Dead Connections by Charlie Price

"They are not graveyards. I hate it when people say that. They are cemeteries. The one I know best is Forest Grove. I spend most of my time there. That's where most of my friends are. I don't spend much time with the older people. I figure they deserved it. Not deserved it, really, but what could they expect? After forty, you're going to die. The ones my age and the children, they almost all need someone to talk to. I comfort them the best I can. They weren't ready. They'll tell you that. They're not jealous or mean or scary like you might think. Just really lonely. Everybody needs a friend."

Murray spends most of his free time in the local cemetery. It's probably because all of his friends are there. Murray speaks to the dead. Now he's hearing a new voice and doesn't know how to help. Told in many voices from many points of view, this unusual page-turner follows the lives small town residents and their connections to one dead girl.

SLJ recommends grades 8 and up.

Learn more at HCL, Amazon, and here.

Mediator: Shadowland by Meg Cabot

"They told me there'd be palm trees."

Suze isn't just your ordinary sassy New York teen giving up her city life and crossing the country to move in with her new step family in California. She also sees dead people. As if adjusting to a new family, new home, and new school isn't enough, Suze's being stalked by an angry, dead classmante. One part chick lit, one part ghost story, all part fun, fans of Meg Cabot will breeze through this spirited read.

Learn more at HCL, Amazon, and here.

Road of the Dead by Kevin Brooks

"One moment she was with me--sitting in the back of the Mercedes, looking around the yard--and then the moment suddenly cracked and I was with her, walking a storm-ravaged lane in the middle of a desolate moor. We were cold and wet and tired and scared, and the world was black and empty, and I didn't know why."

When Rueben's sister Rachel is murdered far from home, Rueben knows about it immediately. In fact, due to his psychic abilities, Rueben feels as if he had been there with her. When the police refuse to return Rachel's body to her family until the crime is solved, Rueben and his older brother Cole set off to solve the crime themselves. The more clues they uncover, the stranger the mystery gets. Kevin Brooks uses poetic language to tell his page-turning story. All of the loose ends seem to tie up a bit too quickly in the end, but the book is still well-worth the read.

SLJ recommends grades 9 and up.

Learn more at HCL, Amazon, and here.

Wabi by Joseph Burchac

"'Young one, do you hearrr meeee?'
I turned my head to listen more closely to that voice. It was a voice I had never heard before. It was...strange. I might have said it was pleasant, but somehow it made me feel uneasy. Yet is was an attractive voice, a voice that made me curious. I knew immediately that I wanted to see the one who had that voice.
'Young one, come hhhhhheeeerrre," it trilled, "into the swaaaammmp. I have something forrrr you.'"

Wabi is an owl. Or is he a human? Joseph Bruchac spins a tale of an owl who becomes a man through the magic of the seven stones and through his own battles against monsters like Mamaskwa, the Toad Woman, and Mojid, the Greedy Eater. Bruchac combines a respect for the natural world, the elements of the heroic journey, and just a dash of love with the style of a Native American storyteller to produce a story that is in turn exciting and mystical. Wabi will appeal to fantasy fans, adventure readers, and nature lovers.

SLJ recommends grades 5 to 8.

Learn more at HCL, Barnes and Noble, and here.

Beating Heart by A. M. Jenkins

"I never felt the knots
till they
unraveled

never saw the ties
till they
dropped loose

never knew that I was
clinging to debris
in someone else's wake."

In the wake of her divorce, Mom quits her job to pursue her dream of becoming a writer and moves 17-year-old Evan and his little sister Libby into her dream house. The house is old, dilapidated, and long empty. Some pricey renovation begins to return the house to a livable state, but it's original occupant is still attached to the past. Soon the lives and feelings of Evan and a long-dead Victorian ghost become intertwined. This sensual novella is written both in poetry prose.

Learn more at HCL, Barnes & Noble, and here.

SLJ recommends grades 9 & up.

Being Dead by Vivian Vande Velde

"My brother, Kevin, may or may not have come back from the dead for any one of several contradictory reasons, depending on which one of my relatives you assume is most reasonable. Personally, I wouldn't consider any of us particularly reliable."

Being Dead is a collection of nine short stories dealing with, well, being dead. All nine are ghost tales...several of them chilling, several sad, several are told from an unique point of view. Brenda's getting phone calls from a disconnected phone line. Emily's having an unearthly romance. And Marjorie won't stop dancing. Fans of spooky tales will love, love, LOVE this collection!

Learn more at HCL, Barnes and Noble, and here.

SLJ recommends grades 7 & up.

Devil's Footsteps by E. E. Richardson

"One in fire, two in blood. Three in storm and four in flood. Five in anger, six in hate. Seven fear and evil eight. Nine in sorrow, ten in pain. Eleven death, twelve life again. Thriteen steps to the Dark Man's door. Won't be turning back no more."

Five years ago Bryan's brother Adam disappeared. They'd been tempting fate while testing the local legend of the Dark Man--reciting the old rhyme while stepping down a stone path. Bryan had been too chicken to finish the rhyme. He'd turned and run from that terrifying spot in the woods. Adam was never seen again. Since then, Bryan has been tortured by nightmares. He's been coping with the overwhelming abscence of his brother. And he's noticed things. Things like the huge number of children that go missing from his town each year. And the fact that no one seems to notice. In the company of two unlikely companions, Bryan finally begins to confront his fears and his past by unraveling the horrific secret behind the Dark Man and his rhyme.

E. E. Richardson's first novel is a page-turning, heart pounding, sleeping with the lights on, devilish delight!

Learn more at HCL and Amazon.

Subjects: Supernatural, Brothers, Missing Children, Horror Stories.

(SLJ recommends grades 6-9)