Great Children's Books About Vampires and Ghosts

Discover Fun Halloween Ghost Stories and Vampire Mythology

Oct 6, 2009

Read about vampire society and "real" haunted houses in these great books for kids about vampires and ghosts.

Whether it’s Halloween or not, books about vampires and “true” ghost stories are always a hit with children. Now, librarians and storytellers can share the following great books for kids that will give young readers everything they need to know about vampires and ghosts – or at least provide them with some fun monster entertainment.

How can you determine if a person is really a vampire? What should you carry to protect yourself from vampire attacks? And if you’re lucky enough to get invited to a vampire banquet, what should you bring?

Stumped by any of these questions? Then crack open vampire enthusiast Treval Vorgard’s A Practical Guide to Vampires and start studying up on the amazing lifestyles of these creatures of the night. Through a collection of vampire pictures, blueprints of vampire houses, and even diagrams of vampire anatomy, readers will learn the types of protection and etiquette (yes, etiquette) one must adopt when dealing with vampires.

Inspired by the Dungeons & Dragons game Expedition to Castle Ravenloft (one section examines the game’s main character Count Strahd Von Zarovich) A Practical Guide to Vampires covers usual topics like vampire powers and vampire protection but also delves into more obscure subjects like vampire hobbies, vampire games, and even vampire dragons. One section actually goes into vampire communication and explains how to interpret vampire body language and speak “basic vampire phrases.”

A fun fantasy guidebook, A Practical Guide to Vampires entertains with its wealth of vampire pictures while also providing a highly readable and entertaining text that explores Dungeons & Dragons’ unique vampire mythology. To its credit, however, the book stands on its own and does not require readers to buy other Dungeons & Dragons books or games to enjoy this vampire book.

Looking for Halloween ghost stories? Delve into this collection of “true” ghost stories that author C.B. Colby collected from places ranging from Canada, the U.S., Ireland, Scotland, and even the Caribbean. There’s a bizarre legend of a black “thing” lurking in the cellar of a real haunted house in New Jersey; a sad story of a baby ghost; and even a whole section devoted to stories about witch cats, ghost dogs, and a tragic white dove.

All of these ghost stories are told in no more than two or three pages, making them easy to share at Halloween parties, campfire gatherings, or storytelling sessions. Storytellers will want to enhance the mood by turning out the lights and reading each ghost story by the glow of a flashlight – for few groups of children will want to stop with one ghost story when provided with a proper atmosphere.

Excellent for fans of paranormal phenomena, World’s Best “True” Ghost Stories can provide any reader with a night full of eerie thrills.

Trumbauer, Lisa Trutkoff. A Practical Guide to Vampires. Renton: Wizards of the Coast. 2009. ISBN: 978-0-7869-5243-4

Colby, C.B. World’s Best “True” Ghost Stories. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. 1988. ISBN: 0-8069-6898-2

The copyright of the article Great Children's Books About Vampires and Ghosts in Myths is owned by Michael Jung. Permission to republish Great Children's Books About Vampires and Ghosts in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.