The Purging of Pity and Fear

Halloween is almost upon us, and my newest picture book, Halloween Forest, is on the shelf.

When I received my first copy with John Shelley’s marvelously creepy illustrations of the forest of bones I’d written about, a rather delicious shiver ran down my spine. All those bony tree hands reaching …reaching.

And my own shiver brings up an interesting question. What is the point of scary for kids?

The question carries me back to another book and a very specific child. When my son, Peter, was a todd...