The Horror Writers Association (HWA), in partnership with Booklist, Book Riot, iREAD, and NoveList®, a division of EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO), is pleased to announce the eighth annual Summer Scares reading list. Selected by a panel of authors and library professionals, the list is designed to promote horror as an engaging and meaningful reading option for readers of all ages, at any time of year.
The 2026 Summer Scares selections are:
Adult Selections
“A Botanical Daughter,” by Noah Medlock (Titan, 2024)
“Never Whistle at Night,” edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst (Vintage, 2023)
“Maeve Fly,” by CJ Leede (Tor Nightfire, 2023)
Young Adult Selections
“What We Harvest,” by Ann Fraistat (Delacorte Press, 2022)
“Gorgeous Gruesome Faces,” by Linda Cheng (Roaring Brook Press, 2023)
“Our Shadows Have Claws,” edited by Yamile Saied Méndez and Amparo Ortiz (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2022)
Middle Grade Selections
“Garlic and the Vampire,” by Bree Paulsen (Harper, 2021)
“It Came from the Trees,” by Ally Russell (Delacorte Press, 2023)
“This Appearing House,” by Ally Malinenko (Harper, 2022)
This book recommendation comes from Melinda Cahill, who writes our Intuitive Reading column each month. She recommends Easy Crafts for the Insane, a memoir by Kelly Williams Brown, because it's written with a lot of humor. It describes how the author discovered that crafting could help her overcome depression. Look for it at your local library or online at Easy Crafts for the Insane: A Mostly Funny Memoir of Mental Illness and Making Things: Brown, Kelly Williams: 9780593187784: Amazon.com: Books
