Grab a Graphic Novel: Spooky Reads
We’re highlighting our graphic novel collection by exploring tried-and-true cartoon classics, as well as fresh-off-the-press new releases. Pick up a graphic novel today!
Our Grab a Graphic Novel blog series presents our latest reads from the aforementioned collection. Available at all five libraries, the collection encompasses comics, manga, and of course, graphic novels — anything that uses pictures as an intrinsic part of the storytelling process.
For this month, we’re highlighting our spooky graphic novels. These graphic novels range from junior level to adult, and are filled with thrills, chills, and shrills!
Junior Graphic Novels:
Goosebumps: Creepy Crawly Comics by R. L. Stine
“Monsters At Midnight offers a new creepy carousel spin on HorrorLand! When Mia and Ginny go to stay at their Grandma’s mothball-filled house for the summer, boredom forces them to venture out into her tiny town. But, soon, what appears to be a dusty used bookstore plunges them into an upside-down world of terror!
In Download and Die, when Mitra and her two besties find a phone with the latest and greatest technology and apps, they think they are dreaming. But when push (notifications) come to shove, they might be living a nightmare! With the phone turning them against each other, can Mitra do a hard reset before it’s too late?
Finally, in Horrors of the Witch House, all the kids in Beaver Creek, Oregon, know that the old Whaley House is probably haunted, so when young tech entrepreneur Veruca Curry moves in, the kids fear that there’s more to her than meets the eye. The adults in town think that Veruca is just the sort of hip, young new blood that Beaver Creek needs, but Rosie, a loner who loves anime and Japanese comics, Carlos, a popular preppy boy, and Becca, the school’s star athlete, aren’t so sure.”
The Sleepover by Michael Regina
“When the Russo family returns home from vacation to discover their nanny, Ruby, has unexpectedly passed away, Matthew takes the news the hardest. After weeks of reeling, his three best friends decide to cheer him up with a night of junk food, prank calls, and scary movies. But their plans for a sleepover are jeopardized when Matt’s single mother–unable to take any more time off of work–is forced to hire a new nanny on the fly to watch over Matt and his younger sister, Judy.
Miss Swan, however, is all too happy to have the boys over. And although she seems like the perfect babysitter, letting the kids eat whatever they want and mostly leaving them alone, there’s something about her that Matt doesn’t trust. He thinks she may actually be the witch from local legend–the one who torments children into the night and then eats them. Is he just having a hard time dealing with Ruby’s replacement, as his friends suspect? Has he watched one too many scary movies, as his mom fears? Or are he and his horror-buff friends in for the fright of their lives as they come face-to-face with a real monster?”
Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn and Scott Peterson
“In this graphic novel adaptation of master horror storyteller Mary Downing Hahn’s spookiest and most popular tale, two siblings must save their stepsister from the clutches of a vengeful ghost.
When their mom remarries, Molly and her brother, Michael, try to make friends with their new stepsister, Heather. But Heather only wants to make trouble for them. She lies and tattles and misbehaves, and somehow they always get the blame. They know she’s trying to drive a wedge between her father and their mother so she can have her father all to herself–and it seems to be working.
Then, Heather starts playing in the graveyard behind their new house. She claims she can talk to a ghost named Helen, and her behavior gets even stranger. Michael doesn’t believe in ghosts and thinks their new little sister is just looking for more attention. But Molly isn’t so certain, especially when Heather threatens that Helen is going to come for them and make them sorry.
It seems as though things can’t get any worse–but they do.
When Helen comes.”
Baba Yaga’s Assistant by Marika McCoola
“Most children think twice before braving a haunted wood filled with terrifying beasties to match wits with a witch, but not Masha. Her beloved grandma taught her many things: that stories are useful, that magic is fickle, that nothing is too difficult or too dirty to clean. The fearsome witch of folklore needs an assistant, and Masha needs an adventure. She may be clever enough to enter Baba Yaga’s house-on-chicken-legs, but within its walls, deceit is the rule. To earn her place, Masha must pass a series of tests, outfox a territorial bear, and make dinner for her host. No easy task, with children on the menu! Spooky and poignant, Marika McCoola’s stunning debut–with richly layered art by acclaimed graphic artist Emily Carroll–is a storytelling feat and a visual feast.”
