Horror books for kids (besides Goosebumps) too young for Stephen King

November 17, 2021 9:59 PM

My kid is quickly burning through all the Goosebumps books and also craving something a smidge scarier. He is begging for Stephen King but I know he's still a few years away from that. Are there any books that might hit the spot?
posted by malhouse to Media & Arts (19 answers total)

I loved John Bellairs when I was a kid—creepy but not too scary, gothic with neat Edward Gorey illustration panels. I guess I should mention that I went from Goosebumps to Fear Street and Christopher Pike, but that stuff is kind of garbage so I’m sure there are better options.
posted by lovableiago at 10:26 PM on November 17, 2021 [7 favorites]

Seconding Bellairs. The first couple of Bellairs' Lewis Barnavelt books are quite good, and genuinely creepy in a kid-appropriate way, but unfortunately I think his work falls into a formula beyond that. You could consider Poe, Lovecraft or some of Bradbury's spookier stuff, but all three may be beyond his reading level and all three are varying levels of Problematic today.

You may also have to make peace with the fact that he's liable to get hold of some King sooner than you'd like. Kids just find stuff, whether they're ready for it or not. But other posters may be able to suggest some King stories that would be OK for kids, and maybe you could direct your kid to those.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 11:00 PM on November 17, 2021 [2 favorites]

Perhaps my recent question would be useful.

I definitely read Stephen King earlier than I probably should have. The Eyes of the Dragon was ostensibly for his daughter and I think that one was okay, although more fantasy than horror. I'd say the rest are mostly too violent (e.g. I still distinctly remember a death scene from Firestarter) or too sexual/rape-culture-y (It, omg. Please don't read It.).
posted by Paper rabies at 11:35 PM on November 17, 2021 [2 favorites]

The Devil in the Fog by Leon Garfield. Published 1966 when I was pushed to read this aged 12 by my English teacher. Garfield is a rich seam for YA. I don't remember The Ghost Downstairs because I was too old in 1972 but it seems on message.
posted by BobTheScientist at 12:06 AM on November 18, 2021

I was always a big fan of The Three Investigators, with the caveat that the thing I like most about them is that (like Scooby Doo), there is always an explanation for the creepy goings-on, although a couple of times there are suggestions that mayyyyybe something actually happened. My biggest complaint with them is that they are very boy-ish; I can't think of any major female characters. (They were written some time ago, but have been reprinted quite a few times.)
posted by Scattercat at 12:33 AM on November 18, 2021

Miss Peregin's Home for Peculiar Children is pretty exciting.
posted by Enid Lareg at 1:11 AM on November 18, 2021

Coraline and The Thief of Always are both good, all-ages books that would probably be really spooky for kids without being, you know, too spooky.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 1:42 AM on November 18, 2021 [1 favorite]

Lois Duncan wrote a lot of very creepy (in a good way!) YA. Some of her books have a supernatural/horror element, some are dark teen thrillers. I loved them at the “slightly too young for adult horror” stage.
posted by rue72 at 3:33 AM on November 18, 2021 [3 favorites]

Scream Street books by Tommy Donbavand
posted by pyro979 at 3:37 AM on November 18, 2021

Children’s horror is such a great genre because it needs to be scary but can’t throw in a lot of blood. When I was a children’s librarian it was one of my favorite genres. My top list in no particular order includes:

Skeleton Man by Joseph Bruhac
Nightbooks by J.A. White
Small Spaces by Katherine Arden
The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste
A Properly Unhaunted Place by William Alexander
The Nest by Kenneth Oppel
Spirit Hunters by Ellen Oh
Elizabeth and Zenobia by Jessica Miller
The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls by Claire LeGrand
Doll Bones by Holly Black
​Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge
The Cabinet of Curiosities by Stefan Bachmann et al
posted by donut_princess at 4:08 AM on November 18, 2021 [10 favorites]

Thirding Bellairs - they're the books that made me interested in reading as a kid. The ones Brad Strickland wrote in the series after Bellairs' death are pretty good as well.

A few others that have been hits with my 10 year old in the last few years (maybe more "spooky" than "horror"): The Ghost in Apartment 2R, The Phantom Tower, The People in Pineapple Place, Dial-a-Ghost.
posted by ryanshepard at 4:40 AM on November 18, 2021

The current hotness in YA is Five Nights at Freddys - there's a whole series based on (I guess) a horror video game. The game is rated 12+, you didn't mention how old your kid is but they might be worth a look if he's on the older end of preteen.
posted by restless_nomad at 5:08 AM on November 18, 2021 [1 favorite]

The Lockwood & Co. series. I’m reading it to my 9 year old and he loves it. It has Harry Potter-equivalent thrills and a ghost hunting theme.
posted by umbú at 6:10 AM on November 18, 2021 [1 favorite]

Stephen King has a terrible loathing for women so whenever he does graduate to it give some massive caveats.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 7:15 AM on November 18, 2021 [6 favorites]

I also came to suggest Lois Duncan. Also, not quite the same but maybe Christopher Pike. As best I recall his books they were kind of like less-goofy scooby-doo setups: This supernatural thing is killing people, but then it always turns out to be the old caretaker someone at the high school.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 7:27 AM on November 18, 2021 [1 favorite]

I'll go ahead and wave my GenX flag and promote my beloved Fear Street series. No idea how they hold up over the years, but they were the OG upon which Goosebumps was based.

And yes, seconding Lois Duncan, too!
posted by hydra77 at 9:05 AM on November 18, 2021

Nthing Bradbury! Something Wicked This Way Comes is spine-shivering, without gore, and is a beautiful exploration of the terrors of human relationship. Same goes for The Illustrated Man and The Martian Chronicles!

I, too, loved John Bellairs’ books as a kid, but they warrant a content note for Christianity (some stories involve a lovely priest character and the power of Christian faith objects). I grew up areligious, and so overtly Christian themes sometimes felt alienating or confusing.
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 11:46 AM on November 18, 2021 [2 favorites]

You should totally do Coraline and The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. But also - if he reaalllly wants a king book, Eyes of the Dragon is the way to go.
posted by Gyre,Gimble,Wabe, Esq. at 4:56 PM on November 18, 2021

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark?
I also read some Alfred Hitchcock short story collections when I was pretty young. Ghost Stories for Young people I think. There are several different anthologies.
posted by Billy Rubin at 6:25 PM on November 19, 2021