Writing, Illustrating & Publishing > Research

the "creep" factor

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Jaina:
I'm not sure if anyone's mentioned Richard Peck's The Ghost Belonged to Me or Ghosts I Have Been.  I was never into slasher type books or movies, but ghost stories creeped me out as a kid. The (sub-par) movie version of The Ghost Belonged to Me is called "Child of Glass" and it stuck in my sister's and my head for years.

Apologies if this is a repeat but of course Coraline--the novel version and the graphic novel version.

Would The Graveyard Book count for MG?  I haven't let my 10 year old daughter read it yet, mainly because of the opening scene, but our librarian said she thought adults found that opening much more disturbing than kid readers, who were concentrating on the baby, not the gruesome crime.

Anyway, I wasn't much older than her when I read The Amityville Horror, so I should probably just hand The Graveyard Book right over.  (Can't find Eyeroll Smiley, so this will have to do) :rip

KDuBay:
All very great suggestions!  I had to order a bunch at our library b/c my branch didn't have several of them.  Can't wait to read.

I really like The Graveyard Book and didn't find that one too creepy at all.  More interesting than anything. 

I think the common element described by most of you is suspense and apprehension.  So, I'm really going to have to heighten the tension and sense of foreboding.  I'm going to be a freaked-out basket case if I get through all of these titles.  I'm a chicken to begin with!

Kit Forbes:
ecb's mention of anthologies reminded me of this one. It was a Halloween anthology, I'm sure I picked it up at one of the Scholastic books fairs (for the kids, honest :shh).

I'm totally blanking on the title but I think the cover featured a demented pumpkin/some kind of pumpkin and the story that still creeps me out was about a group of kids who have to check out the town's legendary abandoned haunted house.

SPOILER SPACE

The creepy ending has the kids locked inside and the house as it begins turning into a pumpkin around them. A nasty rotting pumpkin if I'm not mistaken. Messing with Halloween pumpkins, especially in the days after Halloween has skeeved me out ever since.  :dr

ecb:
K, for pitch-perfect middle grade creepiness, you should rent "The Watcher in the Woods," a fabulous old Disney movie starring (?) Bette Davis. It is *marvelous*--absolutely Lois Duncan brought to life (it's not based on a Lois Duncan book, but it's the only movie I've ever seen that has the same feel as one of her books). This was a favorite of mine from about third grade on, and DH and I still watch it a couple of times a year. The creep factor is fantastic, without being over the top for younger kids.

KDuBay:
Holy Cats, ECB.  Watcher in the Woods -- book and movie -- scared the Beejubuz out of me as a kid.  That one and Something Wicked This Way Comes.

Totally forgot about Watcher in the Woods.  I remember reading that at night at our cabin. . . . terrifying.  Going to find it and read it again.  Awesome!!!  Thanks!!!

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