3 Books for Halloween

A collage of three YA horror books. ALL THESE BODIES features a young woman standing with her back to the reader on this book cover. There is blood dripping down her back from the collar of her dress. THE UNDEAD TRUTH OF US features a young Black woman with full hair stands with sunflowers in front of her. The background is reminiscent of a van Gogh painting with sworls of blue, yellow, and green. OUR SHADOWS HAVE CLAWS has a turquoise background. The title is printed in red. The names of all of the contributors are listed. From the top of the book, there are also four red claws that appear to be tearing into the book. There is one more very sharp claw at the bottom right corner as if the thumb is grasping there.

With Halloween just around the corner, I though it would be fun to share some of my favorite YA horror books to come out in the last year or so. Have you read them?

A young woman is standing with her back to the reader on this book cover. There is blood dripping down her back from the collar of her dress.All These Bodies by Kendare Blake
Quill Tree Books

Summer 1958—a string of murders plagues the Midwest. The victims are found in their cars and in their homes—even in their beds—their bodies drained, but with no blood anywhere.

September 19- the Carlson family is slaughtered in their Minnesota farmhouse, and the case gets its first lead: 15-year-old Marie Catherine Hale is found at the scene. She is covered in blood from head to toe, and at first she’s mistaken for a survivor. But not a drop of the blood is hers.

Michael Jensen, son of the local sheriff, yearns to become a journalist and escape his small-town. He never imagined that the biggest story in the country would fall into his lap, or that he would be pulled into the investigation, when Marie decides that he is the only one she will confess to.

As Marie recounts her version of the story, it falls to Michael to find the truth: What really happened the night that the Carlsons were killed? And how did one girl wind up in the middle of all these bodies? — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

A young woman with full hair is standing with sunflowers in front of her. The Undead Truth of Us by Britney Lewis
Disney-Hyperion

Death was everywhere. They all stared at me, bumping into one another and slowly coming forward.

Sixteen-year-old Zharie Young is absolutely certain her mother morphed into a zombie before her untimely death, but she can’t seem to figure out why. Why her mother died, why her aunt doesn’t want her around, why all her dreams seem suddenly, hopelessly out of reach. And why, ever since that day, she’s been seeing zombies everywhere.

Then Bo moves into her apartment building―tall, skateboard in hand, freckles like stars, and an undeniable charm. Z wants nothing to do with him, but when he transforms into a half zombie right before her eyes, something feels different. He contradicts everything she thought she knew about monsters, and she can’t help but wonder if getting to know him might unlock the answers to her mother’s death.

As Zharie sifts through what’s real and what’s magic, she discovers a new truth about the world: Love can literally change you―for good or for dead.

In this surrealist journey of grief, fear, and hope, Britney S. Lewis’s debut novel explores love, zombies, and everything in between in an intoxicating amalgam of the real and the fantastic. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

The book cover has a turquoise background. The title is printed in red. The names of all of the contributors are listed. From the top of the book, there are also four red claws that appear to be tearing into the book. There is one more very sharp claw at the bottom right corner as if the thumb is grasping there.Our Shadows Have Claws: 15 Latin American Monster Stories edited by Yamile Saied Méndez
Algonquin Young Readers

From zombies to cannibals to death incarnate, this cross-genre anthology offers something for every monster lover. In Our Shadows Have Claws, bloodthirsty vampires are hunted by a quick-witted slayer; children are stolen from their beds by “el viejo de la bolsa” while a military dictatorship steals their parents; and anyone you love, absolutely anyone, might be a shapeshifter waiting to hunt.

The worlds of these stories are dark but also magical ones, where a ghost-witch can make your cheating boyfriend pay, bullies are brought to their knees by vicious wolf-gods, a jar of fireflies can protect you from the reality-warping magic of a bruja—and maybe you’ll even live long enough to tell the tale. Set across Latin America and its diaspora, this collection offers bold, imaginative stories of oppression, grief, sisterhood, first love, and empowerment.

Full contributor list: Chantel Acevedo, Courtney Alameda, Julia Alvarez, Ann Dávila Cardinal, M. García Peña, Racquel Marie, Gabriela Martins, Yamile Saied Méndez, Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite, Claribel A. Ortega, Amparo Ortiz, Lilliam Rivera, Jenny Torres Sanchez, Ari Tison, and Alexandra Villasante. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads