Here are 87 books that The New Girl fans have personally recommended if you like The New Girl. Book DNA is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of The Graveyard Book

Willie E. Dalton Author Of The Girl Who Digs Graves

From my list on fiction that take place in cemeteries.

Why am I passionate about this?

Why do I love books set in cemeteries? Maybe it’s because I grew up living right next to one and still do. I spent hours as a child wandering around and even playing hide and seek among the tombstones. It’s a place where the living and dead meet, a place of mourning, memories, and peace. Cemeteries have so many superstitions and lore surrounding them. The stories written about them can be spooky, mysterious, sad, heartfelt, and any number of things, so the ideas are endless.

Willie's book list on fiction that take place in cemeteries

Willie E. Dalton Why Willie loves this book

I loved this book from the first page. There’s something both eerie and comforting about a boy raised by ghosts in a graveyard. I was enamored by the atmosphere, soft fog, ancient tombstones, and strange creatures lurking just out of sight.

Gaiman has a gift for writing stories that feel like old folktales, but are still fresh and full of heart. I didn’t want it to end because I fell in love with the idea of this unconventional “family” protecting a boy as he grows up surrounded by the dead. It’s dark, magical, and unexpectedly warm.

By Neil Gaiman , Dave McKean (illustrator) ,

Why should I read it?

19 authors picked The Graveyard Book as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 10, 11, 12, and 13.

What is this book about?

When a baby escapes a murderer intent on killing his entire family, who would have thought it would find safety and security in the local graveyard? Brought up by the resident ghosts, ghouls and spectres, Bod has an eccentric childhood learning about life from the dead. But for Bod there is also the danger of the murderer still looking for him - after all, he is the last remaining member of the family. A stunningly original novel deftly constructed over eight chapters, featuring every second year of Bod's life, from babyhood to adolescence. Will Bod survive to be a man?


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Book cover of Aggressor

Aggressor by FX Holden,

It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.

The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…

Book cover of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Bryan L. Young Author Of A Children's Illustrated History of Presidential Assassination

From my list on morbidly curious kids and their adults.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been a nerd for the morbid for as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, I tore through all the books on the shelves in my house, whether they were appropriate for my age group or not. I started tearing into Stephen King books at 8 or so. I remember vividly copying language out of Christine when I was about 10 on the playground and getting in a lot of trouble for it. But I turned out okay. I really do believe that kids have a fascination for things above their age range, and adults enjoy it, too, and I still love all of these.

Bryan's book list on morbidly curious kids and their adults

Bryan L. Young Why Bryan loves this book

This is another book that really hit me right between the eyes as a kid, and revisiting it with my kids as an adult, it’s nothing short of just creepy weirdness.

Guillermo Del Toro once said that kids' stories should be frightening, and this definitely fits the bill. The best part about it is how short the stories are, too, so I was able to break it up with my kid into a number of sittings.

By Alvin Schwartz , Brett Helquist (illustrator) ,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is a classic collection of chillingly scary tales, in which Alvin Schwartz offers up some of the most alarming tales of horror, dark revenge, and supernatural events of all time, complemented in this paperback edition by spine-tingling illustrations by renowned artist Brett Helquist. Walking corpses, dancing bones, knife-wielding madmen, and narrow escapes from death-they're all here in this chilling collection of ghost stories. Make sure you read these books with the light ON!


Book cover of Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

M.R. Fournet Author Of Brick Dust and Bones

From my list on giving kids beautiful nightmares.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a middle grade horror writer, I attribute my love of everything spooky to my early obsession with reading. Of course, my little brain was twisted already, but I found a perfect home in the monsters and ghouls of the library. These are the five books that inspired me to become a writer who scares children in the best possible way.

M.R.'s book list on giving kids beautiful nightmares

M.R. Fournet Why M.R. loves this book

Another Newberry Medal winner, this book is unlike the rest because the terror doesn’t come from the supernatural. It’s from the cruelty of mankind and scientific testing on animals.

