I’ve been a children’s author for over 35 years, had over 150 books published, and won a number of awards. But I began my professional life as Editorial Director of a major children’s book club, during which time I read thousands of books for young readers, from tiny tots to teenagers. As for scary books, I’ve written quite a number and read them to hundreds of children during school visits. I know what works, and I understand how to control scariness so that it delivers a delightful frisson that leaves children wanting to experience more of the same over and over again.
As a performance storyteller myself, I love books that play with language and allow you to ‘ham it up’ when reading aloud. The way this book builds suspense is such fun! We know we’re going to meet a bear – a big one – and we keep repeating that we’re not scared, but actually we are, or at least the children listening are. We have to travel through fields, rivers, woods, and even a snowstorm to reach the bear’s hidey-hole. Will he be there? Of course, he will, and when we do meet him the only thing to do is to run back the way we came all the way home. Shut that door!
Gorgeous gift edition of the classic join in story by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury. Shake up a snowstorm with this perfect gift for brave hunters and bear-lovers everywhere!
We're going on a bear hunt. We're going to catch a big one. Will you come too? For over a quarter of a century, readers have been swishy-swashying and splash-sploshing through this award-winning favourite. This new gift hardback edition includes a superb snow scene on the cover to add fun and festive flurries to your favourite family adventure story. Follow and join in the family's excitement as they wade through the…
How can I not recommend The Gruffalo in a list of best picture books with scary things? While some young readers may find this story a little scary, it’s actually a mouse that is constantly in peril. But this is a mouse with brains and he uses those brains to outwit a succession of characters intent on eating him until we meet the great big, scary Gruffalo himself. He’s no match for the mouse, though. Julia Donaldson tells her story in verse, always a joy to read out loud, and Axel Scheffler’s illustrations are perfect. I love reading this to my granddaughter. It’s definitely a book I wish I had written.
Julia Donaldson's trademark rhyming text and Axel Scheffler's brilliant, characterful illustrations come together in this perfect read aloud-a perfect gift for any special occasion!
A mouse is taking a stroll through the deep, dark wood when along comes a hungry fox, then an owl, and then a snake. The mouse is good enough to eat but smart enough to know this, so he invents . . . the gruffalo! As Mouse explains, the gruffalo is a creature with terrible claws, and terrible tusks in its terrible jaws, and knobbly knees and turned-out toes, and a poisonous wart at the end…
This is an absolute classic, both for its spare but extraordinarily imaginative text and its wonderful illustrations. Max puts on his wolf suit – as you do – and gets up to no end of mischief, so his mother calls him ‘Wild Thing’ and sends him to bed. That’s when the adventure begins. Max’s room turns into a forest and an ocean flows by with a boat to take him to where the wild things are. When they see him, the wild things – fabulous, great big goggle-eyed monsters – roar at him threateningly, but Max tells them to be still and they obey. He becomes their king and together they indulge in a huge rumpus, but Max tires of it and soon wants to go home to mum. It’s ok to be a little bit wild sometimes, but it needs to be controlled otherwise things can get out of hand.
Read-along with the story in this book and CD edition!
One night Max puts on his wolf suit and makes mischief of one kind and another, so his mother calls him 'Wild Thing' and sends him to bed without his supper.
That night a forest begins to grow in Max's room and an ocean rushes by with a boat to take Max to the place where the wild things are. Max tames the wild things and crowns himself as their king, and then the wild rumpus begins.
But when Max has sent the monsters to bed, and everything is quiet,…
This book is another great classic full of scary characters dreamed up by a young girl to explain her hurt knee. On the way home, she bumps into one friend after another and to each of them she provides an even more dramatic description of what happened. Did a wolf try to snatch her for his tea? Did a crocodile knock her over? Was it the witch, the snake, the dragon, the flying saucer that was responsible for her injury? This is such a great story for encouraging children to fire up their own imaginations – and to think about description. It encapsulates how they sometimes exaggerate events to make them appear more impressive or to feel better about what has happened to them. Finally, when the young girl gets home to Mum we discover how she actually hurt her knee, and Mum supplies the all-important plaster to make everything all right.
Filled with a little girl's inventive stories, On the Way Home is by Jill Murphy, the author and illustrator of the bestselling Peace at Last and Whatever Next!
Claire has hurt her knee so she sets off home to tell her mum all about it. On the way she meets her friends and tells them how the fall happened. But just how did it happen . . .? Was she dropped by a wolf, a slithering snake, an enormous dragon or a hairy gorilla?!
On the Way Home is a fantastic journey of the imagination that every small child who…
Scary is sometimes what we anticipate rather than what is actually there, and that’s definitely the case in this wonderful tease of a story. The text is simplicity itself and the accompanying illustrations are beautifully gothic and atmospheric. We follow a black cat across a dark, dark moor, through a dark, dark wood, into a dark, dark house – you get the drift? – but just what is at the end of this dark, dark journey? The surprise is genius and has children tumbling over themselves to go back to the beginning once they are in on the secret. This is a book I must now find for my granddaughter because I know it will be a firm favourite.
Children will delight in following the black cat's progress through the dark wood, into the dark house, and eventually to the surprise discovery at the back of the toy cupboard, in this mysterious, beautifully illustrated picture book.
Shhh! is an award-winning, interactive flap book, where readers are encouraged to go from room to room in a giant’s castle. But they must be quiet. If they disturb the giant, he may well eat them for his tea! They know there’s a good chance they will come across him at some point, but it’s always a surprise and a very scary moment – ha! You wait until you see the giant’s eye! Peter Utton’s illustrations are masterful. Shhh! is over 30 years old and has sold some 350,000 copies, so has stood the test of time.
