Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” is one of my favorite short stories. I think it’s well known about that even those who haven’t read it know that it’s about a businessman who wakes up transformed into a bug. It’s absurdist fiction, with just enough creepiness to leave chills. Who hasn’t feared waking up in a completely different body? Being unable to operate in the world as you’re used to?
Bugs and insects are about the only thing that give me creepy crawlies in fiction, and when it comes to scary reading season, I’m always reminded of the YA books featuring insects and bugs that have left permanent scars on me. We’re not talking about books like those about bee keeping or about other hobbies relating to bugs. I’m talking about when bugs are part of the scares themselves. The kind of thing that years later, you remember the book because of That Scene or Those Scenes.
I’ve pulled together four YA books featuring creepy crawlies. Three are straight up horror reads, while the fourth is one where a spider plays a big role in the story itself. These aren’t for readers who have legitimate fears of these creatures; they’re for readers who want to be scared by them.
I’m positive more of these YA books are out there. But there’s not a nice, easy way to drill down to find them, often because these are memorable scenes, as opposed to larger parts of the plot and therefore, not easy to catalog. I’d love to know of more. Again: YA, and the insects need to be legitimately creepy in some way.
Let’s wiggle right in. Descriptions are from Goodreads, and I can vouch for the three horror titles, as I’ve read them all. The fantasy title I have not read but know has been reviewed positively. Saying these books feature insects to give you the creepy crawlies is a spoiler.
YA Books Featuring Creepy Bugs and Insects
Forest of Souls by Lori M. Lee (duology)
Sirscha Ashwyn comes from nothing, but she’s intent on becoming something. After years of training to become the queen’s next royal spy, her plans are derailed when shamans attack and kill her best friend Saengo.
And then Sirscha, somehow, restores Saengo to life.
Unveiled as the first soulguide in living memory, Sirscha is summoned to the domain of the Spider King. For centuries, he has used his influence over the Dead Wood—an ancient forest possessed by souls—to enforce peace between the kingdoms. Now, with the trees growing wild and untamed, only a soulguide can restrain them. As war looms, Sirscha must master her newly awakened abilities before the trees shatter the brittle peace, or worse, claim Saengo, the friend she would die for.
Frost by Marianna Baer
Leena Thomas’s senior year at boarding school starts with a cruel shock: Frost House, the cozy Victorian dorm where she and her best friends live, has been assigned an unexpected roommate—eccentric Celeste Lazar.
As classes get under way, strange happenings begin to bedevil Frost House: frames falling off walls, doors locking themselves, furniture toppling over. Celeste blames the housemates, convinced they want to scare her into leaving. And although Leena strives to be the peacekeeper, soon the eerie happenings in the dorm, an intense romance between Leena and Celeste’s brother, David, and the reawakening of childhood fears all push Leena to take increasingly desperate measures to feel safe. But does the threat lie with her new roommate, within Leena’s own mind…or in Frost House itself?
Daughters Unto Devils by Amy Lukavics
When sixteen-year-old Amanda Verner’s family decides to move from their small mountain cabin to the vast prairie, she hopes it is her chance for a fresh start. She can leave behind the memory of the past winter; of her sickly ma giving birth to a baby sister who cries endlessly; of the terrifying visions she saw as her sanity began to slip, the victim of cabin fever; and most of all, the memories of the boy she has been secretly meeting with as a distraction from her pain. The boy whose baby she now carries.
When the Verners arrive at their new home, a large cabin abandoned by its previous owners, they discover the inside covered in blood. And as the days pass, it is obvious to Amanda that something isn’t right on the prairie. She’s heard stories of lands being tainted by evil, of men losing their minds and killing their families, and there is something strange about the doctor and his son who live in the woods on the edge of the prairie. But with the guilt and shame of her sins weighing on her, Amanda can’t be sure if the true evil lies in the land, or deep within her soul.
White Smoke by Tiffany D Jackson
Marigold is running from ghosts. The phantoms of her old life keep haunting her, but a move with her newly blended family from their small California beach town to the embattled Midwestern city of Cedarville might be the fresh start she needs. Her mom has accepted a new job with the Sterling Foundation that comes with a free house, one that Mari now has to share with her bratty ten-year-old stepsister, Piper.
The renovated picture-perfect home on Maple Street, sitting between dilapidated houses, surrounded by wary neighbors has its . . . secrets. That’s only half the problem: household items vanish, doors open on their own, lights turn off, shadows walk past rooms, voices can be heard in the walls, and there’s a foul smell seeping through the vents only Mari seems to notice. Worse: Piper keeps talking about a friend who wants Mari gone.
But “running from ghosts” is just a metaphor, right?
As the house closes in, Mari learns that the danger isn’t limited to Maple Street. Cedarville has its secrets, too. And secrets always find their way through the cracks.