Young Adult Graphic Novels:
Through the Woods by Emily Carroll
“Journey through the woods in this sinister, compellingly spooky collection that features four brand-new stories and one phenomenally popular tale in print for the first time. These are fairy tales gone seriously wrong, where you can travel to “Our Neighbor’s House”–though coming back might be a problem. Or find yourself a young bride in a house that holds a terrible secret in “A Lady’s Hands Are Cold.” You might try to figure out what is haunting “My Friend Janna,” or discover that your brother’s fiancée may not be what she seems in “The Nesting Place.” And of course, you must revisit the horror of “His Face All Red,” the breakout webcomic hit that has been gorgeously translated to the printed page.”
Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol
“Anya could really use a friend. But her new BFF isn’t kidding about the ‘Forever’ part . . .
Of all the things Anya expected to find at the bottom of an old well, a new friend was not one of them. Especially not a new friend who’s been dead for a century.
Falling down a well is bad enough, but Anya’s normal life might actually be worse. She’s embarrassed by her family, self-conscious about her body, and she’s pretty much given up on fitting in at school. A new friend–even a ghost–is just what she needs.
Or so she thinks.”
Archival Quality by Ivy Noelle Weir
“After losing her job at the library, Cel Walden starts working at the haunting Logan Museum as an archivist. But the job may not be the second chance she was hoping for, and she finds herself confronting her mental health, her relationships, and before long, her grasp on reality as she begins to dream of a young woman she’s never met, but feels strangely drawn to. Especially after she asks Cel for help…
As Cel attempts to learn more about the woman, she begins losing time, misplacing things, passing out–the job is becoming dangerous, but she can’t let go of this mysterious woman. Who is she? Why is she so fixated on Cel? And does Cel have the power to save her when she’s still trying to save herself?”
Coraline by Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russell
“When Coraline steps through a door in her family’s new house, she finds another house, strangely similar to her own (only better). At first, things seem marvelous. The food is better than at home, and the toy box is filled with fluttering wind-up angels and dinosaur skulls that crawl and rattle their teeth.
But there’s another mother there and another father, and they want her to stay and be their little girl. They want to change her and never let her go. Coraline will have to fight with all her wit and all the tools she can find if she is to save herself and return to her ordinary life.”
Adult Graphic Novels:
Something is Killing the Children by James Tynion
“When children begin to go missing in the town of Archer’s Peak, all hope seems lost until a mysterious woman arrives to reveal that terrifying creatures are behind the chaos – and that she alone will destroy them, no matter the cost.
IT’S THE MONSTERS WHO SHOULD BE AFRAID.
When the children of Archer’s Peak–a sleepy town in the heart of America–begin to go missing, everything seems hopeless. Most children never return, but the ones that do have terrible stories–impossible details of terrifying creatures that live in the shadows. Their only hope of finding and eliminating the threat is the arrival of a mysterious stranger, one who believes the children and claims to be the only one who sees what they can see.
Her name is Erica Slaughter. She kills monsters. That is all she does, and she bears the cost because it must be done.”
Uzumaki by Junji Ito
“Kurouzu-cho, a small fogbound town on the coast of Japan, is cursed. According to Shuichi Saito, the withdrawn boyfriend of teenager Kirie Goshima, their town is haunted not by a person or being but a pattern: UZUMAKI, the spiral–the hypnotic secret shape of the world. The bizarre masterpiece horror manga is now available all in a single volume. Fall into a whirlpool of terror!”
The Dollhouse Family by M. R. Carey
“On Alice’s sixth birthday, she got the gift she didn’t know she always wanted: a big, beautiful 19th- century dollhouse, complete with a family of antique dolls. In no time at all, the dollhouse isn’t just Alice’s favorite toy…it’s her whole world. And soon young Alice learns she can magically enter the house to visit a new group of friends, straight out of a heartwarming children’s novel: the Dollhouse family.
But in the real world, her family life is much darker…and deep within the Dollhouse’s twisting halls, the Black Room waits, with an offer to Alice. The house can fix all this, the room says. All she has to do is say the words…”
Wytches by Scott Snyder
“Everything you thought you knew about witches is wrong. They are much darker, and they are much more horrifying. Wytches takes the mythology of witches to a far creepier, bone-chilling place than readers have dared venture before.
When the Rooks family moves to the remote town of Litchfield, NH to escape a haunting trauma, they’re hopeful about starting over. But something evil is waiting for them in the woods just beyond town. Watching from the trees. Ancient…and hungry.”
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