Why do we read Horror? Is it for the thrills? To explore the unknown? To be prepared for any horrifying scenario?

For kids, reading horror is a way to explore fear without having to live the experience. It’s a way to start a conversation about what scares them and how they react to this fear. By using horror stories as a catalyst for discussion, children, and later teens, can learn how to face their fears with confidence and courage.

Reading horror and exploring horror genres and themes is also a way for children and teens to discover their boundaries. When a child or a teen explores horror, ask them what they did or did not like about the book. Ask them about the characters and the scenarios? Do they see themselves in the characters? What would they have done differently if they had lived that situation? At any time in the story, were they ever uncomfortable and why?

In a study exploring how morbid curiosity and media preferences during a pandemic, Behavioral Scientist, Coltan Scrivner discussed the connection between horror media and real life situations:

“One way to reduce the risk of interacting with a dangerous phenomenon is to create physical distance between yourself and the dangerous phenomenon. Because the human mind is equipped with the ability to create “simulated” experiences through imagination, humans are able to obtain information about different scenarios with very little risk.”

“The learning potential of such imagined scenarios is especially powerful when it is combined with the ability to transmit these scenarios through oral, written, and re-enacted stories that allow others to learn from them. By listening to, reading, or watching simulations of experiences in the form of fiction media, humans can empathize with and imagine themselves in the positions of characters in stories. By doing so, humans can create meaning and knowledge about similar scenarios in their own lives.”

By creating a safe space to discuss and explore horror, children and teens are set up to better understand the world around them.