Hungry Bones - by Louise Hung (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A chilling middle grade novel about a girl haunted by a hungry ghost.

Winner of the Asian Pacific American Award for Children's Literature, 2026.

Molly Teng sees things no one else can.

By touching the belongings of people who have died, she gets brief glimpses into the lives they lived. Sometimes the "zaps" are funny or random, but often they leave her feeling sad, drained, and lonely.

The last thing Jade remembers from life is dying. That was over one hundred years ago. Ever since then she's been trapped in the same house watching people move in and out. She's a 'hungry ghost' reliant on the livings' food scraps to survive. To most people she is only a shadow, a ghost story, a superstition.

Molly is not most people. When she moves into Jade's house, nothing will ever be the same-for either of them. After over a century alone, Jade might finally have someone who can help her uncover the secrets of her past, and maybe even find a way out of the house-before her hunger destroys them both.

Review Quotes

Praise for Hungry Bones:

"Spooky and intriguing, with plenty of heart." -- Kirkus Reviews

"A terrific book that uses horror to discuss the importance of family, remembrance, and the matrix of support needed to thrive in this world and beyond." --School Library Journal

"Hung's debut novel is quirky, heart-filled, funny, and spooky by turns. A delicious story about ghosts and ancestors, hidden history, and being the weird kid at school - what's not to love?" Sherri L. Smith, author of Pearl

"It's not often that a ghost story makes you literally LOL. Hungry Bones is a charming, bone-chilling story full of humor, heart, and forgotten history. Louise Hung's lovable Molly and Jade will make us remember what we owe to the living-and the dead." -- Patricia Park, author of Imposter Syndrome & Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim and What's Eating Jackie Oh?

About the Author

Louise Hung is a writer living in Brooklyn, New York. She is the writer/producer of hundreds of videos for the YouTube channel Ask a Mortician and wrote the "Creepy Corner" column for xoJane (RIP). You can find more of Louise's work at HuffPost, The Order of the Good Death, Time, and the podcast Death in the Afternoon. Louise spends her days with four black cats, her husband, and an immortal cactus.