The Importance of Monsters: How Engaging in the Horror Genre Sparks Adolescent Bravery

“I want a scary book!” How many times have we heard that statement from our upper elementary and middle school students? Despite the constant desire for more scary books, finding ones that are geared specifically to grades 3-8 can sometimes feel like an overwhelming task. Making sure we have books that allow our students to not only read something exciting and engaging, but learn something about themselves and the world, is one of the most rewarding parts of being a librarian. In this session we will look at the place horror holds in our collective experience, why our middle grade kids need and deserve to have a variety of titles at their fingertips, and have the opportunity to look at some amazing middle grade horror books that have come out in the last few years.

Learning outcomes from this presentation are:

1. Attendees will be able to explore and understand the importance of adding exciting and engaging middle grade horror titles to their collection.
2. Attendees will be able to explore the needs of their student population and evaluate current collections to identify what moves should be made with their collection development specifically as it relates to the horror genre.
3. Attendees will be able to recognize barriers that may arise during the collection development process and prepare to meet those needs.

Registration is required.

About About Kit Elstad (they/them)

“Life is a daring adventure, or nothing at all” I’ve spent my career looking for adventure in the everyday, even in small things. As a school librarian for the past 12 years I’ve had the distinct pleasure of bringing moments of excitement and engagement into my students lives, helping them delve deeper into their personal interests and make connections to their classwork, and, perhaps my favorite part of being a librarian, helping them find the joy in a good story. I am currently the Library Media Specialist at Bennett Elementary in the Poudre School District, and prior to that I was a middle school librarian for the Syracuse City School District in NY where I was also an Adventures Education Coordinator for the Expeditionary Learning Middle School.