Ghost stories for older children

Constable & Toop

The days are getting shorter, the nights are getting longer – what better time to curl up with a ghost story? Some of these stories are funny, others are scary, but all are certain to entertain young readers with a taste for all things spooky and spectral.

For ages 7-12+. 

  • Dust 'n' Bones

    Dust 'n' Bones

    Author: Chris Mould
    Publisher: Hodder Children's Books
    Interest age: 7+
    Reading age: 7+

    Mould has adapted five classic short ghost stories and added five of his own invention in a similar vein.

  • The Graveyard Book

    The Graveyard Book

    Author: Neil Gaiman Illustrator: Chris Riddell
    Publisher: Bloomsbury
    Interest age: 11+
    Reading age: 11+

    After his family are killed, Bod is brought up in a graveyard by ghosts.

  • The Haunting of Fortune Farm

    The Haunting of Fortune Farm

    Author: Sophie Kirtley Illustrator: Ben Mantle
    Publisher: Bloomsbury Children’s Books
    Interest age: 9-11
    Reading age: 9+

    Edie is thrust into a world of restless spirits and fearsome Viking warriors in this chilling ghost story that will send shivers down your spine. 

  • Frightfully Friendly Ghosties

    Frightfully Friendly Ghosties

    Author: Daren King
    Publisher: Quercus
    Interest age: 6-10
    Reading age: 8+

    When Pamela Fraidy gets locked in the attic with a big, leggy spider by a mean still-alive, her ghostie friends have to call on all their ingenuity to set her free.

  • Tom's Midnight Garden

    Tom's Midnight Garden

    Author: Philippa Pearce
    Publisher: Oxford University Press
    Interest age: 9-11
    Reading age: 9+

    With no garden or children to play with Tom feels lonely and unhappy, until one night he hears the clock striking thirteen and discovers a secret garden.

  • Haunted

    Haunted

    Author: Susan Cooper Joseph Delaney Berlie Doherty Jamila Gavin Matt Haig Robin Jarvis Derek Landy Sam Llewellyn Mal Peet Philip Reeve
    Publisher: Andersen Press
    Interest age: 12+
    Reading age: 10+

    A scintillating selection of supremely scary tales from 11 well-known children’s authors

  • Ghost Knight

    Ghost Knight

    Author: Cornelia Funke Translator: Oliver Latsch Illustrator: Andrea Offermann
    Publisher: Orion Children's Books
    Interest age: 9+
    Reading age: 9+

    At his new boarding school in Salisbury, Jon finds himself contronted by a terrifying and vengeful gang of ghosts that no one else can see.

  • Constable & Toop

    Constable & Toop

    Author: Gareth P Jones
    Publisher: Hot Key Books
    Interest age: 9+
    Reading age: 10+

    A Victorian funeral parlour is the setting for this exciting mystery that blends comedy with the dark, spooky and supernatural.

  • Lockwood & Co: The Screaming Staircase

    Lockwood & Co: The Screaming Staircase

    Author: Jonathan Stroud
    Publisher: HarperCollins
    Interest age: 10+
    Reading age: 11+

    Best known for his sarcastic djinni creation Bartimaeus, Stroud returns with an equally engaging new series, this time following a young set of ghost hunters

  • Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse

    Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse

    Author: Chris Riddell
    Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books
    Interest age: 7+
    Reading age: 7+

    Fans of Chris Riddell's Ottoline books will love this quirky story about young heroine Ada Goth.

  • Dial A Ghost

    Dial A Ghost

    Author: Eva Ibbotson
    Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books
    Interest age: 7+
    Reading age: 8+

    Fulton Snodde-Brittle has gone to the Dial A Ghost agency with a fiendish plan - he wants to hire some terrifying ghosts to scare his 10-year-old nephew Oliver to death.