2025 Middle Grade Bram Stoker Award Preliminary Ballot: Full Reviews & Ratings

The best Middle Grade horror doesn’t just scare kids. It helps them process real pain.

The Middle Grade Bram Stoker Award category remains young. The Horror Writers Association launched it only recently. But the preliminary ballot for 2025 already shows an impressive range.

Young Blood has been rating and ranking the Preliminary Ballot of the YA category of the Bram Stoker Award since 2017 and the Middle Grade since 2024. Superb books often get cut after the first stage, so I prefer to review the complete list, even if the Final Ballot has already been announced. 

Each year, superb books get eliminated before the Final Ballot. That makes the first stage worth a close look. Here we review every title on the Middle Grade preliminary list. From verse novels to ghost scouts to haunted amusement parks, this batch delivers real variety.

Meg Eden Kuyatt’s The Girl in the Walls leads the pack. A neurodivergent protagonist. A summer with a strict grandmother. Noises inside the walls. The story unfolds in loose verse, a rarity for horror at any age level. Ally Malinenko’s Broken Dolls balances genuine scares with a child’s OCD and grief. Carey Blankenship-Kramer’s Ghost Scout’s Honor mixes tween friendship drama with a wonderfully drawn supernatural Savannah.

If you missed our recent review of the YA category Final Ballot click HERE. 

Superior Achievement in a Middle Grade Novel

Meg Eden Kuyatt – The Girl in the Walls – 9/10 (FINAL BALLOT)

Carey Blankenship-Kramer – Ghost Scout’s Honor 8.5/10

Ally Malinenko – Broken Dolls 8.5/10 (FINAL BALLOT)

Mary Averling – The Ghosts of Bitterfly Bay 8/10

Ally Russell – Mystery James Digs Her Own Grave – 7.5/10 (FINAL BALLOT)

Delilah S. Dawson – Ride or Die – 7/10 (FINAL BALLOT)

J.W. Ocker – Welcome to the Ghost Show 6.5/10

Ellen Oh – The House Next Door 6/10 (FINAL BALLOT)

Michaelbrent Collings – Grimmworld 2: The Big Bad Wolf 6/10

Colm Field – Uncle Zeedie – 5/10

Congratulations to the Stoker committee, who have compiled a thoughtful and wide range of books that have plenty of variety and a few spooky Middle Grade scares. 

The strongest books on the list were those which combined both scares with characters who had either personal or emotional problems to deal with. A notable omission, slightly peculiar because it was written by a very well-known adult writer, is Paul Tremblay’s Another, which I would recommend instead of the lower-ranked books here, as it was a real cracker, which I have enjoyed featuring on one of my own internal school reading challenges. 

2025 Middle Grade Bram Stoker Award Preliminary Ballot: Full Reviews & Ratings

– 9/10

Verse novels are exceptional rare in horror, no matter the age group, so The Girl in the Walls is an outstanding distraction and thoroughly enjoyable. ‘V’ is sent to live with her grandmother JoJo for the summer, who she finds strict and uptight. V is also neurodivergent, which is misunderstood by her grandmother, also having problems of her own after a tough year at school. 

Things kick off quickly when V begins to hear noises from within the house walls and soon meets an unsettling girl. The punchy story moves along quickly, and whilst never truly scary is more about family secrets, old tension and unresolved drama crossing three generations. Having the narrative unfold through loose verse is outstanding, hurtling towards a rewarding perfect Middle Grade happy ending where everybody learns something about each other. AGE RANGE 9/10+ 

Ally Malinenko – Broken Dolls – 8.5/10

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scholastic Press

Publication date ‏ : ‎ 20 May 2025

Broken Dolls has the perfect balance of a spooky story to get youngsters jumping, nicely balanced with a believable tale of a little girl with tough personal problems connected to grieving the death of her grandfather, developing OCD type counting issues (arithmomania) which prevent her from articulating her feelings. After visiting a summer fair Kaye’s younger sister Holly starts collecting very realistic dolls, but where do they come from and why do they look so lifelike? 

This story presses all the right chill buttons, with Kaye realising there is something dodgy about them, but unable to say why because of her speech problems. It is fantastic to see horror being used in clever ways to explore mental health issues in such a sensitive manner at Middle Grade level, also integrating Kaye’s discussions with her therapist into the story. These dolls even creeped me out!

