Lauri Meyers .

I'm finally ready with my last post on subversive books: Real Life Scary. The other topics I covered so far are: Part 1: While Your Parents Are Out Part 2: Nakeyness Part 3: The Dark Part 4: Scary Creatures Part 5: Mortal Danger I didn't plan to write about real life scariness. It took brainstorming what made books scary to identify this area. I've also been procrastinating this one, because perhaps it scares me the most. There's something refreshing about being able to close a book on gooey green monsters, which you know probably aren't real. And even though I'm scared of the dark, I know there's probably really not anything lurking in it. But real life. Now, that's scary. It's probably not fair to call these subversive, but here's a selection of books that make me pause before reading to my kids. And my breath hitches when I consider there are little children who are living in similar situations to these today. ...

My posts on scary books have covered my biggest fear: The Dark  and the Scary Creatures which lurk in it. But why do these scare me so? Danger. Maybe even Mortal Peril. Clearly, this is too scary for picture books, right? Wrong. Let's enter the world of extreme danger in picture books.  "I would not eat a rabbit." ( I Want My Hat Back , by Jon Klassen)   Do you ever wonder, "What would my critique group say if my picture book protagonist...um... murdered the antagonist in cold blood?" "Murder in picture books is off limits." "I think kids should learn to work it out." "Maybe they could just hug instead?" It didn't seem to concern Jon Klassen when he wrote his books This is Not My Hat and I Want My Hat Back. "Nobody will ever find me." ( This is Not My Hat , by Jon Klassen)   In both of these books we get a pretty good idea on Klassen's feelings on theft and the repercussions of o...