YA Books and Stories Set On Halloween

Set over Halloween and into Día De Los Muertos, Thomas’s debut novel follows Yadriel, who is determined to prove himself a powerful brujo despite the gendered expectations of his traditional Latine family. He employs the help of two friends to perform a ritual that will help him find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set him free.

This was a lot of fun while also being packed with so much interesting stuff about gender, about Brujería and how gendered it is, about family, and a sweet, humorous romance. 

Hughie is excited to be volunteering this Halloween season at Harvest House, a rural attraction for horror lovers. That is, he’s excited until he learns that an actor playing the role of a vengeful “Indian maiden” will be the star of the show. It’s a local legend to the Native community, and that, paired with a series of weird happenings around Harvest House, has Hughie wondering where or how he should speak up. Does he point out the problem of such a legend — one wrapped in problems — being used to sell an attraction? And how does he do that while also investigating the strange goings on?

Harvest House is a countdown to Halloween, so not necessarily primarily set on the legendary day, but it’s worth including because of how pivotal Halloween is to the story.

Tress lost her entire family in a terrible accident seven years prior. Her family has been well-respected, but following the accident, she’s been living with her grandfather at a place locals call the “White Trash Zoo” (it is a loose, loose interpretation of a zoo).

Felicity, on the other hand, is at the top of the social ladder and has buried the truth of what happened the night Tress’s parents died. She was the other person in the car with them.

Tress wants the truth, though, and she has a plan: A Halloween party, where she can invite Felicity, prying the truth from her as she slowly encloses her in a coal chute.

…And there is a panther on the loose.

Ray’s mom and brother died in a mass killing at Malicia, an abandoned theme park in the Dominican Republic. Now Halloween weekend, Ray convinces three of his friends to join him to film a documentary at the park.

It should be a straightforward trip, but the desires of each of the four teens are different. Ray wants to understand what happened at Malicia, while Joaquin, well aware of what happened, is eager to betray Ray in order to appease what caused the mass murders. Then there’s Isabella, eager to make her own art during the trip, and Sofia, the most supportive attendee, hoping to make this a memorable trip before she leaves the group to go to school.

But then there’s a hurricane about to hit and the intentions of all the attendees are coming to light. Except none of them were prepared for the ancient evil lurking in the park to be what strikes first.

This anthology is one I keep intending to get to and will in short order. It is a collection of stories all set on Halloween, written by and featuring queer people and people of color. The stories take classic tropes and themes of horror but give ’em an update and refresh.

The contributor list is rad, too, including Alex Brown and Shelly Page, Kalynn Bayron, Ryan Douglass, Sara Farizan, Maya Gittelman, Kosoko Jackson, Em Liu, Vanessa Montalban, Ayida Shonibar, Tara Sim, Trang Thanh Tran, and Rebecca Kim Wells.

Deja and Josiah reconnect every fall when they return to the Omaha pumpkin patch where they work. Their time between September 1 and Halloween is always magical. But this year feels entirely different, as they’re both seniors and it’ll be their last year working on the patch.

Josiah wants to mope on Halloween, but Deja won’t let him. Instead, they’re spending this final Halloween shift having an all-out adventure at work.