Follow the trail of suspicious characters. Investigate haunted houses. Flee criminals. Discover secret codes, hidden caves, buried treasures. Battle monsters, or vampires. Give yourself a few goosebumps, a cold sweat. Feel a strange feeling prickling up your back, knotting your stomach, and that gets your heart racing. Shudder with terror.
Horror gets high marks with young readers. They gobble it up, look out for new titles, trade books, and create fan pages on Facebook.
Why so keen? Maybe because, mom and dad having assuaged their little kid fears, children have learned to no longer be afraid of monsters under the bed. Now they’re impatient to show off their bravery and to become heroes through novels’ characters.
Here are some albums and novels to tame fear, to laugh about it, and to give yourself a good fright!
AGES 4-6
I Am Scary, Elise Gravel [Canadian], Orca Book Publishers, 2020, on a huggable monster’s attempts to be scary
Life Doesn’t Frighten Me, Maya Angelou (text), Jean-Michel Basquiat (illustrations), Harry N. Abrams, 2018 (reissue), a renowned poet’s message on vanquishing fears
In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories, Alvin Schwartz (text), Victor Rivas (illustrations), HarperCollins, 2017
Glory on Ice, Maureen Fergus (text), Mark Fearing (illustrations), Random House Children’s Books, 2020
AGES 7-10
I Am Scary, Elise Gravel [Canadian], Orca Book Publishers, 2020, on a huggable monster’s attempts to be scary
Monster Mayhem, Christopher Elipoulos, Dial Books for Young Readers, 2020, on a young inventor and her monster foes and friends
Coraline, Neil Gaiman (text), Dave McKean (illustrations), Harper Collins Canada, 2003, on an eerie mirror world and a girl’s fight to save herself
AGES 11-13
AGES 14-17
Burn Our Bodies Down, Rory Power, Delacorte Press, 2020, on dark family secrets
Clown in a Cornfield, Adam Cesare, HarperTeen, 2020, a battle between old and new, plus a homicidal clown
The Price Guide to the Occult, Leslye Walton, Candlewick, 2018, magic and murder, on an island
The Only Good Indians, Stephen Graham Jones, Gallery/Saga Press, 2020, predators becomes prey
