From the Children's Room: Scary

Surrounded by villains of the first order, brave Bonnie and gentle cousin Sylvia conquer all obstacles in this Victorian melodrama.

John Bellairs, the name in Gothic mysteries for middle graders, wrote terrifying tales full of adventure, attitude and alarm. For years, young readers have crept, crawled, and gone bump in the night with the unlikely heroes of these Gothic novels: Lewis Barnavelt, Johnny Dixon, and Anthony Monday. Now, the ten top-selling titles feature an updated cover look. Loyal fans and enticed newcomers will love the series even more with this haunting new look! Orphaned Lewis Barnavelt comes to live with his Uncle Jonathan and quickly learns that both his uncle and his next-door neighbor are witches on a quest to discover the terrifying clock ticking within the walls of Jonathan's house. Can the three of them save the world from certain destruction?

Amanda maintains a pet cemetery in her backyard where she buries her dead pets, but when she and her friends prepare to bury a dead squirrel they find a grave with a doll in it, a discovery with links to a scary elderly neighbor.

Anthony and his younger sister discover that the monster figures he got in an unusual box at an estate sale are alive, but they have no way of knowing that the "monsters" will lead them on fantastical adventures to other worlds in an effort to try to save Earth.

Allie knows it's not her imagination when she hears a voice and sees in her mind's eye the face of a girl who seems to be seeking Allie's help.

There are plenty of chills in this compilation of four separately published books of scary stories: The stranger on the stairs, The doll that waved goodbye, The voice in the boys' room, and The phantom on the phone.

Young Tom, the seventh son of a seventh son, starts work as an apprentice for the village spook, whose job is to protect ordinary folk from "ghouls, boggarts, and all manner of wicked beasties."

Fifth-grader Damon Molloy and his classmates in the Monster Squad must save the world again when giant insects from an old horror film come alive.

After the grisly murder of his entire family, a toddler wanders into a graveyard where the ghosts and other supernatural residents agree to raise him as one of their own.

During rehearsals for a play based on his stepmother's bestselling children's books, eleven-year-old Zack discovers that the director is planning to raise a horde of evil specters from the dead by offering up a human sacrifice.

When thirteen-year-old Ali spends the summer with her aunt and cousin at the family's vacation home, she stumbles upon a secret that her mother and aunt have been hiding for over thirty years.

A family of nice ghosts protects a British orphan from the diabolical plans of his evil guardians.

Twelve-year-old orphan Measle Stubbs is shrunk down to half an inch tall and placed in a toy train set by his evil guardian, the Wrathmonk.

A collection of thirty-seven stories previously published in magazines or books, including tales of animals, ghosts, and everyday life.

Strange goings-on at her great-uncle's summer home in Cape May, New Jersey, draw Lily and a new friend into a mystery involving lost treasure, a fake medium, and ghosts of all sizes, shapes, and dispositions.

Tapped from the oral traditions of American folklore, these ghost stories and tales of weird happenings, witches, and graveyards have startling, funny, or surprising endings.

n 1347, when fourteen-year-old orphan William Paynel, an impoverished servant at Crowfield Abbey, goes into the forest to gather wood and finds a magical creature caught in a trap, he discovers he has the ability to see fays and becomes embroiled in a strange mystery involving Old Magic, a bitter feud, and ancient secrets.

When eleven-year-old Olive and her distracted parents move into an old Victorian mansion, Olive finds herself ensnared in a dark plan involving some mysterious paintings, a trapped and angry nine-year-old boy, and three talking cats.

While visiting his friend Jeannie's eccentric Aunt Rosebud in a boarding house that may be haunted, ten-year-old Chad comes across a mystery involving a missing diamond bracelet.