AGE RANGE 9/10+

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scholastic Press

Publication date ‏ : ‎ 20 May 2025

Carey Blankenship-Kramer – Ghost Scout’s Honor – 8.5/10

There is a huge amount going on in the wildly enjoyable Ghost Scout’s Honor, set in a version of Savannah where most children can see ghosts, something they grow out of as they reach adulthood. The story revolves around Evey who longs to win a ‘Pupil of the Year’ school award and is told that for this to be possible she must become a Ghost Scout, the problem is the Ghost Scout programme is managed by her former best friend Laura. 

Very insecure, but determined to do well, Evey struggles as a Ghost Scout and after early mishaps gets involved in tracking a ghost which is incredibly  dangerous. Loaded with secrets, in the background the big question lurks; why did Laura dump Evie as a friend? Ghost Scout’s Honoris a smart mix of tween friendship problems, a determined little girl, family secrets and a very well-drawn supernatural world. In a terrific ending, you’ll be cheering the kids on (Laura too) where things play out beautifully.

AGE RANGE 9/10+

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scholastic Press

Publication date ‏ : ‎ 1 April 2025

Mary Averling – The Ghosts of Bitterly Bay – 8/10

Mary Averling can count herself incredibly unlucky to be eliminated at the Preliminary Ballot stage two years in a row. I was so struck by last year’s The Curse of Eelgrass Bog I bought multiple copies for my school library and feature it on one of our big annual reading challenges. The Ghosts of Bitterfly Bay hits many of the same notes in which a ghost must team up with the living girl she’s been haunting in order to defeat a monster from her nightmares and save her little brother. 

Maude is a twelve-year-old who haunts a holiday home along with her best friend Kit and brother Scratch, the three are content and enjoy their haunting routines until the spooky Longfingers appears and the story moves up a notch. Featuring beautifully pitched levels of grief, anger, and fear which are portrayed with such care and compassion you will be totally rooting for Maude to face her personal demons.  Maude is such a fully fleshed out main character and the revelations of her personal hardships, becoming a ghost, are incredibly moving, leading to a hugely satisfying ending.

AGE RANGE 9/10+  

Publisher ‏ : ‎ G.P.Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers’

Publication date ‏ : ‎ 4 Feb. 2025

Ally Russell – Mystery James Digs Her Own Grave – 7.5/10

Mystery James Digs Her Own Grave is a fun easy read blend of horror, thriller and family drama. The main character is a thirteen-year-old girl who longs to know who her birth mother was, whilst she lives with her aunt in a funeral home, helping her with the day-to-day business.  Mystery is an engaging lead teen protagonist, full of complicated emotions and impulses, and is a treat to read as she staggers from one mishap to another disaster. 

Mystery also has clairvoyant ability to smell when ghosts are present which is key to the fast moving tale. The story revolves around a necklace being stolen from a corpse of a powerful client and a threat to close the funeral home. Taking in ghosts, ghouls, sleep paralysis monsters, vampires and the search for identity there is significant fun to be had. 

AGE RANGE 9/10+

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Delacorte Press

Publication date ‏ : ‎ 16 Sept. 2025

Delilah S. Dawson – Ride or Die – 7/10

Delilah Dawson writes for multiple age groups and I have read some of her other Middle Grade horrors including Mine (2021) and Camp Scare (2022) with her latest Ride or Die being aimed at the older end of the Middle Grade age range, involving toxic friendships and peer pressure in a creepy amusement park setting. 

The plot is beautifully simplistic, Brie is delighted to be invited to the party of a popular kid which is at the amusement park, she gets tricked and separated from the other kids and ends up in a disused part of the park infamous for a few murders thirty years earlier. This is pretty scary for a Middle Grade read, the fairground setting is atmospheric and some of the ghost scenes are super cool. Adult readers will undoubtedly figure out who the older teens she meets are, but it plays out nicely and adds to a cool ending where self-belief trumps all.

