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KLI
43 Old Cemetary Road Series (age 9-12)
by Kate Klise
humor ... authorship ... letters/journal ... spooky ... mystery
Publisher comments: Ignatius B. Grumply moves into the Victorian mansion at 43 Old Cemetery Road hoping to find some peace and quiet so he can crack a wicked case of writer's block. But 43 Old Cemetery Road is already occupied by eleven-year-old Seymour, his cat Shadow, and an irritable ghost named Olive. It's hard to say who is more outraged. But a grumpy old ghost just might inspire this grumpy old man--and the abandoned kid? Well, let's just say his last name's Hope.
title: Over My Dead Body
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WES
The Books of Elsewhere Series (age 9-12)
by Jacqueline West
adventure ... spooky ... fantasy
Publisher comments: When eleven-year-old Olive moves into a crumbling Victorian mansion with her parents, she knows there's something strange about the house - especially the odd antique paintings covering the walls. And when she puts on a pair of old spectacles, she discovers the strangest thing yet: She can travel inside the paintings, to a spooky world that's full of dark shadows. Add to that three talking cats, who live in the house and seem to be keeping secrets of their own, and Olive soon finds herself confronting a dark and dangerous power that wants to get rid of her by any means necessary. It's up to Olive to save the house from the dark shadows, before the lights go out for good.
title: The Shadows
title: Spellbound
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SNY
The Truth About Stone Hollow (age 9-12)
by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
spooky ... fantasy
Catalog: The new boy at school introduces Amy to the secrets of Stone Hollow where the circles of time converge.
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WOO
Dear Napoleon, I Know You're Dead, But... (age 9-12)
by Elvira Woodruff
fantasy ... letters/journal ... spooky
Catalog: Marty receives a surprising reply when he writes a letter describing his spirited but sick grandfather to Napoleon Bonaparte.
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DEF
The Ghost of Fossil Glen (age 9-12)
by Cynthia C. DeFelice
letters/journal ... mystery ... friendship ... spooky
Allie Nichols knows she's being pursued by a ghost. But her friend Karen calls her a liar and doesn't want to hear stuff like that. It is Allie's old pal Dub who listens eagerly as Allie tells him about a voice that guides her safely down a steep cliff side, the face in her mind's eye of a girl who begs ``Help me,'' and a terrible nightmare in which that girl falls to her death. Who is the girl? Is she the ghost? And what does the ghost want from Allie? As Allie discovers that her role is to avenge a murder, she also learns something about friendship, false and true, in this gripping ghost story and murder mystery.
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BAB
The Eyes of the Amaryllis (age 9-12)
by Natalie Babbitt
fantasy ... spooky ... adventure
When the brig Amaryllis was swallowed in a hurricane, the captain and all the crew were swallowed, too. For thirty years the captain's widow, Geneva Reade, has waited, certain that her husband will send her a message from the bottom of the sea. But someone else is waiting, too, and watching her, a man called Seward. Into this haunted situation comes Jenny, the widow's granddaughter. The three of them, Gran, Jenny, and Seward, are drawn into a kind of deadly game with one another and with the sea, a game that only the sea knows how to win.
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AVI
Murder at Midnight (age 9-12)
by Avi
knights/castles/dragons ... magic ... mystery ... spooky
Publisher comments: A plot to overthrow King Claudio is brewing in the Kingdom of Pergamontio. Scholarly Mangus the magician — along with his street-smart and faithful new servant boy, Fabrizio — have been marked as easy scapegoats for the traitor lurking within the king's court. Together, these two unlikely partners must gather clues to solve the mystery and prove their innocence before the stroke of midnight. . . or face death! Intricate plotting, surprise twists, and lively prose make for another suspenseful page-turner that stands alone or sets the stage for MIDNIGHT MAGIC!
