Bones

Bones, collected by Lois Metzger, is a book of spooky short stories for 9 year olds, each one by a different writer and each one about something that won't stay quiet.

What happens

It's a perfect dip-in-and-out book. Each story stands on its own with its own voice, so you can read just one at bedtime (if you dare).

In the first, Callie's phone keeps buzzing with messages she can't explain. DONT LIE. DONT STEAL. DONT USE PEOPLE. She's sure her friends are pranking her. Then one day the message just says STOP, a split second before a lorry skids through the crossing on the ice.

In another, a boy's dad builds real skeletons for medical schools. When the business struggles, at least twenty of them come home to a tiny flat. There's one in the kitchen cupboard, three in his bedroom and one called Charlie who lives in the shower. And at night something in the flat starts to rattle.

Then there's Lizzie Penny, an inn maid whose dad and brother are thieves. They turn up at midnight with a very nasty good-luck charm, and Lizzie ends up facing down a ghost who wants something back.

The writers are a great mix, and the collection includes names like R. L. Stine and Margaret Mahy. The skeleton story is creepy in a slow, prickly way. The inn story is more like a campfire tale. And Callie is a proper mean girl, so it's quite satisfying watching her phone give her a hard time.

A couple of these go properly dark for this age, which is worth knowing. In the inn story, a hanged man's hand has been cut off and turned into a candle holder, and his body was left hanging at a crossroads for a fortnight. The skeleton story is all about real human bones. None of it is gory, but it's vivid.

If your reader loves a shiver and knows it's all just a story, they'll have a great time. A child who's easily spooked at night might want to read these in daylight!

What to read next

If they want more of the same, try Stinetinglers, where R. L. Stine introduces each of his scary stories himself before it begins.