13 Young Adult Books About Ghosts To Read This Halloween

Last updated on 13 February 2023

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Looking for Young Adult books about ghosts to read this Halloween? I got you covered!

It doesn’t have to be Halloween to read spooky young adult books about ghosts, but it does help! With the spooky season nearly upon us, you may be looking for some Halloween books to set the scene and see in the month with some frights.

There are so many books out there on monsters, books on vampires, on werewolves, books about witches … the list is endless! And I’m here to add to that list. Sorry not sorry. On my journey of finding some books about ghosts for young adults, I added so many of these to my TBR list, and while it’s true I haven’t read all of these, it’s definitely a good list to get you going!

Check out the list of YA ghost books below and let me know if you’ve read any!

13 Young Adult Books About Ghosts

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

“Searching for a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas expects the usual: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost-like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.”

Genres: Horror, Romance, Urban Fantasy

Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol

“Of all the things Anya expected to find at the bottom of an old well, a new friend was not one of them. Especially not a new friend who’s been dead for a century.”

Genres: Graphic Novel, Paranormal, Supernatural

The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco

“A dead girl walks the streets. She hunts murderers. Child killers, much like the man who threw her body down a well three hundred years ago. And when a strange boy bearing stranger tattoos moves into the neighborhood so, she discovers, does something else. And soon both will be drawn into the world of eerie doll rituals and dark Shinto exorcisms that will take them from American suburbia to the remote valleys and shrines of Aomori, Japan.”

Because the boy has a terrifying secret – one that would just kill to get out.”

Genres: Mystery, Horror, Thriller

Open Mic Night at Westminster Cemetery by Mary Amato

“When Lacy wakes up dead in Westminster Cemetery, final resting place of Edgar Allan Poe, she’s confused. It’s the job of Sam, a young soldier who died in 1865, to teach her the rules of the afterlife and to warn her about Suppression–a punishment worse than death.”

Genres: Poetry, Contemporary, Paranormal

Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff

“The city of Ludlow is gripped by the hottest July on record. The asphalt is melting, the birds are dying, petty crime is on the rise, and someone in Hannah Wagnor’s peaceful suburban community is killing girls.

For Hannah, the summer is a complicated one. Her best friend Lillian died six months ago, and Hannah just wants her life to go back to normal. But how can things be normal when Lillian’s ghost is haunting her bedroom, pushing her to investigate the mysterious string of murders?”

Genres: Mystery, Fantasy, Romance

Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall

“Once a year, the path appears in the forest and Lucy Gallows beckons. Who is brave enough to find her–and who won’t make it out of the woods?”

Genres: LGBT, Thriller, Mystery

Teeth in the Mist by Dawn Kurtagich

“Sixteen-year-old photography enthusiast Zoey has been fascinated by the haunted, burnt-out ruins of Medwyn Mill House for as long as she can remember–so she and her best friend, Poulton, run away from home to explore them. But are they really alone in the house? And who will know if something goes wrong?”

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Gothic

Ashes to Ashes by Melissa Walker

“When Callie’s life is cut short by a tragic accident, she expects to find nothingness, or maybe some version of heaven. Instead, her spirit travels to the Prism, an ethereal plane populated by the ghosts she thought were fictional. Here she meets a striking and mysterious ghost named Thatcher, who is meant to guide her as she learns to haunt and bring peace to the loved ones she left behind.”

Genres: Romance, Mystery, Contemporary

The Ghost Files by Apryl Baker

“For sixteen year old Mattie Hathaway … she’s been able to see ghosts since her mother tried to murder her when she was five years old. No way does she want anyone to know she can talk to spooks. Being a foster kid is hard enough without being labeled a freak too. Normally, she just ignores the ghosts and they go away. That is until she see’s the ghost of her foster sister… Sally.”

Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Urban Fantasy

Absent by Katie Williams

“When seventeen-year-old Paige dies in a freak fall from the roof during Physics class, her spirit is bound to the grounds of her high school. At least she has company: her fellow ghosts Evan and Brooke, who also died there. But when Paige hears the rumor that her death wasn’t an accident–that she supposedly jumped on purpose–she can’t bear it. Then Paige discovers something amazing. She can possess living people when they think of her, and she can make them do almost anything. Maybe, just maybe, she can get to the most popular girl in school and stop the rumors once and for all.”

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Mystery

Ghost House by Alexandra Adornetto

“After the loss of her mother, Chloe Kennedy starts seeing the ghosts that haunted her as a young girl again. Spending time at her grandmother’s country estate in the south of England is her chance to get away from her grief and the spirits that haunt her. Until she meets a mysterious stranger…”

Genres: Horror, Mystery, Romance

The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall by Katie Alender

“Delia’s new house isn’t just a house. Long ago, it was the Piven Institute for the Care and Correction of Troubled Females—an insane asylum nicknamed “Hysteria Hall.” However, many of the inmates were not insane, just defiant and strong-willed. Kind of like Delia herself. Ghost girls wander the halls in their old-fashioned nightgowns. A handsome ghost boy named Theo roams the grounds. Delia finds that all the spirits are unsettled and full of dark secrets. The house, as well, harbours shocking truths within its walls—truths that only Delia can uncover, and that may set her free.”

Genres: Mystery, Fantasy, Thriller

Fire in Frost by Alicia Rades

“Crystal Frost tells herself she isn’t crazy, but sane people don’t see ghosts. As her psychic abilities manifest, Crystal discovers she can see into the future, witness the past, and speak with the dead. Add blackmail to the list of things she never thought would happen to her, and you basically have her sophomore year covered. After spotting her first ghost, secrets from her family, friends, and classmates begin to surface. Uncovering secrets can be dangerous, but giving up means someone will get hurt. Again.”

Genres: Urban Fantasy, Supernatural, Magic

So there we have it! 13 Young Adult books about ghosts for you to read this Halloween! Whether you’re in the super-creepy books or the not-so-scary YA reads, there’s bound to be something in here for you!

If you’ve read any of these books about ghosts for young adults, let me know in the comments!