What I love about this book, and the movie made in the “nineteen hundreds”, is it respected the readers. It told us a frightening story and trusted us to be able to process it. Like all the books on this list, the authors didn’t treat us like kids. They treated us like readers, and that’s the best thing a writer can do for their fans.

By Robert C. O'Brien , Zena Bernstein (illustrator) ,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Some extraordinary rats come to the aid of a mouse family in this Newbery Medal Award–winning classic by notable children’s author Robert C. O’Brien.

Mrs. Frisby, a widowed mouse with four small children, is faced with a terrible problem. She must move her family to their summer quarters immediately, or face almost certain death. But her youngest son, Timothy, lies ill with pneumonia and must not be moved. Fortunately, she encounters the rats of NIMH, an extraordinary breed of highly intelligent creatures, who come up with a brilliant solution to her dilemma. And Mrs. Frisby in turn renders them a…


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Book cover of Trusting Her Duke

Trusting Her Duke by Arietta Richmond,

A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.

Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…

Book cover of The Dollhouse Murders

Lindsey Duga Author Of Ghost in the Headlights

From my list on ghost stories for young readers.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a twelve-year-old, I read nothing but ghost books—not monsters, horror, or mystery, but ghosts. Though I debuted as an author in teen fantasy, a middle grade editor discovered my talent for spooky atmospheres, and I was once again drawn into the world of lost souls. In fact, when I was working on my first spooky novel, The Haunting, my editor requested the book to remind him of the works of Mary Downing Hahn—one of my favorite authors as a child. I’d found my calling. It just happened to be from beyond the grave…

Lindsey's book list on ghost stories for young readers

Lindsey Duga Why Lindsey loves this book

Imagine finding a beautiful dollhouse where its occupants reenact the night of a murder from decades ago…creepy, right? Betty Ren Wright’s The Dollhouse Murders is a unique ghost story where the ghosts communicate their tragic tale through miniature doll versions of themselves.

Its mystery and old family secrets make this book one of my all-time favorites. 

By Betty Ren Wright , Leo Nickolls (illustrator) ,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Dollhouse Murders as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

Dolls can't move by themselves. . . . Or can they?

This special anniversary edition of the hair-raising mystery that's kept readers up at night for thirty-five years features a foreword by Goosebumps creator R.L. Stine.

Amy is terrified. She hears scratching and scurrying noises coming from the dollhouse in the attic, and the dolls she was playing with are not where she left them. Dolls can't move by themselves, she tells herself. But every night when Amy goes up to check on the dollhouse, it's filled with an eerie light and the dolls have moved again! Are the dolls…


Book cover of Bad Dreams

Leilani Graceffa Author Of Caliphate Ave.

From my list on highlighting the terrifying aspects of life.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m passionate about the theme of this list because I’ve experienced a lot in life already, even though I’m only 24 years old, and I know about the different situations that these books describe well. I’ve experienced a few traumatic situations later in my life (after I read these books) that these books have, it has turned me into somewhat of a realist over time, and I like to use my own talent of writing and creating characters to create, teach, and make people aware of scary and traumatic situations that can happen to anyone in real life. I hope more people will see the valuable lessons in these books.

Leilani's book list on highlighting the terrifying aspects of life

Leilani Graceffa Why Leilani loves this book

I love this book because even though it’s fictional, it delves into phenomena that actually happen to people in real life. There is such a thing as having repeated nightmares that are linked to a real-life incident and/or person, mainly when it directly happens to someone. Still, it also happens to people who either witnessed something and/or have an item with energy attached to it.

A lot of people refuse to believe in stuff like this. It’s like having a dream of a ghost or an entity one night, just to later figure out it was the thing haunting your house or it’s something that attached itself to you.

By R.L. Stine ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Bad Dreams as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

It’s just a bad dream—but it seems so real.

Every night Maggie Travers has the same horrible dream. Every night she is forced to watch the same murder. And every night the girl in her dream cries out for help. Maggie is afraid to go to sleep again. But when the terrifying dream starts to come true and the gruesome accidents begin, staying awake is the real nightmare!


