I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and pay respect to elders past and present. I would also like to recognise the importance of story and culture to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the way that they nurtured and taught their children with story passed from generation to generation.

Our thanks to those who were able to join us for our SLAV online Book Club on Thursday October 23rd, 2025, to discuss the topic: After Dark - Horror/Thrillers/Spooky

Thanks to Mia from The Sun Bookshop for her list of books on this topic, including new and upcoming releases.

Our next Online Book Club meeting is on Thursday December 3rd and the topic of conversation is 'Literary Fiction' with special guest Sandy Bigna, author of Little Bones.

Disclaimer: The lists generated as a result of Book Club discussions are not, by any means, an exhaustive list of all titles or authors for each genre/category discussed. Nor will all titles be suitable for all libraries. We advise staff discretion when referencing these lists, to properly confirm individual title suitability for individual libraries, school and student’s needs. These are suggested titles only, shared by our members and inclusion on, or exclusion from, a list does not suggest SLAV endorsement or rejection of a title.

Picture Books

Creepy Sheepy by Lucy Ruth Cummins

The house on Pleasant Street by Sofie Laguna & Marc McBride

Too scared to sleep by Shaun Micallfe

Pig the monster by Aaron Blabey

Wild about Halloween by Sarah Speedie

Middle Grade Books

The Goosebumps series by R. L. Stine

Colaline by Neil Gaiman

 A monster calls Patrick Ness

The ghost locket by Allison Rushby

Zombie season by Justin Weinberger

The stars did wander darkling by Colin Meloy

No Place for Monsters series by Kory Merritt

Read at your own risk by Remi Lai

The glow by Sofie Laguna & Marc McBride

The Horror Heights series by Bec Hill

The Zom-B series by Darren Shan

Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories by Jess Kinney

The Ghoulia series by Barbara Cantini

Fear Files : Hide & Seek by Christopher Edge

Spooked : The theatre ghosts by Stephen Butler

Gloam series by Jack Mackay

Run by Sarah Armstrong

Campfire stories by Kelly Anne McLellan

Little bones by Sandy Bigna

Hush a bye by Jody Lee Mott

Hide & seeker by Daka Hermon

Marianne dreams by Catherine Storr

Small spaces by Katherine Arden

Magrit by Lee Battersby

The Twits by Roald Dahl

YA Books

Highway bodies by Alison Evans

Hometown haunts : #loveozya Horror tales edited by Poppy Nwosu

When ghosts call us home by Katya de Becerra

They watch from below by Katya de Becerra

What the woods keep by Katya de Becerra

Oasis by Katya de Becerra

None shall sleep series by Ellie Marney

Pride & Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith

Stephen King books

Archives of Despair by Caleb Finn

Horror in Pleasantville : Welcome to the neighbourhood by Caleb Finn

The Fear Street series by R. L. Stine

The Enemy series by Charlie Higson

Five nights at Freddie’s series by Scott Crawthon

House of Hollow Krystal Sutherland

The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland

Sunny at the end of the world by Steph Bowe

The Lockwood & Co series by Jonathan Stroud

The Passage series by Cronin

The dead girls of Hysteria Hall by Katie Alender

The whispering dark by Kelly Andrew

The Honeys by Ryan La Sala

Borderland by Graham Akhurst

The Red Eye series by Alex Bell

Anna dressed in blood series by Kendare Blake

Wicked little deeds by Kat Ellis

The devouring light by Kat Ellis

Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis

Wilder girls by Rory Power

Channel fear by Lisa Richardson

Tales of terror from the Tunnel’s mouth by Chris Priestley

Slasher girls & monster boys stories selected by April Genevieve Tucholke

The spider and her demons by Sydney Khoo

Small spaces by Sarah Epstein

If you tell anyone you’re next by Jack Heath

What we all saw by Mike Lucas

Unholy terrors by Lyndall Clipstone

The stone road by Trent Jamieson

Slender man 

Danger Road by A. L. Tait

Don’t let the forest in by C. G. Drews

Oxford blood by Rachael Davis Featherstone (dark academia)

What have they done to Liza McLean? by Amy Doak (dark academia)

Family of liars by e. lockhart

The thrashers by Julie Soto

Unhallow Halls Lili Wilkinson

Not quite dead yet by Holly Jackson (older YA)

The Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness

The call by Peadar O’Guillin

Don’t turn out the lights by Jonathan Maberry

Anthony Horowitz books

Lovecraft country by Matt Ruff (older readers)

Graphic Novels

Ghost Book by Remi Lai

Garlic & the witch by Bree Paulsen

Garlic & the vampire by Bree Paulsen

The night librarian by Christopher Lincoln

The Old Willis Place by Mary Downing Hahn

The Unexplained : UFO’s by Adam Allsuch Boardman

Gothic Horror Books

Dracula by Bram Stocker

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Withering heights by Emily Bronte

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe

Castle of Othanto by Hugh Walpole 

General New Releases from Mia

Picture Books

The Peach King by Inga Simpson

Mullets by Nick Sharratt

Dear Broccoli by Jo Dabrowski

The thing about Christmas by Jo Dabrowski

To activate space portal lift here by Antoinette Portis

Dropbear by Philip bunting

Non-Fiction

Everything under the sun : a question for every day of the year by Molly Oldfield

Our wonderous planet by Amandine Thomas

Weirdosaurous by Phiip Bunting

Encyclopaedia of fast and slow animals by Sami Bayly

When dinosaurs roamed Australia by Sarah Jane Lightfoot

There’s a Prawn in Parliament House : the kids’ guide to Australia’s amazing democracy  by Annabel Crabb

Minecraft atlas of the world

Middle Grade

Mega rich guinea pigs by Kate and Jol Temple

The Experiment by Rebecca Stead

Impossible Creatures : The Poisoned King by Katherine Randell

The Wonderous Tale of Lavender Wolfe by Karen Foxlee

YA

The Book of Dust : The Rose Field by Philip Pullman

Fake Skating by Lynn Painter

Graphic Novels

Monkey King and the world of myths by Maple Lam