31 Days of Horror: Day 27-- Spotlight on Middle Grade Horror with Librarian and Author Ally Malinenko and a Bonus Giveaway!

One of the top Middle Grade Horror novels of the year is Ally Malinenko's Broken Dolls. I shared my thoughts on this immersive and terrifying story here. But you don't have to believe me; Stephen King loves this book too.

Malinenko is not just a horror author, she is also a librarian, and the two sides of her collided this month when she chose to celebrate with a 31 Days event of her own by tweeting out 1 middle grade horror book you should read a day for 31 straight days. You can see that entire thread here (don't forget, we still have a few more days for her to add to the thread).

As I watched her add to this thread daily, I realized, I needed Malinenko to come here and share more than just titles. I asked her to write an essay in the vein of why I love middle grade horror. Below is her essay on why middle grade horror is important to kids and why they need access to it always.

Thanks Ally!

(And stay tuned after her essay for a bonus giveaway)

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When I tell people I write middle grade horror I get a variety of reactions. Everything from “what’s that?” to “kids shouldn’t read horror” to “when are you going to write a real horror.” So today I wanted to talk a little bit about middle grade horror – about why I write it, why it’s important, why kids need it and some recommendations that I have been posting this spooky month on middle grade horror YOU should be reading.

So let’s start with what is middle grade horror? Middle grade is a term that is used to refer to the readers between easy readers and young adult readers. Middle Grade horror is usually marketed towards 8-12 year olds. 

Now, for the “kid’s shouldn’t read horror” – my favorite response, here’s why that’s wrong. Middle grade horror is one of the best places to talk about hard things. In my second novel This Appearing House I had my main character have to come to terms with a very serious illness she had when she was younger but never processed. In my most recent book Broken Dolls, my main character has to learn how to process her grief, but also how to talk about it – she has selective mutism. Horror is safe scary. What do I mean by that?  Horror offers Solace. It’s not happening to me, but I’m following along with something scary which is thrilling. Kids live in a very scary world. They live through life-changing pandemics and school shootings. They know the world is scary. But adults tend to want kids to look the other way. Instead, I think we have a responsibility to kids to arm them with the weapons they need. When a kid reads a scary book the learn how to fight monsters so when they’re older they’ll know how to fight the real monsters that eventually show up in all of our lives. 

Scary books give kid’s agency, something that we adults take for granted. We’re used to deciding what time we get up and what we’re going to do all day and what to eat but kids don’t get that. By their nature and status they are powerless. Another thing adults sometimes forget is that kids have the full range of emotions, they just don’t have the language to express it. When you read a book you are rooting for the hero and that is especially true for scary books. You got into the dark but you make it back out again. You survived! 

Horror Tells the Truth. Let’s be honest we lie to kids a lot. We tell them the dog went to go live on a farm. We tell them everything is fine when mom and dad aren’t speaking at the dinner table. We sweep the truth into the corner and hope the kids won’t find it. But horror doesn’t do that. Horror tells the truth. Horror puts you in front of a monster and then gives you a sword to fight it. 

Horror Teaches Important Lessons about Fear – Fear offers no middle ground. You either succumb to it or you overcome it. There is no in between. Storytelling is how we build empathy. It’s how we connect with people. It’s a way of making connection that teaches kids that they can overcome their fears

And finally kids should read horror because horror is FUN. You ever go to a scary movie with a friend and you both get startled so badly by the same thing that you start laughing? No one would ever think about taking a funny book out of a kids hand but they scoff at kids who want to read horror. Horror for kids is a necessary and important genre and not one we need to be afraid of. Honestly it’s a privilege to write horror for kids, to watch them go, shoulders back, head held high, right into the dark and know they’re gonna be okay. 

Wes Craven had this response to the question “Why would people pay money to get scared” and he said, “You don’t enter the theater and pay your money to be afraid. You enter the theater and pay your money to have the fears that are already in you when you go into a theater dealt with and put into a narrative.” 

To my last point – “when are you going to write a real horror book” – let me tell you, adults will give you up to 50 pages or more to get to them. A kid? You have to hook them from the first line and you have to keep them hooked. That takes skill. That takes careful planning. People who dismiss kidlit horror are doing themselves a disservice. And writers, especially should be paying attention. I will one day write an adult horror, I’m sure. But for now, it is an absolute honor to be writing horror for kids.

So to that, I would like to share with you some of my favorite horror stories for the kid in your life, or the one that still lives in your heart. 

