RA for All: Horror: Summer Scares Resource Page [Last Updated March 15, 2023]

In celebration of National Library Lover’s Day, the Horror Writers Association (HWA), in partnership with United for Libraries, Book Riot, and Booklist, is delighted to announce the fifth annual Summer Scares reading list, which includes titles selected by a panel of authors and librarians and is designed to promote Horror as a great reading option for all ages and during any time of the year.

This year Summer Scares welcomes New York Times Bestselling author, Daniel Kraus as their 2023 spokesperson. "My love of reading began at a public library -- but I had to hunt for the horror,” said Kraus. “I would have been giddy to have a slate like our 2023 choices presented to me when I walked in. I am, in fact, giddy about it right now. It's a tremendously far-reaching group of titles that epitomizes the breadth of creativity going on in the genre."

The goal of Summer Scares is to introduce Horror titles to school and public library workers in order to help them start conversations with readers that will extend beyond the books from each list and promote reading for years to come. In addition to the annual list of recommended titles, the Summer Scares committee will release themed lists of even more “read-alike” titles libraries can suggest to readers. And, in order to help libraries forge stronger connections between books and readers, the Summer Scares committee will be working with both the recommended list authors and Horror authors from all over the country to provide free programming to libraries.

Every year, three titles are selected in each of three categories: Adult, Young Adult, and Middle Grade. For 2023 those selected titles are:

Adult Selections:

Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom, 2020)
Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas (Custom House, 2020)
The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror by Daniel M. Lavery (Holt Paperbacks, 2018)

Young Adult Selections:

In The Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters (Amulet Books, 2013)
Squad by Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Lisa Sterle (illustrator) (Greenwillow Books, 2021)
Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu (illustrator) (Oni Press, 2019)

Middle Grade Selections:

Small Spaces by Katharine Arden (G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, 2018)
Living Ghosts and Mischievous Monsters: Chilling American Indian Stories by Dan SaSuWeh Jones, Weshoyot Alvitre (Illustrator) (Scholastic Nonfiction, 2021)(Scholastic Nonfiction, 2021)
A Small Zombie Problem by K.G. Campbell (Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2019)

The 2023 Summer Scares program committee consists of author Daniel Kraus, HWA Library Committee Co-Chairs Becky Spratford and Konrad Stump, as well as Academic Librarian Carolyn Ciesla, Book Riot Editor and YA specialist Kelly Jensen, and Booklist Editor and Middle Grade specialist Julia Smith.