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HAH
Time For Andrew: a Ghost Story (age 9-12)
by Mary Downing Hahn
family ... mystery ... spooky
Aunt Blythe's house gives Andrew the creeps, full of dark rooms, creaky noises, and the sound of a woman sobbing somewhere in the shadows. Then, in the middle of the night, Andrew awakens to find a boy standing in his room...a boy who is Andrew's double, except he looks as if he's come from the grave. He wants to follow him, to a place where he will meet the spirits of long-dead ancestors...a place from which Andrew may never return.
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HAH
The Old Willis Place: a Ghost Story (age 9-12)
by Mary Downing Hahn
mystery ... spooky
Diana and her little brother Georgie have been living in the woods behind the old Willis place, a decaying Victorian mansion, for what already seems like forever. They aren't allowed to leave the property or show themselves to anyone. But when a new caretaker comes to live there with his young daughter, Lissa, Diana is tempted to break the mysterious rules they live by and reveal herself so she can finally have a friend. Somehow, Diana must get Lissa's help if she and Georgie ever hope to release themselves from the secret that has bound them to the old Willis place for so long.
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GOI
The Garden of Eve (age 9-12)
by K. L. Going
family ... mystery ... spooky ... illness/loss
Evie reluctantly moves with her widowed father to Beaumont, New York, where he has bought an apple orchard, dismissing rumors that the town is cursed and the trees haven't borne fruit in decades. Evie doesn't believe in things like curses and fairy tales anymore--if fairy tales were real, her mom would still be alive. But odd things happen in Beaumont. Evie meets a boy who claims to be dead and receives a mysterious seed as an eleventh-birthday gift. Once planted, the seed grows into a tree overnight, but only Evie and the dead boy can see it--or go where it leads. The Garden of Eve mixes spine-tingling chills with a deeply resonating story that beautifully explores grief, healing, and growth.
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FRE
Who Stole Halloween? (age 9-12)
by Martha Freeman
traditions ... animals ... mystery ... spooky
Eleven-year-old sleuths Alex and Yasmeen are on the trail of a serial catnapper. Halloween is the first cat to go missing. One by one more cats from the neighborhood disappear. It's rumored that a ghost is responsible. Will he strike again? It's up to Alex and Yasmeen to find out before Halloween is gone forever!
The American Girl Mysteries (age 9-12)
historical ... mystery ... spooky
Characters from the American Girls series become embroiled in mysterious situations.
title: The Curse of Ravenscourt: a Samantha Mystery by Sarah Masters Buckey F BUC
title: Danger at the Zoo: a Kit Mystery by Kathleen Ernst F ERN
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BRI
Who Knew There'd Be Ghosts? (age 9-12)
by Bill Brittain
adventure ... spooky
Three spunky youngsters join forces with two lively ghosts to save a historic mansion from being destroyed by a crooked antique dealer.
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PEC
The Dreadful Future of Blossom Culp (age 9-12)
by Richard Peck
fantasy ... school ... friendship ... spooky
Blossom, not the most popular member of her freshman class in 1914, travels ahead seventy years, and returns in time to make Halloween a memorable night for her classmates and teachers.
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KEY
Escape to Witch Mountain (age 9-12)
by Alexander Key
spooky ... adventure ... science fiction
Some terrifying experience has blocked Tony and Tia's memory of the past. But because they have supernatural powers, they are sure that they come from another world---and that their people still exist somewhere. Then Tony and Tia find that they must escape from men who want to use their special powers for evil. They begin a desperate search to find their true home---which leads them to the strange and mysterious Witch Mountain.
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DIC
A Christmas Carol (age 9-12)
by Charles Dickens
traditions ... growing up ... folklore ... spooky
A miser learns the true meaning of Christmas when three ghostly visitors review his past and foretell his future.
