Charlie, Charlie, do you know any scary books?

Those of you who spend a lot of time on Vine or Twitter may already be familiar with this game: divide a piece of paper into four quadrants, writing “yes” and “no” in opposite corners. Place a pencil along one center line, and another pencil balanced on it crossways. Ask “Charlie, Charlie, are you here?” If the top pencil moves to point to “yes,” you can ask the spirit further questions. Or just scream and run away.

image via Wikimedia Commons user Yunshui
image via Wikimedia Commons user Yunshui

The #CharlieCharlieChallenge spiked last month, and teens who’ve discovered the delight of scaring themselves silly may be looking for the next fright. Hopefully they’re well-schooled in the existence of Charlie Charlie’s cousins in spooking and fortunetelling, the Ouija board, Bloody Mary, the Magic 8 ball, and cootie catchers.

Book-wise, here are some titles to keep readers’ eyes wide and hearts pounding.

scary stories collage

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, by Alvin Schwarz — The original scare-yourself-to-death-at-a-sleepover book, this one bears repeating simply because the folklore-sourced stories are still powerful today. For maximum effect, get the original version with the terrifying watercolors by Stephen Gammell.

Coraline, by Neil Gaiman — The supposedly-kids’ story that’s really plenty scary enough for teens. A short, Alice-through-the-looking-glass tale with a decidedly dark twist and visuals you won’t soon forget.

The Nightmarys, by Dan Poblocki — Possibly the most-requested scary book in my teen section. Cursed to be tormented by your greatest fears brought to life? Yep.

The Tell-Tale Heart, by Edgar Allan Poe (Graphic Novel version by Benjamin Harper) — If you’ve read a lot of the scary YA that’s out there, be sure you don’t miss the master of terror, Mr. Poe himself. For an especially vivid gateway, try the graphic novel series of his short stories.

Through the Woods, by Emily Carroll (Graphic Novel) — There are woods, ghosts, and fairy tale themes here, but not like you’re used to. Get ready for some major spine tingles and gore.

Hub readers shared their own thoughts on this topic in Books that Spooked Us!, and some of my peers wanted it known that the adult titles House of Leaves (Mark Z. Danielewski) and It (Stephen King) still give them nightmares.

There are a lot of scary books to choose from — which are your favorites? And since we’ve progressed all the way from pencils to nightmares…Charlie, Charlie, can we stop?

–Rebecca O’Neil, currently reading The Lost Hero, by Rick Riordan

 

YA Lit Symposium: Something Wicked This Way Comes of Age: Horror Tackles the Real Issues

I don’t read as much horror as I probably should, since it’s very popular with a lot of teen readers.  So, I was very happy YALSA_LitSymposium2014to attend this YA Literature Symposium session presented by the two Paulas (Paula Willey and Paula Gallagher) both from Baltimore (MD) County Public Library. Not only did I hear about some horror books I wasn’t familiar with, I also won a scary shark t-shirt! Thanks to their generosity, lots of us in the audience got prizes of galleys of YA books, and everyone got creepy body part shaped candy and packets of Old Bay Seasoning (Why? Because it’s made in Baltimore).

I can’t describe their presentation any better than they did:

“Teens of all types gravitate to horror fiction – perfectly nice kids with perfectly comfortable lives (as well as perfectly nice kids with difficult lives) seek out books by Darren Shan, Alexander Gordon Smith, Jeyn Roberts and the like. In our presentation, we will make the link between the psychological developments that characterize coming of age and the metaphors of horror, and argue that just because it’s all in your head, that doesn’t mean it’s not real.”

Photo Nov 19, 12 11 17 PM
Paula Gallagher (standing) and Paula Willey (sitting)

They mentioned that teens who like horror are nostalgic for series they read as kids like the Goosebumps series, Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories, or David Lubar’s Weenies series. Teens today are cutting their teeth on new horror TV shows, and films, even foreign ones like Let the Right One In and are big consumers of media, especially horror series like The Vampire Diaries.

Paula Willey explained why it’s important that we understand why teens like horror:
1. We may need to overcome our own revulsion; people who don’t like it don’t understand the appeal.
2. Horror is unusually good at shining a light on concerns of adolescents in ways other types of fiction do not. Horror is a window into their worries.

They also said that issues of morality can be explored in horror. Alexander Gordon Smith can talk abut good vs. evil in his Escape the Furnace series and get away with it. I had to laugh when they showed a slide from their PowerPoint stating that adolescent development is characterized by poor decision making; risk-taking; and a changing sense of identity and the image on screen was a photo of Bella and Edward from the Twilight movie.

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