1. The Ghosts of Bitterfly Bay by Mary Averling. 

This is not only one of my favorite middle grade horror books it’s one of my favorite books. Period. Maude isn’t your typical 12 year old – mostly because she’s a ghost. Along with her best friend Kit and her little brother Scratch she haunts a cottage in the woods and scares off vacationers. When Scratch and Kit go missing, Maudie knows it’s the work of Longfingers – a monster from her own nightmares. Averling has crafted a spooky tale full of love, heartbreak, and the importance of facing the truth. A story that reminds us that the only way to truly know ourselves is to face the scariest parts of our story. This is an instant classic.

2. The Nest by Kenneth Oppel. 

When I started writing middle grade this is one of the books I picked up. It taught me how hard you really can go when writing middle grade horror. This book is scary. Steve is a worrier and right now he’s worried the most about his sick newborn brother. So when he starts to dream about a mysterious wasp queen who offers to “fix” the baby, he thinks everything is going to be okay. All he has to do is say Yes. But what does saying yes really mean? Yes is a powerful word that cannot be taken back. Honestly if you read ONE book on this list, read this one.

3. Nightbooks by J.A. White

This modern day spin on the Scheherazade story is a spooky fun ride. Unlike the Nest, that is legitimately frightening, Nightbooks is FUN and for budding writers, contains lots of fun tidbits about writing with suspense, creating plot twists and how interior logic works. It is the story of a boy, imprisoned by a witch who must tell a new scary story every night in order to stay alive. Also they made a great little movie out of it too! 

4. The Clackity by Lora Senf

This Stoker award nominated book is one of my favorites. Book one in the Blight Harbor series, follows Evie von Rathe attempts to rescue her beloved Aunt Desdemona. From the depts of the abandoned slaughterhouse, Evie meets The Clackity who makes a deal with her that he can help her find her aunt in exchange for the ghost of John Jeffery Pope, a serial killer who stalked Blight Harbor one hundred years ago. Yes, a serial killer. In a middle grade book. It’s brilliant.

5. Scary Stories for Young Foxes by Christian McKay Heidicker. Antler Wood is haunted, and no kit foxes are safe. When Mia and Uly are separated from their litter they discover a world full of monsters. The stories in this collection are both heartwarming and bone chilling at the same time. It’s a fantastic read. 

Horror is good about talking about what makes us human. And about what makes us monstrous. Kids deserve to hear both. I read an excellent piece by Ally Russell (whose books you should also read) called The Lonliness of the Horror Fan in which she said this:

“If you know a young horror fan, protect them at all costs. Let them explore the boundaries of their fear. When the terror becomes too much, kids know how to close the book or press pause. Let them use horror to tackle the traumas that this world will wreak on their young souls. They may use the genre to confront their fears or to heal. They may use the genre for entertainment. They might become lifelong fans… or not. That’s all right. The important thing is that they have support and space to confront their fears in a safe setting, because the monsters out there ::points to the world around us:: are much worse than the monsters in our media.”

Middle grade horror makes a pact with it’s reader. It says take my hand, we’re going to go into the forest. It’s going to be dark. It’s going to be scary, but in the end, we’re going to come back out into the light. And isn’t that why we go into the dark? To return to the light?

With middle grade horror there is always hope. Hope is the root power of storytelling. And that is the power of horror.

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Thanks to Malinenko for sharing her perspective. Now to that promised giveaway. I have one finished copy of Scaring and Daring: Terrifying Takes on 15 Classic Tales, a Middle Grade Horror Anthology from the Horror Writers Association edited by Eric J Guignard. From Goodreads: 

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here!

Get ready for a terrifying spin on some of literature’s most beloved tales—no story is safe! From Captain Hook’s run-in with dark magic to Sherlock Holmes narrowly escaping graveyard spirits to a happily never after for Cinderella, this horror anthology is anything but a bedtime story. In this terrifying new collection for young readers, the best-loved stories from the literary canon are revisited and reimagined with a deadly twist by some of the top authors working in middle grade today.

Featuring tales from New York Times bestselling authors Jonathan Maberry and Kelley Armstrong, Carlos Hernandez, Lisa Morton, Maurice Broaddus, and many others, this collection will haunt you long after you turn the last page. Read on—if you dare! 

Rules are the same as every week. Click here for last week's giveaway to see the rules on how to enter. 

There will be one more giveaway this week but all winners will be drawn on Friday 11/1.

Good luck to all.