Haunted Halloween Stories: 13 Chilling Read-Aloud Tales

Melanie Marttila is a Sudbury-based freelance writer and writing
consultant.

Haunted Halloween Stories is one of a series of books by Jo-Anne
Christensen featuring ghost stories for young adults. Framed by a
book-ended tale set at a Halloween party, the stories in the collection
are presented as if told by various teens at the party.

All the tales are entertaining, and violence and gore are largely
avoided. Like any good ghost story, Christensen’s tales depend on
suspense and genuinely chilling denouement. As the subtitle implies,
these stories are great for reading aloud.

Many are traditional ghost stories (i.e., they feature a ghost). In
some stories, the matter is treated more creatively. In “The Tip,”
for example, it is a cursed coin that haunts. In “Room for One
More,” the protagonist is haunted by dreams, while in “So
Familiar” the haunting force is memory.

Though on the coarse side, “Camp Wanna-poopoo” will leave most
listeners both truly “creeped out” and in fits of giggles. The tales
are not without their morals either. “A Lift to the Train” and
“One Sure Way to Quit” both feature ghosts with lessons to teach.

Christensen does a good job of keeping her stories fresh and free of
cliché. Haunted Halloween Stories is a good choice for libraries
catering to young adults.