About Summer Scares

Created in 2019 by the Horror Writers Association (HWA), the Summer Scares Reading Program seeks to promote the horror genre to readers of all ages, all year long. Each year, a committee of library professionals selects three books per age category (adult, YA, and middle grade) that exemplify the genre's range and will entice horror aficionados and novices alike. This program endeavors to introduce readers and librarians to new authors and to help start conversations that extend beyond the books from each list, promoting reading for years to come.

Of special note is the annual Summer Scares Programming Guide, courtesy of HWA Library Committee Co-Chair Konrad Stump and the Springfield-Greene County Library, which provides creative ideas to engage horror readers. Centered around the official Summer Scares titles, the guide offers tips and examples for readers’ advisory, book discussion guides, and sample programs, enabling librarians, even those who don’t read or especially enjoy the horror genre themselves, to connect their communities with Summer Scares. This free guide is available for download on the Resources page.

HWA Library Committee Members

Becky Spratford

Co-Chair

Becky Spratford is a library consultant and the author of The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Horror, third edition, which was released in September of 2021. She reviews horror for Booklist magazine, is the horror columnist for Library Journal and runs the Readers’ Advisory blog, RA for All: Horror. She is the author of Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literature.

Konrad Stump

Co-Chair

Konrad Stump is a Local History Associate for the Springfield-Greene County (MO) Library, where he co-coordinates Springfield-Greene's popular “Oh, the Horror!” series, which attracts hundreds of patrons during October. He created the Donuts & Death horror book discussion

group, featured in Book Club Reboot: 71 Creative Twists (ALA), and co-created the Summer Scares Programming Guide. His work has appeared in Library Journal, NoveList, and Booklist.

Carolyn Ciesla

Social Media Manager

Carolyn Ciesla is an academic library director in the Chicago suburbs and and is serving as the 2025-26 Illinois Library Association President. She has worked as a teen librarian and reference librarian, and has reviewed horror titles for Booklist magazine. She’s currently teaching horror to first-year college students. You can find her all over the internet as @papersquared.

Kelly Jensen

YA Specialist

Kelly Jensen is senior editor at Book Riot, where she covers all things young adult literature. She is the author of three critically-acclaimed and award-winning anthologies for young adults on the topics of feminism, mental health, and the body. She has also earned commendation from the American Association of School Librarians for her censorship coverage. Prior to her work at Book Riot, she was a public librarian for children, teens, and adults in several libraries in Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin.

Julia Smith

Middle Grade Specialist

Julia Smith is a senior editor at Booklist, where she works in the youth books department and harbors a deep love of middle-grade literature. Prior to her career at Booklist, she worked at an independent children's bookstore and in the Chicago Public Library system.

Yaika Sabat

HWA Library Advisory Council Member

Yaika Sabat (MLS) comes from a background in public libraries of various sizes. She now works at NoveList as the Manager of Reader Services, where she trains library staff nationwide on readers’ advisory, creates genre-focused content, and works on reader-focused products and services. As an HWA Library Advisory Council member, she works to help librarians understand and embrace the horror genre. Her other passions include writing, graphic novels, film (the scarier, the better), and folklore.

Program Partners

Booklist

Booklist is the American Library Association’s nationally distributed book and media review magazine. Founded in 1905, Booklist connects library and education workers to the books and resources needed to support and enrich their communities.

Book Riot

Book Riot is the largest independent editorial book site in North America and home to a host of media, from podcasts to newsletters to original content, all designed around diverse readers and across all genres.

iRead

The Illinois Reading Enrichment and Development (iREAD) program is a flexible, nonprofit reading program designed by librarians featuring appealing incentives, compelling and adaptable themes, and a comprehensive resource guide chock full of ideas and reproducibles. Developed by the Illinois Library Association, the program has been adopted by other states and is implemented in thousands of individual libraries across the country.

NoveList

NoveList has been helping readers find their next favorite book for 30 years and continues to develop innovative solutions for connecting readers, books, and libraries. NoveList is a part of EBSCO Information Services.