Reading Recs

I read this book when I was in 6th grade (a very, very long time ago) and loved it! I had always been into spooky stuff and things that most people found disturbing or creepy, so a book about kids exploring the world of the occult was fascinating to me. Last year, I started thinking about the story out of nowhere and decided to read it again. I loved it just as much as an adult as I did as a 6th grader. I think books written for young readers are some of the best out there, and I recommend it for a quick, spooky, and fun read. ~Dr. Jennifer Bengtson. History & Anthropology

Enjoy a book filled with a fabulous mix of murder, humor, imagination, and longing for human connection. In the opening scene, the hero, Nobody, is a toddler who narrowly escapes his house as Jack murders his family. Nobody crawls into the graveyard where he is adopted by the ghosts Mr. and Mrs. Owens. Nobody grows, meets other ghosts in the graveyard, learns to read, and even masters supernatural abilities such as fading. His life is happy until he starts to become aware of the world outside the graveyard. As he goes to school and learn about the "living" world, life becomes more dangerous. This young adult fantasy won the Hugo Award for best novel and the Locus Award for best young adult book. ~Stephanie Hallam, Kent Library

This story is filled with so many different shocking secrets and surprises, Your mouth will drop within reading the first 3 pages. ~Autumn Oakley, class of '26

On an isolated hill near a rural Missouri Ozark town, nearly a hundred years ago, two little girls suddenly hear the ghostly plea of a dying man. They remember the chilling voice for the rest of their lives. As one of them lay dying over seventy-five years later, she elicits a promise from her son to investigate the crime behind the ghostly voice. There follows the riveting true story of a crime which took place years before the girls heard the voice. The reader is pulled into a vivid period of Missouri Ozark history, with real characters and events thoroughly researched and authentically portrayed. This book will hold your attention until the end. Published by Southeast Missouri State University Press in 2007. ~Alice Strange, Communication Studies & Modern Languages, Emerita

A classic gothic novel full of suspense and drama. Told in flashbacks this book follows the unnamed second wife of Maxim de Winter as she uncovers the truth about the untimely death of his first wife Rebecca. This book is a great example of how you can be haunted by more than just ghosts. ~Liz Rudloff, Kent Library