Episode 10: Scary Stories for Middle Graders

Put on your pointy, black hats and join the witchy mamas for a bone-chilling discussion about Middle Grade books with ghosts, creepy dolls, and other frights trapped within their pages. Halloween celebrations may not be the same in 2020, but with Two Lit Mamas’ help you can still have a good cackle and curl up with a scary tale (or tail). 

 Scary Books:

Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn

This well-known ghost story from master of suspense Mary Downing Hahn may have been written in 1986, but it’ll still scare your middle schoolers’ Walkman headphones right off. The story is of a blended family that moves into an old church in the countryside. The grounds, of course, come with an old cemetery that attracts Molly’s strange, young stepsister, Heather, who is found talking to what she claims is a ghost named Helen.    

Doll Bones by Holly Black

From the author of The Spiderwick Chronicles comes this creepy story of three friends who anger an antique doll that then threatens to haunt them until they return it to its home several states away. Zach and his friend Alice go along with their friend Poppy’s weird story about the doll, unsure if it’s just another story she’s made up or if the doll really will destroy their lives. 

The Bone Garden by Heather Kassner

Irreelle knows she's not quite real and not dead either but as long as she keeps Miss Vesper happy, she will be allowed to stay. While collecting bone dust from the tunnels below the cemetery for Miss Versper's potions, Irreelle meets her predecessor Guy and soon her replacement, Lass. The three make a deal with Miss Vesper that if they find something she's been searching for, she will 'magic them real' but can Miss Vesper really be trusted?

Scary Stories for Young Foxes by Christian McKay Heidicker

Two fox kits, Mia and Uly, are torn from their mothers in two very different ways, forcing them to get to their golden eye time all alone. In converging stories, the kits face such horrors as a witch who wants to taxidermy a young kit, a ghost that haunts the woods, zombie foxes, and massive beasts that dwell beneath the water. Will they survive long enough for their eyes to turn gold? The young kits, who are listening to their stories and hoping to have a white spot scared into their tails, sure hope so.  

 
Pick 6: The Mamas Favorite Halloween Traditions

1.     Pumpkin Windows

2.     Dog Costumes

3.     Monster Windsocks

4.     Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

5.     Homemade Costumes

6.     Handing Out Candy (in an empty house)

 
Show References:

Margie’s Blog: Laughter is Better than Prozac

Two Lit Mamas Blog