The Living Dead

Armstrong, Kelley. The Summoning. 2008. (YA Fiction Armst.K)

After fifteen-year-old Chloe starts seeing ghosts and is sent to Lyle House, a mysterious group home for mentally disturbed teenagers, she soon discovers that neither Lyle House nor its inhabitants are exactly what they seem, and that she and her new friends are in danger.

Brooks, Kevin.The Road of the Dead. 2006. (YA Fiction Brook.K)

Two brothers, sons of an incarcerated gypsy, leave London traveling to an isolated and desolate village, in search of the brutal killer of their sister.

Caine, Rachel. Glass Houses. 2006. (YA Fiction Caine.R)

In Morganville, Texas, a town where evil terrorizes the streets under the cover of darkness, Claire Danvers, who has had enough of her current dorm situation, moves off campus and discovers that her new roommates are vampires.

De la Cruz, Melissa. Blue Bloods. 2006. (YA Fiction Delac.M)

Select teenagers from some of New York City's wealthiest and most socially prominent families learn a startling secret about their bloodlines.

Gaiman, Neil.The Graveyard Book. 2008. (YA Fiction Gaima.N)

Nobody Owens is a normal boy, except that he has been raised by ghosts and other denizens of the graveyard.

Grahame-Smith, Seth. Pride And Prejudice And Zombies : The Classic Regency Romance -- Now With Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem. 2009. (YA Fiction Graha.S)

A mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton--and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she's soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy.

Harrison, Kim. Once Dead, Twice Shy : A Novel. 2009. (YA Fiction Harri.K)

Spunky teen Madison, though technically dead, uses a stolen amulet to retain the illusion of a body and help her in the struggle between light and dark reapers.

Hegamin, Tonya & Marilyn Nelson. Pemba's Song : A Ghost Story. 2008. (YA Fiction Hegam.T)

As fifteen-year-old Pemba adjusts to leaving her Brooklyn, New York, home for small-town Connecticut, a Black history researcher helps her understand the paranormal experiences drawing her into the life of a girl who was once a slave in her house.

Hooper, Mary. Newes From the Dead. 2008. (YA Fiction Hoope.M)

In 1650, while Robert, a young medical student, steels himself to assist with her dissection, twenty-two-year-old housemaid Anne Green recalls her life as she lies in her coffin, presumed dead after being hanged for murdering her child that was, in fact, stillborn.

Hurley, Tonya. Ghostgirl. 2008. (YA Fiction Hurle.T)

After dying, high school senior Charlotte Usher is as invisible to nearly everyone as she always felt, but despite what she learns in a sort of alternative high school for dead teens, she clings to life while seeking a way to go to the Fall Ball with the boy of her dreams.

James, Brian. Zombie Blondes. 2008. (YA Fiction James.B)

Each time fifteen-year-old Hannah and her out-of-work father move she has some fears about making friends, but a classmate warns her that in Maplecrest, Vermont, the cheerleaders really are monsters.

Judal. Vampire Game. 2003. (YA 741.5952 Judal)

Killed a century ago, the reincarnated vampire king Duzell must find the reincarnation of his nemesis, King Phelios, in order to have his revenge, and he may have an unwitting ally in Princess Ishtar, a descendant of Phelios.

Leavitt, Martine. Keturah and Lord Death. 2006. (YA Science Fiction Leavi.M & YA CD Fiction Leavi.M)

When Lord Death comes to claim sixteen-year-old Keturah while she is lost in the King's Forest, she charms him with her story and is granted a twenty-four hour reprieve in which to seek her one true love.

Meyer, Stephenie. Twilight. 2005. (YA Fiction Meyer.S & YA CD Fiction Meyer.S & eAudiobook)

When seventeen-year-old Bella leaves Phoenix to live with her father in Forks, Washington, she meets an exquisitely handsome boy at school for whom she feels an overwhelming attraction and who she comes to realize is not wholly human.

Ness, Patrick. The Knife Of Never Letting Go. 2008. (YA Fiction Ness.P)

In a world where women are dead and the thoughts of men and animals can be heard as Noise, human company is downright exhausting. Todd Hewitt and his dog notice a silence in the Noise, a discovery which he has to keep a secret and which forces him to run for his life.

Noyes, Deborah. The Ghosts Of Kerfol. 2008. (YA Fiction Noyes.D)

Over the centuries, the inhabitants of author Edith Wharton's fictional mansion, Kerfol, are haunted by the ghosts of dead dogs, fractured relationships, and the bitter taste of revenge.

Ohba, Tsugumi. Death Note. 2003. (YA 741.5952 Ohba.T)

When high school student Light Yagami finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a Shinigami death god, he discovers that any person whose name is written in it dies, so Light decides to use the notebook to rid the world of evil.

