What to Read to Your Kids

Last week, I told you about my favorite new picture books for spooky season. Today, I’m turning the spotlight on a range of graphic novels, targeting emerging readers to middle-grade readers (up to 13). As the books increase in reading level, they also increase in spookiness. And, trust me, this is welcome news.

Horror continues to be the fastest growing genre for kids. I’ve written previously about why kids have always been attracted to the macabre—and why this is actually very healthy. As this particular generation of kids continues to wrestle with coming of age amidst great uncertainty and unrest, it makes sense that so many would welcome seeing their fears given ghoulish forms and then battled (or befriended) to the death. The power of fantasy has always been that it allows us to consider the darker side of life from an arm’s length away.

Before we begin, for those who can’t get enough, here’s a link to last year’s spooky round-up and the one before that. (And if you’re local, don’t forget to come by Old Town Books for our spooky fest on October 21; I’ll be there and would love to fill your kids’ hands with books, spooky or otherwise.)