The Primary English Encyclopedia: The Heart of the Curriculum, Third Edition
See also fantasy
Many older children like the controlled feelings of fear that horror stories provide. Mallett quotes ten-year-old Natasha’s remark that ‘horror stories are exciting and you get frightened but nothing actually happens to you’ (Mallett, 1997). One of the most interesting and exciting analyses of horror stories for children known to me is ‘Horror’ by Victoria de Rijke. ‘Long live dangerous fiction and the playful spirit of horror’, she writes – but the danger needs to be under the child’s control (de Rijke, 2004, p.
516). R.L. Stines’s ‘Goosebumps’ series appeals because of the humour of the tales as well as the scariness.
A recent addition to the genre is Justin Samper’s Vampirates series – for example, Demons of the Ocean and Tide of Terror – set in the year 2505, in which flesh-and-blood and vampire pirate crews ply their trade
de Rijke, V. (2004) ‘Horror’ in Hunt, P. (ed.) International Companion Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature, Volume II. London and New York: Routledge.
Mallett, Margaret (1997) ‘Gender and genre’ in Reading UKRA, 31(2).
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