AGE RANGE 10/11+

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Random House Inc

Publication date ‏ : ‎ 11 Aug. 2026

J.W. Ocker – Welcome to the Ghost Show – 6.5/10

I’m a big fan of the versatile JW Ocker who writes both for adults, I read Twelve Nights at Rotter House (2019) and featured both Middle Grade tales The Smashed Man of Dread Street (2021) and The Black Slide (2022) in my own YA Horror 400 almanac. The story of Welcome to the Ghost Show revolves around a group of three best friends who have a ghost hunting club and would love to discover a real one. The wait is over.

Out of the blue a weird spooky-show-cum-circus arrives in town and the friends get their wish in what is a fast paced frantic adventure with a lot of monsters. There is also a nice nod to mental health with one of the characters suffering from low days. This is not a demanding read and is aimed at the lower end of Middle Grade and is a solid choice for reluctant readers who like action blended with their horror.

AGE RANGE 9/10+ 

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Storytide

Publication date ‏ : ‎ 26 Aug. 2025

Ellen Oh – The House Next Door – 6/10

The House Next Door sits at the lower end of Middle Grade and will not challenge secondary school pupils but is fine for primary. Rory lives next to a house he believes is haunted and steps in to help when a new family move in, including Jack, who becomes a new friend. The gang soon find themselves standing up to the ghosts which live in the house.  

The House Next Door develops into a traditional haunted house story, Japanese and Korean cultures are thrown into a mix, with the kids battling an assortment of creatures who haunt the house. One of the most interesting aspects of the novel was Jack not believing in ghosts, but trusting in Rory, I also felt there were too many food references to engage this age group even if they are culturally significant.

AGE RANGE 7/8+

Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins

Publication date ‏ : ‎ 30 Sept. 2025

Michaelbrent Collings – Grimmworld 2: The Big Bad Wolf – (6/10)

The Big Bad Wolf is a direct sequel to The Witch in the Woods which made the Final Ballot of the Middle Grade Bram Stoker Award last year. The original story follows the adventures of the almost eleven-year-old twins, Willow and Jake Grimm, in the Grimmworld, where they find out they have magical powers as they are descendants of legendary authors, the Brothers Grimm after their family relocate to a new weird small town. 

As the story moves on the parallels, nods and tongue in cheek similarities to famous fairy tales become increasingly obvious, creating some fun, but not much in the way of fear and this sequel provides more the same, set in the aftermath of the original. After their father disappears the twins are tasked with stealing the Wolf King’s gold claw in exchange for information about their father and without haste another adventure (more fantasy than horror) kicks off.

AGE RANGE 9/10+

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Shadow Mountain

Publication date ‏ : ‎ 11 Mar. 2025

Colm Field – Uncle Zeedie – 5/10

In Uncle Zeedie two siblings are sent to stay with a family friend for a few days, both George and Lacey remember ‘Uncle’ Zeedie as creepy and awkward. Not long after arrival they hear about the disappearance of a few local children and the evidence points to Zeedie being the culprit which becomes the main mystery thrust of this rather lack lustre story of squabbling siblings and unsettling house. 

Early on we find out Lacey is upset to be leaving her girlfriend at home. Is it realistic for gay fifteen or sixteen year olds to actually have partners? This is not something you expect to find in a Middle Grade novel and seems misplaced, pushing it more towards an easy read YA novel. The most interesting part of the story concerned George, who has ‘Shining’ type feelings, which are nicely described. Overall, very forgettable with obvious twists.

AGE RANGE 11/12+

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Fox & Ink Books

Publication date ‏ : ‎ 4 Sept. 2025

Tony Jones 

Praise for the YA Horror 400 almanac, published in 2024:

“Massive congrats to Tony Jones, his colossal almanac of teen horror is out! With a whopping 400 reviews, it’s a corker!” RL BOYLE (YA author of The Book of the Baku)

“If you’re looking for a curator for your reading journey, Tony Jones is about as excellent as you could ask for. And if you wanted that curation available in a one-stop shopping destination, he has just published an extensive almanac of young adult horror over the years. It’s available for the kindle and in print as well. I was truly honoured to see one of my books gracing its pages and there is a short piece I wrote for this project as well. Do yourself a favour – if you’ve been looking for a great reference book to grace your home, check this out!” CHAD A. CLARK (YA and adult author of The Curse of Worthwood Castle, Tracing the Trails & Winward)

