Books Like Halloween Party

Halloween is for everyone, but children in particular enjoy the spooky season the most. The best part of Halloween is the candy, trick or treating, and decorations, but it is also the perfect time to curl up with a suspenseful book or two to get into the spirit of it all. For example, Headless Halloween is part of the Goosebumps Series 2000 books by R.L. Stine and features a creepy costume party with all manner of disgusting games. For more creepy-themed novels aimed at middle schoolers, check out the following books like Halloween Party.

The Halloween Tree

By Ray Bradbury

The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury is the unforgettable journey of eight boys through time and space in search of their missing friend. Tom Skelton is a 13-year-old boy who plans on going trick-or-treating with eight of his friends. The boys meet up at an old mansion on the outskirts of town, owned by a man named Mr. Moundshroud. However, when one of his friends, Pip, is taken by a mysterious force, Tom and the rest of the boys turn to Mr. Moundshroud for help. He does so by taking the boys on a magical trip through time and space where they learn more about Halloween while trying to track down Pip. 

The Pumpkin Code

By Martin Smith

The Pumpkin Code by Martin Smith is set on Halloween, which is the scariest night of the year. However, one teenager named Artie Eason makes a startling discovery while trying to retrieve his football from a stranger’s yard. Artie planned to quickly retrieve the ball before returning home and getting ready for trick or treating. Unfortunately, while sneaking into the yard, Artie overhears a dastardly plot that involves stealing kids and knows that it is up to him to save his friends and family before it is too late. 

The Halloween Moon

By Joseph Fink

The star of The Halloween Moon by Joseph Fink is a girl named Esther Gold who loves the spooky holiday more than anything in the world. Esther’s parents think that she is too old to go trick-or-treating this year, but she is determined to do so. When Halloween arrives Esther has everything from her costume to her candy collecting strategy carefully planned out, but discovers something odd is going on. Not only is the moon an unnatural shade of orange but the creepy costumes worn by the strange children wandering the streets might not be costumes at all. Esther soon finds that a curse has been placed on her small town and must team up with some unlikely allies to lift it before it is too late.

Thirteens

By Kate Alice Marshall

Thirteens is the first book in The Secrets of Eden Eld series by Kate Alice Marshall. Eden Eld is a quiet, prosperous town with a dark past, which Eleanor discovers after her family moves there. At first, she thinks her eyes are playing tricks on her because she can see all manner of strange things like a black dog with glowing red eyes following her around town. However, when she befriends Pip and Otto she learns that the town has a history of supernatural disturbances and that every thirteenth Halloween three thirteen-year-olds disappear. This means that Eleanor, Pip, and Otto will have to find a way to break this curse before they are the ones to disappear. 

Millie Muldoon & The Case of the Halloween Haunting

By Mary Vigliante Szydlowski

Millie Muldoon & The Case of the Halloween Haunting is the third book in the Millie Muldoon Mysteries series by Mary Vigliante Szydlowski. Millie sets out to help her Grant Aunt Priscilla Palermo who, along with her two next-door neighbors has developed a ghost problem. With Halloween around the corner, the ladies have begun seeing spirits of the dead floating through the air and appearing in their yards every night after midnight. With creaking and clanking coming from their basements, walls, and attics the woman are scared to death, and not even the police believes them. However, Millie Muldoon is convinced that the hauntings are not supernatural and sets out to prove it has something to do with the tales of buried Civil War gold and underground tunnels.

A Halloween Tale

By Michael Sherman

A Halloween Tale by Michael Sherman is a reimagining of the holiday classic, A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. Instead of Christmas, the setting is the eve of Halloween when an angry recluse named Edward Crane is told by a Spirit that he will be visited by three ghosts. Edward is an affluent Senior in High School but after a family tragedy years earlier on Halloween night he has shut himself away from the world. Edward struggles to treat anyone with respect and if the Spirits can’t show him the error of his ways and renew his faith in humanity his soul might be doomed for all eternity.

The Best Halloween Ever

By Barbara Robinson

The Best Halloween Ever is the third book in The Herdmans series by Barbara Robinson. The six kids from the Herdmans family are considered to be the worst in the history of Woodrow Wilson School. Every year they cause havoc around Halloween by stealing candy, spray-painting other kids, and taking anything that is not nailed down. Things are so bad that the mayor decides to cancel Halloween to avoid having to deal with the Herdmans. With no trick-or-treating and a suspension of all candy sales, all the children have to look forward to is a boring school-sponsored party. However, the Herdmans have a plan to turn the worst Halloween ever into the best Halloween ever.