Five Terrifying Children’s Books That Will Scare Adults, Too

Published February 25, 2016
Updated June 22, 2020

A Monster Calls (2011

A Monster Calls

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

Siobhan Dowd got the idea for this tale when she was diagnosed with a terminal illness. Within the pages of A Monster Calls, Dowd tells the story of 13-year-old Conor, who is trying to come to terms with his mother’s cancer diagnosis.

The boy has been having recurring bad dreams in which he is awoken by screaming winds. One night, a monster appears outside his window as a mass of sentient branches and leaves. It makes a deal with Conor: it will share with him three stories if, at the end, Conor shares his own.

The monster comes again to his window every night at 12:07 a.m. At first, the storytelling appears harmless, but it eventually leads Conor to act out — breaking things, getting into fights at school, while he is under the possession of the monster.

But once the stories have all been told, and it’s Conor’s turn to share, he confesses his fear about his mother’s death and all the ways he’s acted out while trying to come to terms with his emotions. The monster explains that this has been its purpose all along and it comforts him. Once Conor has experienced this healing, his mother dies — at 12:07 AM.


If you enjoyed this post on scary children’s books, be sure to check out the myth of Slender Man.

author
Abby Norman
author
Abby Norman is a writer based in New England . Her work has been featured on The Rumpus, The Independent, Bustle, Mental Floss, Atlas Obscura, and Quartz.
editor
John Kuroski
editor
John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.