Scary Stories For Teens

At 16, Ronald Earl is no longer the boy-wonder preacher known to the faithful as Little Texas. But on the tent-revival circuit, his adoring followers still roar and praise his name. Another small town, another revival, and the same girl appears in that same blue dress. A day later, on the fringe of the believers - a flash of blue. Is she just another of the grateful and devoted? Or is she something else? And is she not following but haunting him?

Six smarter-than-most teens wake up in the same hospital after having experienced a traumatic event that they can’t quite remember…other than being forcibly sucked into an abyss at the moment of their deaths. With individual clocks ticking—and with each guarding an individual secret—they band together and conspire to piece together the whole of what happened.

Fifteen-year-old Billi San Greal never meant to make history. Co-opted, or rather coerced, at the age of ten into the modern-day remnant of the Knights Templar by her father, the Grandmaster, Billi's the first girl ever to be a Templar. Her life a disciplined round of weapons' practice, occult lore, and a heck of a lot of bruises, Billi would happily settle for being a normal high-school girl rather than a secret warrior out to defeat the Unholy.

Anne Green can't move a muscle, can't open her eyes, can't scream. She lies paralyzed in absolute darkness, terrified by her final memory - being hanged. Is she in purgatory? Hell? Was she buried alive? An innocent woman caught up in a nightmare, Anne Green is trapped with her racing thoughts, her burning need to revisit the events - and the man - that led her to the scaffold.

Jackson Donnelly battles a recurring, escalating nightmare from the time he is 10. The nightly encounters weaken his body and spirit by incorporating his daytime struggles with bullies, girls, and grief. The boy resigns himself to a lifetime of exhaustion and torment. Until the dream goes after his little brother. Will Jackson be able to protect his family or will both boys be lost to within the nightmare forever?

Once an athlete and popular kid, Alex is in a terrible car accident that severely injures his hip and leaves him with a rare power: he can hear and see ghosts. All Alex wants is to be normal. But when a vicious spirit beings haunting him, Alex must accept his unwanted psychic powers and work with his best friend and his paranormal investigator cousin to solve the mystery of bones in the wall and put the ghosts in the house to rest. If he fails, he’ll lose his family and friends to a gruesome fate.

Gustav and Fernie's adventures in the Dark Country continue as they search for their families. But as they get closer to discovering their families' fates, their mission is once again threatened by old foes - as well as some new, even more treacherous, ones. Will Gustav and Fernie be able to battle their way through and rescue their families before it's too late?

Fernie and Gustav leave the safety of the Gloom Mansion and begin their long journey to the Shadow Country to save their families from the evil Lord Obsidian. Aided by the magical Cryptic Carousel, Fernie and Gustav travel to lots of exotic locations as they try to locate the Shadow Country, meeting a few new foes along the way.

From the award-winning author of Hidden Talents, two remarkable short-story collections - Kidzilla and The Witch's Monkey - together for the first time. Plus several brand-new stories. Each hilarious and harrowing. A substitute teacher finds out she has some monsters for students. A group of kids attempts a levitation trick with hair-raising results. A neighborhood is so boring the grown-ups are turning into...well...you know. And dozens more.

All Esma Siban wants this summer is to stay out of her stepmother's way. When her stepsister, Morgan, suggests a road trip to Oregon to visit a friend from high school, Esma jumps on the idea. A camping trip sounds like the perfect way to help Esma recover from breaking up with her boyfriend. But when Esma and Morgan encounter a stalker, Esma's fangs come out. The death of a Sasquatch hunter wasn't on their itinerary. A terrified Esma is unsure what to do next, so she texts her ex-boyfriend for help.

Secret Seekers Society and the Beast of Bladenboro follows the young protagonists Hunter Glenn and Elly Ann through an adventure ripe with adversity, paranormal monsters, secret societies, and most haunting of all, a life without their parents. Both siblings suffer emotional struggle from the sudden loss of their parents, as well as their physical journey into a new and strange “home”: an ancient and creepy mansion known only as the Belmonte Estate.

The girls go on an overnight and share horror stories around the campfire. But it’s the one about Cropsy, the creepy old man who lives just outside the campgrounds and is known for torturing Lakeview campers, that hits closest to home. Especially when Chelsea leaves the group for a bathroom break in the woods and doesn’t return after 45 minutes. No sooner do her bunkmates go after her then do they realize they’ve completely lost their way and are now at the mercy of the evil Cropsy’s whims!

Thirteen-year-old Sully Stringfellow has always admired the great plumber heroes of Nitro City. These wrench-wielding warriors guarded the sewers - until they were discredited by the powerful Ironwater Corporation, which has a sinister scheme to take over the city. Without the plumbers, Nitro is being overrun by mutant creatures - and things are about to go totally nuclear thanks to the potentially explosive 50th Anniversary Burrito Festival!

Finn was born to stop the monsters from invading his town. But he’d really rather not. He dreams of having an ordinary life, and right now, things can’t get any worse. Legends are running riot. Half-Hunters are out of control. And Darkmouth has been taken away from him.

Fourteen-year-old Jenna Samuels is having a very bad eighth-grade year. Her mother spends all day in bed, her father has vanished, and her 16-year-old brother Casey tries to hold the family together. And Jenna is sick. When she collapses one day, Casey crashes driving her to the hospital. Jenna wakes up in the ER to find Casey beside her. But Casey didn’t survive the accident at all. Casey has been sent back to help solve the mystery that not only holds the key to her survival, but also to their mother’s mysterious depression and father’s disappearance

For 13 years, Gracen Sullivan dreamed about a red-eyed demon named Hart Blackwell who tortured her every night. Her mother freaked when she found out about her daughter's "hallucinations" and forced Gracen to go to the doctor, who prescribed some very powerful medication, which kept Hart out of her head for five years. A week ago, Hart came back and brought a friend. But something has changed, and Gracen is seeing Hart when she's awake too. And the other "friends" in her dreams? They're dead.

In a heart-racing thriller described as Left Behind for the Hunger Games Generation, Jennie struggles to find a safe place for what’s left of her family. But it seems as though there is no place sacred, no place secure. First the aliens attacked the sun, making it dimmer, weaker, and half what it used to be. Then they attacked the water supply, killing one-third of Earth’s population with a bitter contaminate. And when they unleash a new terror on humankind, the victims will wish for death, but will not find it…

Reed Monroe chose Salem University for one reason: the opportunity to study with Victoria McCoy, writer-in-residence and best-selling author of horror fiction. When she learns that a lingering illness is preventing McCoy from teaching any classes, Reed starts a fan club for other McCoy obsessives. Although it only attracts a few members, the club is her passion until she hears about the opportunity of a lifetime: Victoria McCoy is hiring a new assistant. It’s a job that any horror fan would kill for.

For 15-year-old Rachel Bryant, summer vacation promises to be fun. Her 17-year-old cousin Julia will be coming to Albuquerque, New Mexico to live with the Bryants, following her parents’ deaths. With two brothers, Rachel is looking forward to finally having a sister. From the moment Julia arrives, everyone is enchanted with the orphaned teenager. But Rachel finds her strangely disturbing. Soon an evil poison seems to seep into every corner of her life. Can she discover what Julia is trying to do before it’s too late?

The second volume in the Guys Read Library of Great Reading is chock-full of mystery, intrigue, and nefarious activity. Featuring some of the best writers around, and compiled by certified guy Jon Scieszka, Guys Read: Thriller is a pulse-pounding collection of brand-new short stories, each one guaranteed to keep you riveted until the final page.