Book cover of The Girl in White

Darcy Marks Author Of Grounded for All Eternity

From my list on Halloween for middle grade readers.

Why am I passionate about this?

When I was five my dad had to carry me, crying, out of the Salem Witch’s Dungeon. You’d think that would put a damper on my love of spooky things, but it absolutely did not! Bela Lugosi was my first crush. I set up Haunted Houses in my garage and read every single book my local library had on the Salem Witch Trials. I made my way from Bunnicula and The Halloween Tree, to books by Stephen King and Anne Rice. Halloween and horror will always have a special place in my heart, and yet…I still don’t let my legs dangle off my bed, lest the monsters get me.

Darcy's book list on Halloween for middle grade readers

Darcy Marks Why Darcy loves this book

Eastport is the most cursed city in the US and the residents are darn proud of it!

Unfortunately, Mallory hasn’t quite adapted to her new home and finds her parents’ spooky stories to their restaurant customers and the constant Halloween in the town embarrassing. None of this stuff is real, after all! But when Mallory sees the girl in white, things start happening that she can’t explain. Worse yet, she’s doing things she can’t explain. Dangerous things.

I loved this new take on the Lady in White urban legend, and as a huge fan of towns like Salem, where the Halloween vibe is year-round, I loved visiting Eastport, even if Mallory’s not a fan. This one has some truly scary scenes, but the story itself has a base that any kid will relate to, the struggle of fitting in.

By Lindsay Currie ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Girl in White as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

For fans of Small Spaces and the Goosebumps series by R.L Stine comes a chilling story about a twelve-year old girl who must face down the most notorious ghost in her haunted East coast town to stop a centuries-old curse that threatens to destroy everything.

Mallory hasn't quite adapted to life in her new town of Eastport yet. Maybe it's because everyone is obsessed with keeping the town's reputation as the most cursed town in the US.

And thanks to the nightmares she's had since arriving, Mallory hardly sleeps. Combined with the unsettling sensation of being watched, she's quickly becoming…


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Book cover of The Duke's Christmas Redemption

The Duke's Christmas Redemption by Arietta Richmond,

A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.

Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…

Book cover of The Ghost Stories of M. R. James

Susan Price Author Of Hauntings

From my list on ghost stories to make you leap out of your skin at an unexpected noise.

Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up listening to my family’s "true" ghost stories, each creepy tale ending with a declaration that "there are no such things as ghosts." As a teenager, I devoured books of folklore, with all their tales of ghosts, witches, and long-legetty beasties: and also many books about paranormal research. As an adult, I’m a complete unbeliever but still very fond of both reading and writing ghost stories!

Susan's book list on ghost stories to make you leap out of your skin at an unexpected noise

Susan Price Why Susan loves this book

I once made the mistake of reading several of James’ ghost stories, one after another, while alone in the house.

I was making a cup of coffee when something started scratching stealthily at the inside of a cupboard door. I had to lower myself from the ceiling before I discovered that some scrunched carrier bags hung inside the cupboard had unscrunched, causing the ghostly scratching. But that’s why I love James’ ghost stories.

Warning: Never read more than one a day.

By M.R. James , Roger Luckhurst (editor) ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Ghost Stories of M. R. James as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The second in a series of republished classic literature, The Ghost Stories of M. R. James collects the tales that best illustrate his quiet mastery of the ghost story form. Running through each of these stories is a slowly escalating sense of unease and dread, which ultimately shifts into the wildly uncanny. James' characters exist in a world of ancient objects whose atrocious histories begin to repeat when they are disturbed, and the blinkered repression common to James' narratives only amplifies the shock of the spectral appearance.


Book cover of The Spirit World Unmasked

Marc Hartzman Author Of Chasing Ghosts: A Tour of Our Fascination with Spirits and the Supernatural

From my list on ghosts written by people who might now be ghosts.

Why am I passionate about this?

