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If You Like... Books About Nightmares

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It's that time of year when the weather is getting colder, the leaves are changing colors, and I'm in the mood to read a good spine-tingling Halloween book. If you're like me and enjoy reading a good horror book this time of the year, here is a list of books about nightmares that will set your heart pounding with fear. 

Nightmare in the Backyard
By Jeff Strang
Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks Young Readers, 2024. Fiction. 212 pages.

What if your worst nightmare became a reality? Chloe and her best friend Avery are excited for their backyard campout. They have plans to stay up all night roasting marshmallows and telling ghost stories, but things that night don't go according to plan. When tentacles begin to emerge from the ground and start causing chaos the girls realize they must fight back. But as the fight goes on they discover that they may be fighting a bigger battle than they realized. 

This is a short, fast-paced, action-packed monster book that is perfect for readers who love Goosebumps and enjoy a silly to scary book. 

Nightmare King
By Daka Hermon
New York: Scholastic Press, 2023. Fiction. 314 pages.

Shane has started having terrible nightmares after his accident playing a game of tag with his friends. Now whenever he falls asleep, he dreams about an evil Nightmare King. Then one day the nightmares stop, and Shane feels like he is ready to get on with his life again. But when the nightmares come back, Shane knows he can't stay awake forever and the Nightmare King wants him. How does anyone stop the Nightmare King when he is after his prey?

This is the second book in the Hide and Seeker series. It has a bit of a slower beginning, but it picks up and keeps readers spooked as they enter into the nightmare realm with Shane. Once the nightmares start you won't want to put the book down. 

Not Quite A Ghost
By Anne Ursu
New York: Walden Pond Press, 2024. Fiction. 277 pages.

Violet has just started middle school which has been a hard adjustment, and when her friend group begins to change things don't seem to be going so well. Then, to make things more difficult for her, her family moves into a creepy old house and Violet ends up with the ugly attic bedroom. The walls are covered with a hideous yellow wallpaper and soon after moving in, she gets sick. Now she is spending more time alone in her room where shadows move and the wallpaper looks like it's going to wrap itself around her. Violet begins to wonder who else is in the room with her.

A well-paced spooky read that will make you want to leave the light on at night. 

 Nightmare Island
  By Shakirah Bourne
  New York: Scholastic Press, 2023. Fiction. 291 pages.

 Serenity has had nightmares for as long as she can remember, but what is   strange is her nightmare is always the same. Her way of dealing with her   recurring nightmare is by watching and making her own horror movies. But   things begin to change for the worse when her younger brother, Peace, who has   always been calm and well-behaved, begins to scream about the shadows that are trying to take him away. Now Serenity isn't alone in her nightmares, and she must find a way to protect herself and her brother from the spirits that haunt people at night. 

A eerie horror story that is full of twists and turns, creepy spooky forests and duppies with no faces. A good choice for readers who liked The Jumbies and Comb of Wishes.

The Nightmare House
 By Sarah Allen
 New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2023. Fiction. 264 pages.

 It was four years ago on Halloween night when 7-year-old Penny decided to   leave a piece of candy under her bed for the monster there. She wasn't afraid of   monsters then, but she is now, and her nightly nightmares are getting worse as   the Fear Maker's power over her grows stronger. Penny is tired of being scared all of the time and she realizes she must face this monster in his own house if she wants the nightmares to stop. Poems, sunflower seeds, and her friend, Aarush are the only things Penny has to fight the Fear Maker with and she wonders if this will be enough to stop him from coming after her. 

A perfect choice for readers who enjoyed The Night Gardener, The Clackity, or Small Spaces.  


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