Of Hateful Hippos and Hissing Cobras

Never Smile at a Monkey
by Steve Jenkins
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2009

If legendary children's author Eric Carle ever developed a grumpy side, he would have written something similar to Steve Jenkins' misanthropic animal book, Never Smile at a Monkey, a compendium of some of the world's most malicious and dangerous animals.

This book is for the more skeptical child, who recognizes that, behind all the soft fur and cute noises, most of our world's most adorable animals are also brimming with spite. Steve Jenkins pulls no punches, and writes with the sort of brutal honesty a growing child needs; after all, in a world that contains such horrors as the duckbill platypus, we should always remember to stay on our guard. In addition to the brief descriptions of the horrifying reality of each animal's life, Jenkins helpfully includes an appendix which tells you where not to go if you want to avoid these malevolent creatures, plus additional information in case your first encounter didn't quite convince you.

A sort of anti-Brown Bear, Brown Bear, the creatures in Never Smile at a Monkey could have been created by Bill Martin Jr.'s evil alter ego; they aren't quite bathed in blood and vitriol, but some of them wear expressions that tell you they soon might be. My personal favorite is the hippo, whose brown, hateful eyes make it look like an angry drunk on a bender, though the spitting cobra is clearly having none of it. Even the stingray, whose eyes are beguilingly innocent, resonates with danger. These illustrations are hilarious in their sincerity, as if they are daring you to laugh. It's hard to look at that glaring monkey face and not laugh, and therein lies the true danger of this book. Because, really, you shouldn't ever smile at a monkey.

Our Eyes Glow in the Dark... with Love!

While You are Sleeping

by Alexis Deacon

New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006

The imagery in While You are Sleeping gives me what I can only describe as warm chills. The inside cover flap is papered over with your standard (normally innocuous) collection of toys and stuffed animals, except that some of them appear to be floating creepily, and they are all staring directly at you. The vague sense of friendly dread this imagery instills is a great emotional summary of the rest of the book, which has a touching, even heartwarming story even as it is subliminally unnerving.

The story itself is touching, and multilayered. On surface it is a story of reassurance, a letter written in the second person to a child from her toys. They stay awake, protecting you from nighttime terrors as you sleep. Of course, the idea of all my toys coming to life when I was a kid, even to protect me from things I was afraid of, would itself have inspired fear. On top of this, there is a story of indoctrination; there is a new toy (the cuddliest little lion), who must pass muster to remain part of the group. He does, of course, but what would they have done if he failed? I shudder to think.

This book sits in a position of delightful ambiguity. Though I have called attention to the strangeness of it, I should also make clear that the characters are endearing, in a soft and understated way. The illustrations are very warm, with a classic fuzzyness that makes you want to give them all a hug. Overall, this book is absolutely perfect for reading under a blanket, with a flashlight, just before bed. Just try not to look to closely at the eyes, glowing golden in the night...

Revolting Fun

Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes
by Roald Dahl
Illustrations by Quentin Blake
New York : Knopf, 1983

Roald Dahl’s taste for the macabre has always shown itself in the wonderfully revolting villains of his children’s novels (the disgusting subject matter of The Twits and The Witches comes to mind) and in the twisted parables for a more mature audience found in his short stories for adults. Revolting Rhymes is Dahl’s take on the traditional fairy tales of old. The results are hilarious and disturbing. Goldilocks is a spoiled brat who pays dearly for an act of home invasion; the three little pigs learn a painful lesson about home construction; Jack discovers that personal hygiene can be a matter of life and death when dealing with giants; Cinderella finds relationships to be gruesomely complicated; Snow White and the Seven Dwarves take on the world of gambling; and we see the darker side of Little Red Riding Hood.

I first heard Revolting Rhymes during a story hour from my Language Arts teacher when I was in the third grade and it quickly became a favorite. The subversive tone behind the stories matched well with an interest in creepy fiction (courtesy of Alfred Hitchcock’s anthologies for “younger readers”) that I was cultivating at the time. “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” stuck out for me the most because of the poetic fate that Papa Bear decides for the greedy little girl who slurped down his son’s porridge as her final act. Each tale is told as a poem and Dahl’s lyricism makes these stories great to read aloud. Quentin Blake’s illustrations complement the verse perfectly in their portrayals of Dahl’s bizarre and often grotesque characters.

Although Dahl offered his own twist on these classic tales, his sardonic humor definitely echoes some of the darkness found in some of the original source materials. Particularly in the Brothers Grimm anthologies, repugnant characters met with gruesome ends and life lessons were often harsh, even in the land of make-believe.

Update for the Masses

Alright, I admit it, this is a bit of a placeholder post. We've both been sortof busy, of late; other projects and whatnot, plus this humble blogger is also a full-time student. Don't give up on us, though, because we have a lot of directions we're going to be taking this thing in coming months. Here's a list of ideas and ongoing projects:

• "Screaming Out Loud": the horror podcast series will continue in December
• Guest Bloggers Welcome!: Got a story about your favorite spooky story, or moment of spookery from your childhood? If you would like to Guest Blog, or even join us as a regular contributor, contact us; we'd love to hear from you.
  
• Broader subject matter: In addition to reviews, we'll be taking a look at what make horror so fascinating, why kids and teens are drawn to it, and how to deal with advanced readers and the question of age-appropriate content.
• Fiction?: My personal inclination is to ask you, Dear Reader (to rip from Stephen King), should we include a section for original submissions?
  
• Ideas?: What would you like to see here? If you have ideas for what you'd like to see on this blog, get in touch! This is the running theme, today, because we honestly want to know what you have to say, what you want us to say, and what we can do to make this a better space for childrens' horror.
  

Ultimately, this blog is a labor of love, and we're going to keep it going even if we only get to post once a month. The last few months have been amazing, and I for one look forward to many more.

Thanks,

Nick Hirsch

Just Before Nightfall

The Dark Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural

By Patricia McKissack

Knopf, 1992

Every now and then a timeless supernatural classic comes along, one that you have to read over and over again and share with as many people as you can. The Dark Thirty, winner of the 1993 Coretta Scott King Award with black and white illustrations by Brian Pinkney, is one such book. An anthology of nine short stories and one poem, this book is an engaging collection of tales.

The title comes from that time of day just before nightfall and the stories within are perfect yarns to spin at that eerie time of day. The stories within this book are haunting, in a horror story sense as well as in a social commentary sort of way. The stories evoke the African-American experience in the south with themes ranging from slavery, segregated communities, transport (trains and buses), and 60's activism, all with a supernatural twist. The stories are written in such a way that a wide audience can be reached and mesmerized. The narratives are smooth, steady, and subtle, despite the heavy and sometimes violent themes they depict. For instance, in the story "Justice" readers are introduced to a character whose ghost returns to avenge his wrongful and horrible lynching murder by a Klansman. Sometimes these elements of our history are hard to explore with youth, but using a short story as a way to break the ice, we can start a dialogue about the haunting parts of our past in a way that is accessible and appropriate for children of a certain age.

I remember my 6th grade teacher reading this book to us, one story at a time, and I remember this was the first time my class was quiet. Pin drop quiet. Every Friday we were allowed to bring pop and gum into class, so usually we were all wound up on sugar, but the Friday afternoons when Mr. B read from this book we were all quietly and thoughtfully absorbed in the tales. This is a book I enjoyed hearing and love to read over and over and I am happy to share it with you. I hope you find it to be a powerful reading experience.