We are so excited to have Bree Despain join us today to share information about Scary Picture Books!

Bree Despain is the award-winning author of the Dark Divine trilogy and the Into The Dark trilogy. Bree rediscovered her childhood love for creating stories when she took a semester off college to write and direct plays for at-risk teens. She writes YA, MG, and dabbles in Picture Books. Her novels have been published in over twenty countries. Bree received her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with her husband, two sons, her three beloved cats, and the world's most adorable dog. She enjoys stand-up paddle boarding and baking French macarons.

With Spooky Season upon us, Stef asked me to write about the importance of scary picture books—a topic near and dear to my heart. By day, I’m an author of young adult fiction and I specialize in writing about things that go bump in the night. But I also like to dabble in picture books—where I think the theme of scariness is just as important to explore for the 4-to-8- year-old reader.

(First, before you think I’m advocating for writing Steven King-esque stories for five-year-olds, it’s important to note that a “scary story” is not limited to a book that would have a horror sticker slapped on its spine in the library. Some scary stories involve monsters, witches, and creepy creatures, while others may be grounded completely in reality. Most importantly, scariness encompasses stories about difficult or uncomfortable topics such as loneliness, grief, bullying, death, loss, divorce, anxiety, and other such issues. These are stories that deliver an emotional punch.)

So why do I think you should give writing a scary picture book a try?

Fear is an essential part of a child's developmental experience, resulting from their immaturity and vulnerability. Children also experience more fear than their parents think they do. This may be because young children often have difficulty expressing their fears to adults, or because some adults simply discount the fact that very young children are capable experiencing real world fears and worries. While on the flip side, some parents and other gatekeepers believe they should shelter children from ever experiencing anything scary.

However, it is counterproductive to try to deny or eliminate all fear from children’s lives because this sheltering can cause children to see the world as a more fearful place. It is also true that when we deny that fear exists in a child’s life, we make them feel alone in that fear. Instead of denying children’s fears or trying to shelter them from every scary thing, we can use picture books to help children learn to cope with and process their fears.

When children are allowed to read about child characters who gain mastery over the scary things in their lives, it teaches them how to do the same for themselves. Books, in particular, are a unique medium in which children can safely process fear and anxiety. A research group called Teachers as Readers (T.A.R.), who studied the effects of scary books on children found that: “The child is able to stop and go as he pleases and has the ability to achieve mastery over potentially frightening material. This sense of control enables children to master their fears. Each success in mastering a fearful situation strengthens the child's ability to cope with future fearful obstacles.”

While some picture book writers may still feel a bit squeamish about tackling the theme of scariness, the most important thing to know about writing scary picture books is that a successful resolution is what matters most to children. T.A.R. found that children focus more on the successful resolution of the scariness in the story, and not the scariness itself. As long as the frightful aspect of the story is resolved in a satisfying way, children did not consider the story itself to be frightening. “Rather than frightening children, scary books capture their attention and seem to provide vicarious opportunities for exploring and mastering their fears. Thus, scary stories that provide solutions to the threat instill confidence rather than fear.” These resolutions can come in the form of vanquishing the scariness, beating the nightmares, possibly making friends with it, or even just learning why a misunderstood scary thing or emotion has a purpose.

As writers, we have the unique opportunity to help children process and master their fears. So, what do you think—will you give writing a scary picture book a try?