Off the Shelf: What? Me, scared?

Published 9:36 am Wednesday, October 5, 2016

October brings the horror genre to some readers’ minds.

It’s not a genre I usually haunt, so imagine my fright when a young patron asked me where to find a few ghoulish ghost stories. Luckily, there are some splendid book-finding tools featured on the North Olympic Library System’s website, www.nols.org.

Two databases that are extremely useful when sleuthing for new reads suited to personal tastes are NoveList Plus and, for younger readers, NoveList K-8 Plus. Both are free to access and available anywhere your reading takes you — inside or outside the library.

To find them, simply select the ”E-Resources” tab from the library homepage and then “Databases A-Z.”

Tips for searching

You may use any number of keywords when scouring the databases or searching the library catalog, including snippets of titles, an author’s name or broader terms like “horror” and “ghosts.” This patron had enjoyed “The Haunting of Sunshine Girl” by Paige McKenzie. With that as our starting point, we used NoveList’s read-alikes feature to find out if any similar titles were available at NOLS.

Turns out there are ghosts galore at your library! Here are just a few titles for teens — and all the teens at-heart — who enjoy being seasonally petrified.

What we found

“Cuckoo Song” by Frances Hardinge

According to Kirkus Reviews, this thriller is a “dense and twisty fantasy set in post-World War I Great Britain (that) mixes monstrous creatures, sibling rivalry, a supernatural doppelganger, family dysfunction and a kidnapping into a complex brew of eerie atmosphere and unexpected events. Hardinge is a master stylist whose imaginative works resemble one another only in the consistently impressive quality of her writing.”

“The House” by Christina Lauren

“A rebellious girl falls for a strange boy who lives in an even stranger house. This superior and unusual horror story opens with Delilah, who feels neglected by her unfeeling parents. She’s attracted to Gavin, who has lived quite differently: He was raised by the house he dwells in, a living being that loves him and cares for him … Don’t read it at night.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Anna Dressed in Blood” by Kendare Blake

“Life can get tough for a boy who kills ghosts. Teeth-chattering suspense and suppressed chuckles might attack readers in this superior black comedy/adventure. Theseus Cassio Lowood has inherited his father’s athame, a magical knife that can slice and dice ghosts to bits … Abundantly original, marvelously inventive and enormous fun, this can stand alongside the best horror fiction out there.” — Kirkus Reviews

Reading recommendations aren’t all you can find using NoveList. Nested beneath the “Quick Links” tab in the upper-left corner are author read-alikes, book discussion topics, teaching guides for Common Core and more. The “Browse By” feature will lead you to winners of all the popular literary awards out there … Edgar Allan Poe Awards, anyone?

For more

Visit www.nols.org to explore the library catalog or reach out to your friendly library staff by calling the Sequim Library at 683-1161 or stop in for a visit at 630 N. Sequim Ave.

Mary Coté is a customer service sepcialist at Sequim and Port Angeles libraries.