately square off with the petrifying monster that terrifies the neighborhood. Lots of questing, adventure, and mystery all thrown in with graveyards, monsters, and magic. 




By Justina Ireland 
Narrated by Bahni Turpin 
HarperCollins Publishers Inc. | Balzer + Bray, 2021 
Duration: 08:04:37 

Ophie didn’t always know she could see ghosts—but she can. When her family has to move in with relatives in 1920s Pittsburgh, Ophie and her mom get jobs as servants in a wealthy house. Ophie starts seeing ghosts all around the city and even at work. She decides that she wants to help one ghost in particular that died suddenly and unjustly. Only, things aren’t all as they seem and Ophie and those around her may be in more danger to all the ghosts than Ophie first thought.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Faker

Faker By Gordon Korman New York: Scholastic Press, 2024. Fiction. 214 pages. 12-year-old Trey is used to starting over at a new school -- he has the routine perfectly memorized: make new friends, introduce his dad to the wealthy parents of his new friends, and "Houdini" themselves out of there before they get caught running their latest scam. Trey's dad is a master con artist, and Trey has just been promoted to full-partner. Their new scheme for the next big score brings them to the affluent suburb of Boxelder, TN where Trey's dad has cooked up a fake electric car company for investors to buy into. The only problem is that Trey is starting to grow tired of moving around and never putting down roots, especially after forming a fast friendship with Logan and developing a crush on Kaylee, a socially conscious girl in his class. As Trey longs for a normal life, is there any way he can convince his dad to get out of the family business? Gordon Korman is a perennial favorit...

Review: Fresh Start

Fresh Start By Gale Galligan New York: Graphix, 2025. Graphic novel. 270 pages. Ollie Herisson is only in 7th grade, but she has already lived all over the world. Her father is an American diplomat, whose job has taken their family to France, Singapore, Thailand (where her mom is from), and now to Chestnut Falls, Virginia. Ollie loves that her family doesn't stay in one place very long, it allows her to have a fresh start and hide from any embarrassing moments each time they move. But Ollie's parents have big news -- they've decided to buy a house in Virginia and put down roots. Now, Ollie and her younger sister Cat have to figure out how to build lasting friendships which means resolving conflict rather than running away when things get hard.  Loosely based on the author's own childhood experiences, this graphic novel is sure to be popular with readers who like coming of age stories. Watching Ollie learn to think of others as she advocates for her sister Cat, and navig...

Review: Will's Race for Home

  Willl's Race for Home  By Jewell Parker Rhodes Little Brown & Company, 2025. Fiction. 256 pages.    Will is a young man whose father and family are working the land as sharecroppers in Texas. When Will's father comes home with the news that there is land available in Oklahoma to those who can stake and settle it, Will's father expresses his deep desire to go and claim land for their family. Will begs to be included, but his mother is reluctant to let him go. After input from the entire family, they decide that Will is ready for the responsibility. Along the way Will and his father develop a deeper appreciation for each other, form deep friendship, discover hidden enemies, and encounter many challenges which force them to make difficult decisions. Will's father has to rely heavily on him, especially as they get closer to their final destination. Will's bravery is inspiring and commendable.  This book is full of many amazing elements: suspense, adventure, fr...