Scary can mean many things!

Growing up (and perhaps still!), I was afraid of anything imaginary. "Real" problems? Less so. Here's what I think might be scary, or at least spooky and disturbing:

Riggs, Ransom. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. (2013). Philadelphia, PA: Quirk Books.

The cover alone tells you this is going to be a creepy book: a girl in historic garb, levitating off the ground, an expression of serenity on her face. This has been on my TBR list for years, but I haven't yet gotten past the first couple of chapters, intriguing as they are. A teen describes his grandfather's tall tales about odd children he knew when he was a child himself. Or are they tall tales? Zoltar says no.

Dashner, James. The Maze Runner. (2009). New York, NY: Delacorte Press.

This one's a little bit of a cheat. I haven't read it, but I saw this last year when it came out as a movie, not realizing it was a book. I included it because it has (for me) some strong elements of fear. The story is set in an mysterious enclosed glade, into which a bunch of boys have been sent from an elevator shaft. None of them have any memories but their names. To escape their pastoral prison, they have to find their way through an ever-changing maze, but no one has ever lived through an escape attempt. The Grievers, cyborg creatures that inhabit the maze, come out at night and consume anyone remaining in the maze. I won't spoil the ending, but it is dystopian, and disturbing.

Poblacki, Dan. The Ghost of Graylock. (2012). New York, NY: Scholastic Press.

Ugh. There is a reason I never pick up Dan Poblacki's books. The covers alone are enough to freeze my blood. This one is about a kid named Neil who is new to town, and cannot resist exploring the ruins of a mental health hospital. It's a classic setup for a horror novel, and one that's been done to death--no pun intended. While the book received very positive reviews, and the writing in the first chapter is solid, this won't be making it onto my reading list.