Perez, Marlene. Dead Is The New Black. 2008. (YA Fiction Perez.M)

While dealing with her first boyfriend and suddenly being pressed into service as a substitute cheerleader, seventeen-year-old Daisy Giordano, daughter and sister of psychics but herself a "normal," attempts to help her mother discover who is behind a series of bizarre attacks on teenage girls in their little town of Nightshade, California.

Price, Charlie. Dead Connection. 2006. (YA Fiction Price.C)

A loner who communes with the dead in the town cemetery hears the voice of a murdered cheerleader and tries to convince the adults that he knows what happened to her.

Richardson, E. E.. Devil's Footsteps. 2005. (YA Fiction Richa.E)

After the disappearance of his brother Adam, thirteen-year-old Bryan faces a shadowy, centuries-old evil presence known as the Dark Man that, taking the form of its victims' worst fears, stalks the town's children.

Roman, Dave. Agnes Quill : An Anthology Of Mystery. 2006. (YA 741.5973 Roman.D)

Gutsy young detective Agnes solves four cases, tussling with zombies and poltergeists along the way, in this graphic novel that features accomplished artwork in varying styles.

Ryan, Carrie. The Forest Of Hands And Teeth. 2009. (YA Fiction Ryan.C)

Through twists and turns of fate, orphaned Mary seeks knowledge of life, love, and especially what lies beyond her walled village and the surrounding forest, where dwell the unconsecrated, aggressive flesh-eating people who were once dead.

Sebold, Alice. The Lovely Bones. 2002. (YA Fiction Sebol.A & Fiction Sebol.A)

Looking down from heaven, 14-year-old Susie Salmon recounts her rape and murder and watches her family as they cope with their grief and "the lovely bones" growing around her absence.

Shusterman, Neal. Everlost. 2006. (YA Fiction Shust.N)

When Nick and Allie are killed in a car crash, they end up in Everlost, or limbo for lost souls, where although Nick is satisfied, Allie will stop at nothing--even skinjacking--to break free.

Soto, Gary. The Afterlife. 2003. (YA Fiction Soto.G)

A senior at East Fresno High School lives on as a ghost after his brutal murder in the restroom of a club where he had gone to dance.

St. Crow, Lili. Strange Angels. 2009. (YA Fiction Stcro.L)

Sixteen-year-old Dru's psychic abilities helped her father battle zombies and other creatures of the "Real World," but now she must rely on herself, a "werwulf"-bitten friend, and a half-human vampire hunter to learn who murdered her parents, and why.

Stolarz, Laurie. White is for Magic. 2004. (YA Fiction Stola.L)

Sixteen-year-old hereditary witch Stacey Brown is having nightmares that predict death again, but this time the murderous stalker is after her.

Valentine, Jenny. Me, The Missing, And The Dead. 2007. (YA Fiction Valen.J)

When a series of chance events leaves him in possession of an urn with ashes, sixteen-year-old Londoner, Lucas Swain, becomes convinced that its occupant, Violet Park, is communicating with him, initiating a voyage of self-discovery that forces him to finally confront the events surrounding his father's sudden disappearance.

Wahl, Mats. The Invisible. 2007. (YA Fiction Wahl.M)

A Swedish teenager is assaulted and killed, but returns as a ghost to find his killer.

Waters, Dan. Generation Dead. 2008. (YA Fiction Water.D)

When dead teenagers who have come back to life start showing up at her high school, Phoebe, a goth girl, becomes interested in the phenomenon, and when she starts dating a "living impaired" boy, they encounter prejudice, fear, and hatred.

Whitcomb, Laura. A Certain Slant of Light. 2005. (YA Fiction Whitc.L & YA CD Fiction Whitc.L)

After benignly haunting a series of people for 130 years, Helen meets a teenage boy who can see her and together they unlock the mysteries of their pasts.

Yoshida, Sunao. Trinity Blood. 2006. (YA 741.5952 Yoshi.S)

In a post-apocalyptic world of constant war between humans and vampires, many desire a peaceful co-existence between the two species, but standing between them is a group of vampire extremists who manipulate the two sides and pit them against each other.

Zevin, Gabrielle. Elsewhere. 2005. (YA Fiction Zevin.G & YA CD Fiction Zevin.G)

After fifteen-year-old Liz Hall is hit by a taxi and killed, she finds herself in a place that is both like and unlike Earth, where she must adjust to her new status and figure out how to "live."

Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief. 2006. (YA Fiction Zusak.M & YA CD Fiction Zusak.M)

Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel--a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors.

Compiled by Christie Chandler-Stahl

Young Adult Services

Updated: November, 2009