Five Middle-Grade Books… with Haunted Houses

Banner with 5 book covers: All the Lovely Bad Ones by Mary Downing Hahn, Lockwood & Co. by Jonathan Stroud, The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier, Seven Ghosts by Chris Priestley, Winterhouse by Ben Guterson

ALL THE LOVELY BAD ONES by Mary Downing Hahn

Book Cover: All the Lovely Bad Ones by Mary Downing Hahn, featuring a ghostly Victorian woman and ghostly children.

Travis and his sister, Corey, can’t resist a good trick. When they learn that their grandmother’s quiet Vermont inn, where they’re spending the summer, has a history of ghost sightings, they decide to do a little ‘haunting’ of their own. Before long, their supernatural pranks have tourists flocking to the inn, and business booms. But Travis and Corey soon find out that they aren’t the only ghosts at Fox Hill Inn. Their thoughtless games have awakened something dangerous, something that should have stayed asleep. Can these siblings lay to rest the ghosts they’ve stirred?

Reading age: 8-12 Tightly paced page-turner that takes you on a journey uncovering the mystery of Fox Hill Inn and discerning fact from fiction. I loved the poltergeist angle and there was a good helping of genuinely creepy moments.

LOCKWOOD & CO. THE SCREAMING STAIRCASE by Jonathan Stroud

The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud book cover, with a chest and pocket watch.

A sinister Problem has occurred in London: all nature of ghosts, haunts, spirits, and specters are appearing throughout the city, and they aren’t exactly friendly. Only young people have the psychic abilities required to see-and eradicate-these supernatural foes. Many different Psychic Detection Agencies have cropped up to handle the dangerous work, and they are in fierce competition for business. In The Screaming Staircase, the plucky and talented Lucy Carlyle teams up with Anthony Lockwood, the charismatic leader of Lockwood & Co, a small agency that runs independent of any adult supervision. After an assignment leads to both a grisly discovery and a disastrous end, Lucy, Anthony, and their sarcastic colleague, George, are forced to take part in the perilous investigation of Combe Carey Hall, one of the most haunted houses in England. Will Lockwood & Co. survive the Hall’s legendary Screaming Staircase and Red Room to see another day? 

Reading age: 12+ Fell in love with this book from page one. I adore a good underdog story, and this one about a plucky Psychic Detection Agency ticks so many boxes for me. It’s gruesome, seriously spooky, and funny!

THE NIGHT GARDENER by Jonathan Auxier

The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier: a tree, a gentleman wearing a top hat and holding a watering can.

Irish orphans Molly, 14, and Kip, 10, travel to England to work as servants in a crumbling manor house where nothing is quite what it seems, and soon the siblings are confronted by a mysterious stranger and the secrets of the cursed house. 

Reading age: 8-12 I will never stop recommending this book! It is ALL THE SPOOKY, the kind of creepiness that seeps into your bones and calls it home. Read this!

SEVEN GHOSTS by Chris Priestley

Seven Ghosts by Christ Priestley: a drawing of a child standing in front of houses at night.

Jake and the other finalists in a writing competition have been invited to a stately house for a tour like no other. As their guide leads them through grand rooms, hidden nooks and magnificent grounds, they hear the stories of seven ghosts who haunt the halls. But strange shapes and shadows follow Jake as he journeys through the house and with each tale that Jake hears, he begins to feel more uneasy. All is not as it seems and soon Jake will discover that something is very, very wrong …Old ghosts are stirred-up for Halloween in this spine-tingling, multi-narrative horror. Particularly suitable for struggling, reluctant, and dyslexic readers aged 8+

Reading age: 8+ (Particularly suitable for struggling, reluctant and dyslexic readers aged 8+) A kind of short-story-anthology/novel hybrid, Seven Ghosts is a page-turning quick read that’ll keep you guessing to the end. This is an eerie haunted house story that would be a perfect read-aloud book on Halloween night!

WINTERHOUSE by Ben Guterson

Winterhouse by Ben Guterson book cover: a painting of a mansion with snow-covered trees.


Orphan Elizabeth Somers’s malevolent aunt and uncle ship her off to the ominous Winterhouse Hotel, owned by the peculiar Norbridge Falls. Upon arrival, Elizabeth quickly discovers that Winterhouse has many charms–most notably its massive library. It’s not long before she locates a magical book of puzzles that will unlock a mystery involving Norbridge and his sinister family. But the deeper she delves into the hotel’s secrets, the more Elizabeth starts to realize that she is somehow connected to Winterhouse. As fate would have it, Elizabeth is the only person who can break the hotel’s curse and solve the mystery. But will it be at the cost of losing the people she has come to care for, and even Winterhouse itself?

Reading age: 9-12 Haunted hotel, secrets, puzzles to unravel…all with a gloriously creepy supernatural bent! Exploring Winterhouse Hotel was a spinetingling joy and I could not put it down.

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