Books for Friday the 13th

Josephine Djonovic  //  Jan 13, 2017

Books for Friday the 13th

TGIF! Oh wait. It’s Friday the 13th!

There are tons of myths and superstitions surrounding this day, some random and others just plain creepy. If you’re superstitious and want to avoid the spookiness and unlucky curses that come with breaking the “rules” of Friday the 13th, your best bet might be to hang out on your couch tangled in bubble wrap until the day passes. I know what I’ll be doing today: avoiding walking under ladders and letting black cats cross my path - don’t want to get hit with a bad luck streak!

In honor of Friday the 13th, I’ve asked our team of bloggers what their favorite spooky, unlucky titles are, and we came up with a pretty great list!

Me: Check out Fortune Falls by Jenny Goebel. Sadie lives in a town where superstitions are real (oh geez) and bad luck follows her everywhere she turns. She tries to turn her luck around, but things only get worse!

Julia: I like to read Monster Trouble with my four-year-old. She worries about monsters and “bad guys,” and this book takes such a silly approach to the topic that it really takes the edge off the whole conversation.

Deimosa: Shadow House: the Gathering, by Dan Poblocki, is very eerie. I had the honor of interviewing Dan in October for a Facebook Live video. The book has one of the spookiest haunted houses that I’ve read about in years.

Anushka and Emily: Anushka and Emily chose the same series! Anushka says, “Friday the 13th always makes me think of the A Series of Unfortunate Events books by Lemony Snicket. Talk about an unlucky set of children.” From Emily, “I am the world’s biggest scaredy cat so I rarely read spooky books, but I LOVE A Series of Unfortunate Events! They were just the right amount of eerie/mystery/bad luck to keep me hooked. Plus I can’t wait for the Netflix show with Neil Patrick Harris as Count Olaf!”

Mike: One book has been personally unlucky to me… when I read Be Careful What You Wish For – a Goosebumps book, that week my sister broke her arm. I read it in college and I got the flu a week later. I re-read it as an adult and I almost got hit by a car passing the street. I know it’s not the book, but maybe it made me more perceptive to the spooky world around me.

Brittany: The story in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark titled “The Ribbon” still haunts me to this day. It’s about a girl who wears a choker necklace every day and I won’t spoil the ending for you, but it’s creepy!

Are you reading a spooky book today, or one with a really unlucky character? Let us know!