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IBB
Dial-a-Ghost (age 9-12)
by Eva Ibbotson
humor ... enterprise ... spooky
The Dial-a-Ghost Agency finds good homes for ghosts. And Fulton and Frieda Snodde-Brittle are looking for a few frightening ghosts to accidentally scare their young cousin and heir, Oliver, to death. The ladies at the Dial-a-Ghost Agency have the perfect match: the Shriekers, two bloodstained and bickering horrors. But thanks to a mix-up at the agency, the Wilkinsons, a kind family of ghosts, arrive instead. Can they put a stop to the Snodde-Brittles' schemes before it's too late?
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SAI
Varjak Paw (age 9-12)
by S. F. Said
adventure ... action ... spooky ... magic
Varjak Paw is a Mesopotamian Blue kitten. He lives high up in an old house on a hill. He's never left home, until his grandfather tells him about the Way ... a secret martial art for cats. Now Varjak must use the Way to survive in a city full of dangerous dogs, cat gangs, and strangest of all, the mysterious Vanishings.
sequel: The Outlaw Varjak Paw
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SNY
The Witches of Worm (age 9-12)
by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
friendship ... magic ... spooky
A lonely twelve-year-old is convinced that the cat she finds is possessed by a witch and is responsible for her own strange behavior.
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IRV
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (age 9-12)
by Washington Irving
folklore ... spooky
A superstitious schoolmaster, in love with a wealthy farmer's daughter, has a terrifying encounter with a headless horseman.
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COO
The Boggart (age 9-12)
by Susan Cooper
folklore ... humor ... spooky ... adventure
When Emily and Jess Volnik's family inherits a remote, crumbling Scottish castle, they also inherit the Boggart: an invisible, mischievous spirit who's been playing tricks on residents of Castle Keep for generations. Then the Boggart is trapped in a rolltop desk and inadvertently shipped to the Volniks' home in Toronto, where nothing will ever be the same, for the Volniks or the Boggart. In a world that doesn't believe in magic, the Boggart's pranks wreak havoc. And even the newfound joys of peanut butter and pizza and fudge sauce eventually wear thin for the Boggart. He wants to go home, but his only hope lies in a risky and daring blend of modern technology and ancient magic.
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WRI
The Dollhouse Murders (age 9-12)
by Betty Ren Wright
spooky ... family ... mystery
Catalog: A dollhouse filled with a ghostly light in the middle of the night and dolls that have moved from where she last left them lead Amy and her retarded sister to unravel the mystery surrounding grisly murders that took place years ago.
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SNY
The Headless Cupid (age 9-12)
by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
spooky ... mystery ... magic ... friendship
When the four Stanley children meet Amanda, their new stepsister, they're amazed to learn that she studied witchcraft. They're stunned to see her dressed in a strange costume, carrying a pet crow, and surrounded by a pile of books about the supernatural. It's not long before Amanda promises to give witchcraft lessons to David, Janie, and the twins. But that's when strange things start happening in their old house. David suspects Amanda of causing mischief, until they learn that the house really was haunted a long time ago. Legend has it that a ghost cut the head off a wooden cupid on the stairway. Has the ghost returned to strike again?
sequel: The Famous Stanley Kidnapping Case
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FLE
The Ghost in the Noonday Sun (age 9-12)
by Sid Fleischman
adventure ... spooky
Twelve-year-old Oliver tries to escape from pirates who take him to an island to find the ghost and treasure of Gentleman Jack.
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BEL
The House With a Clock in Its Walls (age 9-12)
by John Bellairs
spooky ... magic ... mystery
A boy goes to live with his magician uncle in a mansion that has a clock hidden in the walls which is ticking off the minutes until doomsday.
sequel: The Figure in the Shadows
sequel: The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring
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BOS
The Children of Green Knowe (age 9-12)
by L. M. Boston
spooky ... adventure ... fantasy
This is the first thrilling and chilling tale of Green Knowe, a haunted manor deep in an overgrown garden in the English countryside.
sequel: Treasure of Green Knowe

Fairmeadow Elementary School, Sat Aug 25 11:55:30 2012
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