“The YA Horror 400 is a spectacular resource for lovers of horror and YA fiction. It’s a comprehensive guide to the past 15+ years of YA horror with reviews and author insights on over 400 YA horror novels and books, including my ‘We Mostly Come Out at Night’. I cannot recommend this book highly enough to YA horror readers. 10/10!” ROB COSTELLO (YA author and editor of We Mostly Come Out at Night & The Dancing Bears)

“Thanks so much to Tony Jones for featuring FOUND in his awesome ‘YA Horror 400’ almanac and for the opportunity to talk about my love of found footage horror.” ANDY CULL (Adult author, editor and filmmaker of FOUND & Remains)

“My first novel ‘Parasite Life’ gets a mention in this fabulous mega resource for all things YA. Check it out!” VICTORIA DALPE (YA and adult author of Parasite Life & Les Femmes Grotesques)

“The YA Horror 400 is such a good and constructive push for YA horror.” JEREMY DE QUIDT (YA author of The Wrong Train & The Toymaker)

“Tony Jones is a rare expert on YA horror, an influential reviewer who’s been a school librarian for 30 years. This A-Z almanac is a must own for horror fans and writers.” CAROLINE FLARITY (YA author of The Ghost Hunter’s Daughter)

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“A must have for anyone looking to help connect younger readers to the best genre in the world. Expertly compiled by Tony Jones” PHIL HICKES (Middle Grade author of the Aveline Jones and Shadowhall Academy series)

“Humbled to feature in ‘The YA Horror 400’ almanac, out now from top genre librarian and reviewer Tony Jones” DAVE JEFFREY (YA and adult author of the Beatrice Beecham series & A Quiet Apocalypse series) 

“So excited that my books have been featured here. Teachers and librarians – this is the PERFECT resource for you!” LORIEN LAWRENCE (Middle Grade author of The Stitchers series)

“If you’ve ever wished there were an easily accessible almanac of YA horror, I’ve got great news, Tony Jones, who has been reviewing and supporting my work since I first started and is one of my biggest professional cheerleaders has released his YA Horror 400 almanac! I was lucky enough to have had the opportunity to contribute to it, too. What a cool project! Go Tony!” AMY LUKAVICS (YA author of Daughters Unto Devils & The Ravenous)

“This almanac is massive! Huge congratulations to Tony Jones on his new book on YA Horror! Very grateful to contribute a wee bit to it.” TIM McGREGOR (Adult author of Wasps in the Ice Cream)

“I want to alert English teachers and librarians to the most definitive resource I’ve ever seen highlighting the best YA horror novels since 2008. 400 of the best dark fiction for readers 9-15+ . Where do you go for advice yourself to know what to purchase? It’s all here. What do you give a middle-grade reader or teen with a taste for the darker side? This … and let them pick and choose their own! CLIFF McNISH (YA author of Breathe & The Hunting Ground)

“Librarians! Bloggers! Readers! Educators! I am wildly pleased to see The Call on, and between, the covers of THE YA HORROR 400 by Tony Jones. Reviews of brilliant books, author interviews. Scares aplenty.” PEADAR Ó GUILÍN (YA horror/fantasy author of The Call duology)”

“Great news for teen horror fans! The YA Horror 400 is out! A massive horror almanac w/ fab features including fear factor ratings, articles, notes from authors and much more. Absolutely perfect for librarians, teachers and anyone who reads YA horror.” BRYONY PEARCE (YA author of Savage Island & Raising Hell)

“The YA Horror 400 is a fabulous resource for librarians, parents, and fans of horror kidlit.” Lora Senf (Bram Stoker Award winning author of The Blight Harbor series)

“I highly recommend the YA Horror 400: an almanac of 400 teen horror novel reviews published between 2008-2024 by Tony Jones, featuring reviews of the best YA and middle grade horror (including my own novel Channel Fear”. LISA RICHARDSON (YA author of Channel Fear)

“Teachers, librarians, readers… This brand new almanac from horror guru Tony Jones is all you need to navigate your way through YA spookiness, gore and thrills. SJ Wills (YA author of the Bite Risk series)