Coraline
by Neil Gaiman

Coraline, not Caroline, and her busy parents have just moved into a new apartment. It is part of a very large, old house, and in their apartment is a mysterious locked door. When Coraline asks her mother about it, her mother unlocks the door to show Coraline that it leads nowhere. The doorway was bricked up when they turned the house into several apartments. But something about the door attracts Coraline, and she wants to explore the empty apartment next door. And then one evening that door, the one that is always locked and opens onto a brick wall, is open and looks through a hallway to another apartment. Coraline cannot resist. She discovers that the apartment at the other end of the hallway is exactly like her own. She even sees her mother standing in the kitchen making a nice dinner, which is strange since her mother never cooks. And then this "other mother" turns around to ask Coraline to come to dinner, and Coraline sees that her "other mother's" eyes are black buttons. Coraline is nervous about this "other mother" and the strangely similar world to her own, so she returns to her own apartment just to discover that her parents are gone. With the help of a talking cat, her own dreams, and comments from some of the neighbors, Coraline works save her real parents from being held prisoner by her "other parents."

Night of the Bat
by Paul Zindel

I am NOT recommending this book to everyone. If you are at all weak of stomach, or freaked out by horror movies, this is NOT the book for you. But if you think you can handle it, this is THE grossest, most disgusting book I have read all year.

Jake travels to the Amazon to meet up with his father, a bat biologist and his expedition. It is clear from the beginning that his father did not want Jake to come and does not want him to stay. Why? Well, it is partly because Indian workmen are disappearing from the expedition. While Jake is temporarily allowed to stay at the camp, it is on his first climb up the rope bridges and suspended walkways that he discovers the mutilated bodies of the missing workmen and also triggers an attack by a winged beast four times the size of a man with saber-like fangs. Nobody thinks about what will happen though when the beast returns or what it will want with the rest of the expedition. Only Jake can figure a way for the rest of the expedition to escape, leaving him alone with the terrible winged creature.

Rats
by Paul Zindel

Sarah had been terrified of rats when her family had moved to Springville Gardens on the very edge of the last open garbage dump in New York. But then her father sat down with her and explained all about the history of rats. He told her that rats do not usually attack humans unless they have no other options. Sarah even got a baby white rat as a pet; she named him Surfer. She no longer feared rats.

But then the dump closed down. It was covered over by cement with just a few vents left in the cement to let the gases from the dump escape. But those vents quickly became escape routes for the rats who lived inside the dump. Remember that when rats are cornered they will attack humans, and that is exactly what happened when their environment was shut down. Rats, in swimming pools, in toilets, in sinks, even in a baby's crib, attacking anyone they came in contact with. Can Sarah figure out how to kill the never-ending stream of rats leaving the dump before it is too late?

Sorcerers of the Nightwing
by Geoffrey Huntington

On his deathbed, Devon's father confesses that Devon is adopted, and that he must seek his true identity. His father has made provisions for Devon to move to Misery Point and live under the guardianship of Mrs. Amanda Muir Crandall. Everyone who lives in Misery Point, from Mrs. Crandall to her daughter Cecily to all of the townspeople, admit that Ravenscliff, the house in which Devon now lives, is haunted. But they assure Devon that the ghosts are not harmful. However, Devon's arrival seems to have stirred things up. Demons are now attacking Devon, and they are quite dangerous. He also has to contend with a strange, precocious, eight-year-old boy who is the link to the most fearful demon of all-the Madman, who want to unleash the creatures of the Hellhole for his own evil plans.
Devon learns that he is a Sorcerer of the Order of the Nightwing, an order that uses mysticism and magic to guard Hellholes and defend against the evil spirits of the world. Devon also discovers that Ravenscliff is built over one of the largest Hellholes in the world. But even Mrs. Crandall cannot deny everything that is happening, and Devon finds himself thrust into his new role as a Sorcerer of the Nightwing, fighting off the demons with little more knowledge than what his father always told him about Devon being stronger than the demons are.

Witch Child
by Celia Rees

"She was locked in the keep for more than a week.
First they walked her, marching her up and down, up and down between them, for a day and a night until she could no longer hobble,
her feet all bloody and swollen. But she would not confess. So they set about to prove she was a witch . . ."

Set in 1659, this is the diary of Mary Newbury, a 14-year-old girl with powers of healing who-after seeing her grandmother hung as a witch in England-flees to America. The manuscript comes from a remarkable collection of documents termed "the Mary papers." They were found hidden inside a newly discovered and extremely rare quilt from the colonial period and seem to take the form of an irregularly kept journal or diary. All of the dates are guesswork, based on the references within the text. And after reading the story, if you have any information regarding any of the individuals or families mentioned, please contact Alison Ellman. (The contact information is at the end of the book.)

Jade Green: A Ghost Story
by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Judith Sparrow, a teenage girl, who has just been orphaned, is offered a home with an eccentric uncle. Why is he considered eccentric? The solicitor told her that there was a certain condition to living in her uncle's house. She could bring along whatever she liked except anything of the color green. This is strictly forbidden. But Judith discovers the reason for this bizarre stipulation when she expressly disobeys it and brings a photograph of her mother in a green silk frame into her uncle's house.