Zombies, Ghosts and Other Frights: An Exclusive Guest Post From Jeff Kinney, Author of Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories

The books you read when you’re young make an impression on you. But some books leave a mark.
That’s the way it was for me with Alvin Schwartz’s kids’ horror classic, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. For a kid who grew up on a steady diet of Judy Blume, Scary Stories was a gut punch, and Stephen Gammell’s otherworldly charcoal illustrations are permanently burned into my psyche. Especially the ghastly, rotting woman from the short story, The Haunted House. Ask any kid who grew up in the 80s and they’ll be able to describe the image in vivid detail.
To a young reader, Scary Stories felt like contraband. We instinctively knew we shouldn’t be reading it, and it didn’t take long for teachers — and parents — to reach the same conclusion. It wasn’t long before Scary Stories had become one of the most banned or challenged books in the country.
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark turned a whole generation of kids into horror fans. But not me. After reading the book, it was years — years! — before I could go into a bathroom without yanking back the shower curtain, just to make sure no ghouls were hiding behind the thin sheet of plastic, waiting to pounce.
I decided horror wasn’t for me. And for the most part, I’ve avoided scary books and films ever since.
So why did I decide to write a book of scary stories?
Mostly for the challenge of it. I wanted to know if I could write scary stories from the perspective of an innocent kid, Rowley Jefferson. And I wanted to know if I could write stories that were spooky AND funny.
So, I set about writing stories about ghosts, zombies, werewolves, vampires, and other frights. And I had a blast doing it.
I learned a lot about why we tell these kinds of stories, and what they’re really about. Werewolf stories are really about puberty and the horror that comes with unwanted changes to the body. Zombie stories are about the fear of others. And ghost stories are about guilt and regret.
I have a much better understanding now about why these types of stories are so enduring, and a better appreciation for why Schwartz’s stories were so impactful.
Will Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories top the banned books list in the years to come? It’s doubtful. Rowley’s drawing style is at a third-grade level, and his images are no match for Gammell’s ethereal masterpieces. And I can’t hope that my book will have the cultural impact of a true classic.
But hopefully, kids will have some laughs along the way. And maybe learn that things that go bump in the night aren’t so scary after all.