Though I’ve always found the idea of survival after death fascinating, it was my interest in Modern Spiritualism that really sparked the desire to write Chasing Ghosts. That era (mid-1800s to the early 1900s) was a time when millions confidently believed they could communicate with the dead. Of course, this was only the tip of the paranormal iceberg. So I continued the journey into the lore of haunted places, ancient cultural beliefs, and scientific endeavors to find evidence for paranormal experiences or to debunk it. As a historian of the weirder pages of the past, this topic endlessly fascinates me. I hope it will for you as well. 

Marc's book list on ghosts written by people who might now be ghosts

Marc Hartzman Why Marc loves this book

Like Spirit Slate Writing and Kindred Phenomena, this 1897 book exposes the various ways that Spiritualist mediums manifest ghosts. Henry Ridgely Evans was a magician and historian who took on the Spiritualist movement, much like Harry Houdini would in the decades that followed. Filled with wondrous stories, secrets, and illustrations, this book is a must for any fan of Spiritualism and/or magic.

By Henry Ridgely Evans ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Spirit World Unmasked as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Spirit World Unmasked is an unchanged, high-quality reprint of the original edition of 1897. Hansebooks is editor of the literature on different topic areas such as research and science, travel and expeditions, cooking and nutrition, medicine, and other genres.As a publisher we focus on the preservation of historical literature.Many works of historical writers and scientists are available today as antiques only. Hansebooks newly publishes these books and contributes to the preservation of literature which has become rare and historical knowledge for the future.


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Book cover of Old Man Country

Old Man Country by Thomas R. Cole,

This book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom as he narrates encounters with 12 distinguished American men over 80, including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the world’s most famous heart surgeon.

In these and other intimate conversations, the book…

Book cover of The First Ghosts

Paul Pettitt Author Of Homo Sapiens Rediscovered: The Scientific Revolution Rewriting Our Origins

From my list on understanding the evolution of the human mind.

Why am I passionate about this?

I went to university wanting to become a Roman specialist, but ended up going backwards in time until I landed with a bump on the hard flints of the Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age). I research aspects of the behaviour of the Pleistocene (Ice Age) indigenous Europeans – the Neanderthals – and the origins and evolution of our own species, Homo sapiens. I undertake fieldwork across Europe, and I’m particularly interested in the origins and early development of art – both on portable objects and cave walls – and the long-term evolution of our treatment of the dead. My scientific love is how we can try to get inside the mind of our most remote ancestors.

Paul's book list on understanding the evolution of the human mind

Paul Pettitt Why Paul loves this book

As a specialist in the funerary practices of our earliest ancestors, I avidly awaited the publication of Finkel’s latest, this time deploying his considerable scholarship to the question of how Sumerians, Assyrians, and Babylonians thought of ghosts, spirits, demons, and the underworld.

You don’t need to be a believer to enjoy this intimate picture of the minds of some of the earliest known urbanites and intellectuals at a time when history was just emerging. Out of the fired clay leap stories of underworld journeys such as that of Gilgamesh, of spirits that rise up from below, of exorcisms, omens, and the shadows that lurk in the corners of the house.

To me, this is the most profound statement on early humans at their most imaginative, and if you believe it a useful manual for the prospective ghost hunter.

By Irving Finkel ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The First Ghosts as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'It's enthralling stuff, mixing the scholarly with the accessible and placing storytelling right at the heart of the human experience.' - History Revealed

'A fascinating journey' - Yorkshire Post

'The book is a delight to read: each chapter is as academically astute as you would expect from this author, but delivered with a light touch and entertaining writing-style that sweeps the reader through the pages.' - Archaeology Worldwide

In The First Ghosts, he has found the perfect medium for bringing the ancient Mesopotamians back from the dead... Despite the morbid theme and remote cultural milieu, this is not a sombre…


Book cover of The Graveyard Book
Book cover of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
Book cover of Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

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Interested in ghosts, presidential biography, and ghost story?

Ghosts 275 books
Ghost Story 186 books